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Poetic Meter

Poetic Meter . Iamb (Iambic ) ̌ ʹ That time of year thou mayst in me be hold --- Sonnet 73 by William Shakespeare Trochee (Trochaic) ʹ ̌ TY ger TY ger BURN ning BRIGHT

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Poetic Meter

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  1. Poetic Meter • Iamb (Iambic) ̌ ʹ That timeof yearthoumaystin me behold ---Sonnet 73 by William Shakespeare • Trochee (Trochaic) ʹ ̌ TYgerTY gerBURNningBRIGHT --"The Tyger," by William Blake

  2. Poetic Meter • Iamb (Iambic) ̌ ʹThat timeof yearthoumaystin me behold Sonnet 73 by William Shakespeare • Trochee (Trochaic) ʹ ̌ TYgerTY gerBURNningBRIGHT"The Tyger," by William Blake • Anapest (Anapestic) ̌ ̌ ʹThe As SYRian came DOWN like the WOLFon the FOLD "The Destruction of Sennacherib“ Lord Byron • Dactyl (Dactylic) ʹ ̌ ̌ • Thisis the forest primeval, the murmuring pinesand the hemlock Evangeline by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow • Spondee (Spondaic) ʹ ʹ Pyrrhic ̌ ̌

  3. Meter • meter: a poem’s pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables. Meter is generally described by the dominant footof the poem and the number of times the foot is typically repeated in a line of the poem. For example, a poem that generally has an iambic foot (˘’) repeated five times (pentameter) in a line of poetry usesiambic pentameter (˘’/˘’/˘’/˘’/˘’). Blank verse is unrhymed iambic pentameter.

  4. Poetic line length • Monometer One Foot • Dimeter Two Feet • Trimeter Three Feet • Tetrameter Four Feet • Pentameter Five Feet • Hexameter Six Feet • Heptameter Seven Feet • Octameter Eight Feet

  5. Stanza • stanza: A group of lines, generally (but not always) separated by a blank line or space. Stanza types are often denoted by the number of lines in the stanza: couplet (2) triplet (3) quatrain (4) quintet (5) sestet (6) septet (7) octave(8)

  6. Sonnets • 14 line lyric • Single stanza • Iambic pentameter line • Intricate rhyme scheme • Common themes of love, desire, and death • Diversity of sonnet models: • Italian (Petrarchan), • English (Shakespearean), and Spenserian

  7. Italian/Petrarchan Sonnet • Named for Petrarch • 2 main units • Octave—eight line section—rhyming abbaabba • Sestet—six line section—rhyming cdecde or variation (e.g. cdccdc) • Octave presents problem or poses scenario that is answered or resolved in sestet • Becomes imitated in English by Milton, Wordsworth, and Rossetti

  8. Sonnet 7: “ON HIS BEING ARRIVED AT THE AGE OF 23” by John Milton HOW soon hath time, the subtle thief of youth, a    Stolen on his wing my three and twentieth year! b    My hasting days fly on with full career, b    But my late spring no bud or blossom sheweth. aPerhaps my semblance might deceive the truth, a    That I to manhood am arrived so near, b    And inward ripeness doth much less appear b    That some more timely happy spirits indueth. aYet be it less or more, or soon or slow, c    It shall be still in strictest measure even d    To that same lot however mean or high, eToward which time leads me and the will of heaven. d    All is, if I have grace to use it so, c    As ever in my great taskmaster's eye. e

  9. English Sonnet • Also known as Shakespearean sonnet • Three quatrains (4 line poetic section) with a final couplet • abab cdcd efef gg • Each quatrain presents a view of a problem • The final couplet presents an epigrammatic thought or conclusion

  10. Sonnet 18by William Shakespeare Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? AThou art more lovely and more temperate: BRough winds do shake the darling buds of May, AAnd summer's lease hath all too short a date: BSometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, CAnd often is his gold complexion dimm'd; DAnd every fair from fair sometime declines, CBy chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd; DBut thy eternal summer shall not fade ENor lose possession of that fair thou owest; FNor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade, EWhen in eternal lines to time thou growest: FSo long as men can breathe or eyes can see, GSo long lives this, and this gives life to thee. G

  11. William Shakespeare, Sonnet 18 • English sonnet • Beloved more lovely than a summer’s day • Beloved does not fade • Endurance of poetry

  12. Sonnet 18 explained In the first quatrain, the speaker establishes the conceit: he is comparing his beloved to a summer’s day, focusing on temperance and endurance.

  13. Sonnet 18 The second quatrain develops the concept that summer is not temperate or enduring; sometimes it is too hot and unpredictable, as “fair from fair declines by chance” (foul weather) or nature’s changing course (in the course of the seasons, summer leads to fall).

  14. Sonnet 18 • The third quatrain begins with “[b]ut,” shifting the focus to how the beloved is more temperate and eternal, stating that “for thy eternal summer shall not fade.” But thy eternal summer shall not fade ENor lose possession of that fair thou owest; FNor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade, EWhen in eternal lines to time thou growest: F

  15. Sonnet • Great diversity of form and subject matter • Initially about love and courtship • Becomes used to address religious, political, and personal issues • Can be presented as occasional poem—poems that memorialize or celebrate specific day or occasion • Can be presented in sequence

  16. Sonnet 18 • The final couplet asserts the main thought in an epigram: So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee. In other words, as long as this sonnet survives, he has immortalized his beloved in verse.

  17. Stanza stanza: A group of lines, generally (but not always) separated by a blank line or space. Stanza types are often denoted by the number of lines in the stanza:couplet (2), triplet (3), quatrain, quintet, sestet, septet, octave)and by the rhyme scheme or other such characteristics.

  18. Spenserian Sonnet • Minor variation of English sonnet • Still thee quatrains and final couplet • Quatrains linked by continuing rhyme • ababbcbccdcd ee

  19. Foot • foot: a foot is described variously as • iambic (˘’) • trochaic ( ‘˘) • anapestic (˘˘’) • dactylic (’˘˘). The prefix for the meter denotes the number of repetitions (monometer, dimeter, tri-mester, tetrameter, pentameter, hexameter, heptameter, octometer).

  20. Poetic features of sonnet • Conceits—yoking together of disparate concepts or images • Metaphor—expression in which one kind of concept or activity is compared or applied to notably distinct kind of concept or activity (e.g. he’s a fox)

  21. Poetic Features • Apostrophe- an address to someone or something that does not hear the address. The address may be to a person who is absent or deceased or it may be to something inanimate or personified • Metonymy—literal term for one concept or action is used to denote closely related concept or action (e.g. crown)

  22. Poetic features of sonnet • Synecdoche—a part of concept or thing is used to denote the whole of concept or thing (40 head [of cattle]) • Petrarchanconceit—conceits (extended metaphors, usually about women, love, and beauty) used in love poems that were original when Petrarch used them but became cliché when used by later English writers

  23. Things we see in the sonnet • Organic form—internal form, structure, balance, and organization Conventions • Stock characters—recognizably conventional figures • Stock responses—recognizably conventional responses • Stock situations—recognizably conventional settings

  24. Things we see in the sonnet • Antitype—New Testament correlatives to Old Testament Types • Blazon—Poetic technique in which individual (often woman) is imagined or portrayed by partitioning the body into specified metaphors; mock-heraldic descripton • Bombast—pretentious, verbose, and inflated diction that is notably inappropriate to the matter it signifies

  25. More poetic genres • Dramatic Monologue—a lyric poem in which a single speaker (other than poet) addresses a distinct individual, who remains silent, in an identifiable situation to expose speaker’s character • Lyric monologue—similar to dramatic monologue; lyric monologue in which focus is on speaker’s own arguments rather than revealing speakers character

  26. Reading Poetry • Example from Paradise Lost do s av John asked whom to the prom Mary, the girl whom John asked to the prom, is a member of Key Club and Beta Club. subjectverb do the Almighty Power [God] / Hurled him [Satan] down

  27. Reading Poetry • Example from Paradise Lost "Him the almighty power Hurled headlong flaming from the ethereal sky With hideous ruin and combustion down To bottomless perdition, there to dwell In adamantine chains and penal fire, Who durst defy the omnipotent to arms."

  28. Reading Poetry • Example from Paradise Lost "Him the almighty power Hurled headlong flaming from the ethereal sky With hideous ruin and combustion down To bottomless perdition, there to dwell In adamantine chains and penal fire, Who durst defy the omnipotent to arms.“ • Who? (Subject) The Almighty Power [God] • Did What? (verb) What did God do? Hurled • To whom? Him [Satan}, • Where? Down to the bottomless perdition • Why? [Satan did] defy the Omnipotent [God] to arms • When? (does not say)

  29. Try asking the 6 Ws • Who? (Subject) The Almighty Power [God] • Did What? (verb) What did God do? Hurled • To whom? Him [Satan}, • Where? Down to the bottomless perdition • Why? [Satan did] defy the Omnipotent [God] to arms • When? (does not say)

  30. Ask- • Under what condition? in adamantine [hard, inflexible] chains and penal [punishing] fire • How? Headlong [pitched him headfirst], flaming from the ethereal sky with hideous ruin and combustion

  31. Epigrams by Ben Franklin • There never was a good war nor a bad peace. • Time is money. • Love your neighbor, but don’t pull down your hedges. • God helps them that help themselves. • Fish and visitors smell after three days. • Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life’s made of.

  32. William Shakespeare, Sonnet 18 • English sonnet • Beloved more lovely than a summer’s day • Beloved does not fade • Endurance of poetry

  33. Shakespeare, Sonnet 116 • English sonnet • Attempt to define love/absence of love • Does not alter • Does not bend • Ever-fixed mark • Not time’s fool • Lasts till edge of doom • Witty epigrammatic closing couplet

  34. Shakespeare, Sonnet 130 • Anti-blazon • Parodies Petrarchan conceits • Coral more red than beloved’s lips • Snow far more white than beloved’s breasts • Wire as hair • Does the poet still uphold his lady?

  35. John Milton, “How Soon Hath Time” • Italian sonnet • New sonnet subject matter • No longer concerned with love, desire, and courtship • Far more personal sonnets • Religious implications • Time stealing youth • Perhaps he can deceive • Time pays evenly

  36. Milton, “When I consider How My Light is Spent” • Italian sonnet • Life half over • Going blind • Questions why he should continue • How can he serve God? • Told he need not see to serve God • God happy when we bear our mild yoke—or when we simply stand and wait

  37. William Wordsworth, “Composed upon Westminster Bridge” • Italian sonnet • Natural splendor surrounds him • City wears beauty of nature like garment • Yet city still asleep—might heart of human energy and potential latent

  38. Wordsworth, “London, 1802” • Italian sonnet • Employs trope of occasional poem • England needs Milton now • England in state of turmoil • Claims English are selfish men • Great admiration for energy and vision of Milton

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