The document provides information about feet and meter in poetry. It discusses iambic pentameter as the most common meter, where each line contains five iambs (an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable). It includes examples of poems scanned in iambic pentameter and instructs students to take online quizzes to test their understanding of feet, meter, and scanning poems. As homework, students can either write an original poem or scan and annotate an existing poem to identify its foot and meter.
3. Using the chart as a reference, take the “foot” quiz
online. Take the quiz as many times as you need. If you
have a question, raise your hand.
4. IAMB
The iamb is the most commonly used foot in English and American poetry. Read
the following paragraph out loud and notice how it flows differently than regular
conversation does:
Today I went to see my friend Monique. We played with toys and rode our bikes to
school. I hope I get to see her very soon. I’ve never had a friend like her before.
You probably emphasized every other syllable, starting with the second one,
splitting it into iambs, like this:
Today | I went |to see | my friend | Monique. | We played | with toys | and rode
|our bikes |to school. | I hope | I get | to see | her ver | -y soon. | I’ve ne |-ver had |
a friend | like her | before.
6. PENTAMETER
Pentameter is the most common meter, and is typically paired with iambs to
form iambic pentameter. A line is in pentameter if it has only five feet. An
iamb, as we discussed, is a foot. Therefore, a line of poetry containing five
iambs is written in iambic pentameter.
Today I went to see my friend Monique.
We played with toys and rode our bikes to school.
I hope I get to see her very soon.
I’ve never had a friend like her before.
Today | I went |to see | my friend | Monique. |
We played | with toys | and rode |our bikes |to school. |
I hope | I get | to see | her ver | -y soon. |
I’ve ne |-ver had | a friend | like her | before.
7. SCAN A POEM
The technique that we are learning is called “scanning.”
Let’s watch these people scan a poem, so that we
understand it a little better.
8. Now that you’ve learned how to pair foot and meter
together, take the meter quiz online. You can use the
chart as a reference. Take it as many times as you need
to. This one just uses iambs, so that you can focus on
the meter.
9. Now listen to this poem and try to figure out what the
foot and meter is. Hint: It’s not iambic!
Answer: anapestic tetrameter
10. THE FINAL QUIZ
Now you can take the final quiz and see how well you
understand foot and meter. Again, you can use the
charts as reference, and if you have any questions, raise
your hand.
11. YOUR HOMEWORK
You have two choices:
1) Write a poem of at least 4 lines in any foot and meter you
wish.
2) Find a poem online that is written in clear foot and meter.
Print it out. Add the curvy unstressed marks, the straight
accent marks, and the lines between feet, to show how you
scanned the poem. Identify the foot and meter of the poem.
