Any poetic work can be distinguished by the size in which it is written. The dactyl, examples of which are given in this article, is just one of them. There are also amphibrachium, anapest, trochee and iambic. It's worth noting that these are just the main ones. poetic meters, in fact there are even more of them, some of them on this moment are already outdated. Some poets in their works adhere to only one pre-selected poetic metre, this can be a dactyl, amphibrachium, or anapest. You will find examples in this article. Others use different techniques and styles when writing their poetry.
Poetic dimensions
Examples of dactyl will allow you to visualize what this poetic meter is. In Russian versification, the length of the line of a poetic work most often varies. Thus, each poetic measure is divided into several components. So, an iambic can be, for example, one-foot, two-foot or three-foot.
A distinctive characteristic of almost any poetic meter is the presence or absence of caesura (this is a rhythmic pause) and catalectics (cutting and shortening of the foot).
What are the poetic meters?
All poetic meters that are widely used in Russian versification can be divided into only three groups.
The first includes monosyllabic sizes. A classic example of this size is a brachycolon. This is a monocotyledon meter, when each foot contains a word consisting of strictly one syllable. At the same time, there can be several feet in one line of a work; this is fully permitted by the rules of versification.
The second group includes two-syllable meters. These are perhaps the most common meters in Russian poetry, which include iambic and trochee. We will talk about them in more detail later.
In poems written in trochee, the stress always falls on the first syllable of the foot. In works created using iambic, the emphasis is in mandatory falls on the last syllable in the foot.
And finally the third group is called logaed. Its fundamental difference is that if all the previously given examples of poetic meters were based on a sequence of any number of feet of the same type, then logaed is a size in which several feet can alternate in one line at once.
Iambic
Examples of iambic, trochee, and dactyl will help you easily distinguish one poetic meter from another. In Russian versification, iambic is a poetic meter in which an unstressed syllable constantly alternates with a stressed one.
It is still not possible to establish the exact etymology of this term. It is only known that the so-called iambic chants were well known during the ancient holidays in honor of the goddess of fertility Demeter. That is why many now associate the birth of this term with the name of the servant of King Kelei, whose name was Yamba. If we remember the myth, only she managed to cheer up Demeter, who remained inconsolable for a long time due to the fact that she could not find her daughter Persephone. It is noteworthy that Yamba managed to do this with the help of obscene poetry.
According to another version, the name Yamba is an echo ancient word, which has a slang meaning. It turns out that one way or another the term is rooted in profanity. True, there is another version according to which the word came from the consonant musical instrument, which accompanied the performance of iambic songs.
Examples of using iambic
Iambic has been well known since the times of ancient poetry. The main difference between iambic and other poetic meters is its lightness and similarity to ordinary speech. Therefore, it was most often used by poets who wrote dramatic or lyrical works. For example, tragicomedies or fables. But iambic was not suitable for epic genres.
Iambic was and is actively used in Russian poetry. For example, it was often used by Alexander Pushkin. The beginning of his famous “Eugene Onegin” (“My uncle of the most honest rules...”) is written in iambic. This, by the way, is an example of iambic tetrameter.
In Russian poetry, iambic tetrameter was used in epic and lyric poetry, iambic pentameter was used in lyric poetry and dramas of the 19th-20th centuries, and iambic hexameter was used in dramas and poems of the 18th century. There is also free-varied iambic, which was loved by the authors of fables of the 18th-19th centuries and comedies of the 19th century.
Trochee
Examples of dactyl and trochee will help you distinguish one poetic meter from another. So, trochee is a two-syllable poetic meter. In this case, the foot contains first a long and then a short syllable, a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed one. Like iambic, it is widely used in Russian versification.
Most often, poets used tetrameter or hexameter trochee. WITH mid-19th centuries, trochee pentameter became popular and received significant development.
The main Russian poet of the 19th century, Alexander Pushkin, often used trochee, alternating it with iambic. Therefore, it is best to cite a clear example of a trochee from his work. As an example, you can take the poem “Winter Evening”, which begins with the line “The storm covers the sky with darkness...”.
We will find an example of trochee pentameter in Mikhail Lermontov’s poem “I go out alone on the road...”. This line, which is also the title of the work, clearly demonstrates the features of trochee pentameter.
Dactyl
Examples of dactyl will allow you to remember this poetic meter once and for all, so as not to confuse it with any other.
This is a three-part meter, which originates in ancient metrics. In Russian versification, this poetic meter corresponds to a foot, consisting of one stressed syllable and two unstressed syllables following it.
Examples of dactyl in poems can be found in Mikhail Lermontov - “Heavenly Clouds, Eternal Wanderers...”. Interestingly, there is even a mnemonic rule for remembering the features of dactyl. The phrase “A deep hole is dug by dactyl” helps not to confuse it with other sizes.
In Russian versification, examples of dactyl are most often found in the tetrameter version. Two-foot was popular in the 18th century, and three-foot in the 19th century.
The name of this poetic meter comes from the Greek word for "finger". The point is that the finger consists of three phalanges, with one of them longer than the others. Likewise, the dactyl foot consists of three syllables, one of which is stressed and the rest unstressed.
Interestingly, in the 1920s there was a theory about the origin of rhythm in poetry that compared examples of dactyl verse to metrical hammer blows.
Amphibrachium
The five main poetic meters of Russian poetry are trochee, iambic, dactyl, amphibrachium, and anapest. Examples of poems written with their help help you quickly figure out how to distinguish one size from another and not get confused.
Amphibrachium is a special size that is formed by trisyllabic feet. Moreover, the strong place, that is, the stressed syllable, is in this case the second. Thus, the following alternation is formed: unstressed syllable - stressed syllable - unstressed syllable.
IN early XIX century, the tetrameter amphibrachium was very popular, and from the middle of the 19th century the trimeter amphibrachium came into fashion.
Examples of such poems can be found, in particular, in Nikolai Nekrasov. In the poem “Frost the Voivode” there are the following lines: “It is not the wind that rages over the forest, \ Streams do not run from the mountains, \ Frost the Voivode patrols \ Walks around his domain.”
Anapaest
Anapest is also a three-syllable poetic meter. It is often compared to dactyl in the sense that it is its opposite.
In the ancient tradition, this was a poetic meter consisting of two short syllables and one long syllable.
In Russian versification, anapest is a meter when the foot consists of two unstressed syllables and one stressed syllable.
This poetic meter became popular in the 20th century. Therefore, we can find examples from Alexander Blok - “Oh, spring without end and without end! \ Without end and without end, a dream.”
Hexameter
There are poetic meters that were actively used in ancient poetry, but are now practically not used. This also applies to hexameter. This was the most common meter in ancient poetry.
This is a rather complex meter, since in the broad sense it is any verse consisting of six meters. If we go into detail, a hexameter was a verse consisting of five dactyls or spondees, as well as one spondea or trochee present in the last foot.
Hexameter was used by Homer when writing the Illiad and Odyssey. There is also the concept of “modern hexameter,” which was widespread in European poetry of the 14th-18th centuries.
Writing poetry requires not only talent, but also thorough theoretical preparation. Even in ancient times, when, it would seem, the attitude towards creativity was simpler, and rhymed works were created according to inspiration and/or the whim of the Muse, poets paid equal attention to the content and form of the work. And writers with a classical education were able to accurately determine the poetic meter of a passage heard or read in passing. The poetic meter determines the tempo and emotional spirit of the work, so its importance cannot be doubted.
It would be nice if professional poets made their lives more difficult by determining the size of poems; after all, this is their duty, calling and work. But the task of determining the size of a poem becomes even before schoolchildren, because understanding poetic meter is important for every educated person. Moreover, learning to determine the poetic meter of a text is not so difficult, especially if you choose your favorite poem, beautiful and close in mood. However, it is possible to determine the poetic meter of any poetic text, and we are ready to explain exactly how to do this.
What is poetic meter? Meters, sizes, feet
Poetic meter is, in fact, the rhythmic form of a poem, that is, the structure of each specific rhymed text. Meter, or rhythm, is how poetry differs from prose. Therefore, it is not surprising that determining the size of a poem is important primarily for its analysis, classification, and even just understanding. But first you have to understand, or rather, find out what the poetic meter consists of and how it is determined:
- Number of syllables– usually equal in each line. A syllable with stress is called strong, and an unstressed syllable is called weak. When the size of a poem is determined only by the number of syllables, without taking into account stress, then poetic form called syllabic. It often underlies classical Italian, Ukrainian, and Russian poetry.
- Number of accents, the same in each line of the poem, and it is the stressed syllables that are taken into account, while the unstressed ones are not of fundamental importance for determining the size of the verse. This poetic form is called tonic, or accented, and its typical example is the works of Vladimir Mayakovsky.
- Foot- a combination of several syllables, one of which is stressed, the rest are unstressed. One foot is a unit of measurement for poetic meter. To determine the size of a verse, count the number of feet in each line, and thus call the poem five-, six-, eight-foot, etc.
- Syllabo-metric- counting and recording both syllables and stresses, but not only and not so much of them total number, how many combinations of long and short, stressed and unstressed syllables, their combination with each other. Accordingly, this system of versification is called syllabometric.
- Caesura- this is a pause, which in a poem can only be located in a place of a certain size, but at the same time it separates not only the rhythmic, but also the semantic parts. Caesura is necessary for the perception of a rhymed text, otherwise there will be neither enough breath for reading, nor enough hearing for a long, monotonous, continuous line.
What are the poetic meters? Iambic, trochee, dactyl, anapest
Before we determine the poetic size, we need to figure out exactly what sizes of poems exist - otherwise, what will we determine? Since the role of the foot in poetic meter is now clear, it remains to determine how the number and variety of feet affects the poetic meter, and what each of them is called:
- Iambic- one of the main poetic meters. An iambic foot consists of two syllables: unstressed and stressed (in other words: weak and strong, short and long). The most common is iambic tetrameter, in which the stress falls on every second, fourth, sixth and eighth syllable of each line. A typical example of iambic tetrameter: “My da da sa we are X what tedious great pitchfork.”
- Trochee– another common size. Also two-syllable, only with tope trochee the stressed (strong, long) syllable comes first, followed by the unstressed (weak, short) syllable. Tetra- and six-foot trochees are more common than pentameters. A typical example of a trochee: " Boo rya haze Yu Not bo kro no."
- Dactyl- three-syllable size of the verse, that is, its foot consists of three syllables: the first stressed and two subsequent unstressed ones. Dactyl is more difficult to use than disyllabic meters, so dactyl lines rarely exceed three or four feet in length. A typical example of a dactyl tetrameter: “ That glasses are not be sleepy, ve personal with tra nicknames."
- Anapaest- poetic meter, as if mirroring the dactyl, that is, of the three syllables of its foot, the first two are not stressed, and the stress falls on the last syllable. Poets of the Silver Age often used anapest, so a typical example of it can easily be found in the poem by Alexander Blok: “Recognized Yu you, live know! Priny ma Yu! At vet I live vo nom cabbage soup that!».
- Amphibrachium- a three-syllable poetic meter, in the foot of which a strong (stressed) syllable is surrounded on both sides by weak (unstressed) syllables. Quite a complex and therefore rarely encountered size. A typical example of amphibrachium: “There is same women in RU sskikh se le nyah."
How exactly to determine the poetic size of a passage?
Analysis of a poem implies a complete, comprehensive examination of the text, necessarily including the determination of poetic size and meter. You can learn to determine the meter of a verse yourself if you take the information presented above as a basis and use the metric analysis scheme for a poem:
- Read aloud a poem that requires analysis. Do not pay attention to the meaning of the words, but try to clearly and distinctly emphasize the stresses and pauses. Listen to the rhythm of the voice. As an example, let’s take Marina Tsvetaeva’s poem “To Grandmother.”
- Write down the poem or its fragment for analysis line by line, starting on a new line. Leave enough space between lines on the page to allow room for notes.
- Highlight (underline or mark) all stressed syllables in the text. This will be easy since you have already heard them while reading aloud. In our version it turns out like this:
About for a long time va ty and you excited about shaft,
Cher nogo pla tya grow RU would…
YU Naya ba Bushka! Who whole shaftVa shi over men new gu would?
- Count the number of unstressed syllables placed between stressed syllables. As you remember, iambic and trochee are two-syllable poetic meters, and dactyl, amphibrachium and anapest are three-syllable.
- In our case, the line and foot begin with a stressed syllable, followed by two unstressed ones. From this we conclude that Marina Tsvetaeva’s poem “To Grandmother” was written in dactyl, which is not surprising, given the sympathy of the poets Silver Age to three-syllable meters.
- The number of feet is determined by the number of stressed syllables in the line. In most poems it is the same in every line, but in our case the poetic form turned out to be more complex. We can say that every odd line is written in dactyl tetrameter, and every even line is written in trimeter.
The orderliness of poetic speech, the logic of its sound rhythm is the key to determining the size of a verse. Of course, there are exceptions in poetic texts, but they only confirm the rules and should not confuse you. If in doubt, take the time to write down the poem and number all its syllables. Simply put the numbers in order, without skipping a single vowel. Then mark the numbers that fall on the stressed vowels. If they are all even, that is, 2/4/6/8, then we have, without a doubt, an iambic. If all strong syllables are under odd numbers - 1/3/5/7 - then the poem is trochaic. Trisyllabic feet are determined according to the same principle: 1/4/7/10 in dactyl, 3/6/9/12 in anapest and 2/5/8/11 in amphibrach.
Let this poem analysis scheme and little cheat sheet always help you determine the poetic size of the text. And if one or more syllables at the end of a line stand out from the overall picture, then this nuance should not confuse you. Moreover, this phenomenon, called pyrrhic, or missing stress, does not violate the composition of the verse and is simply not taken into account when determining the poetic meter. Practice on familiar and new, classic and modern, simple and complex poems, and soon you will learn to quickly identify any poetic meter.
The following is an attempt to describe as simply as possible what poetic meter is and what the main meters are. I wrote a lot of this earlier in the comments, but then (for some reason) I thought that it might be interesting to someone else.
Most likely, those who were interested in this already know everything perfectly well. However, as Enrico Fermi and Steven Weinberg said, we should never underestimate the pleasure we get from hearing something we already know.
Disclaimer: I am not a philologist or even a poet, so this post is from an amateur for amateurs. If one of the professionals or more advanced amateurs corrects or adds, I will be grateful.
First, a few basic things, I mention them just for further context.
Each word has a certain number of syllables equal to the number of vowel sounds. Each word has an accent. Eat simple words with one stress (oborON), and there are complex words with several stresses (oboronosposobnost). There are few complex words with multiple stresses, and they are rare in poetry.
What do writers do with all this?
Nothing. They form words into sentences, rarely worrying about how many syllables there will be in each word or where the stress will be in the words. Therefore, prose has no pronounced rhythm. Just the monotonous rolling of waves onto the shore, musical noise. The value of prose is not in rhythm, but in content. There are exceptions, but they are not important in our consideration now.
What do poets do about it?
1) For them, in addition to meaning, the so-called “rhythm” or “meter” is also important. These words can be considered synonyms. Rhythm/meter is simply the frequency of stress in a text. Namely, the number of syllables between stresses. (Strictly speaking, there are different systems of versification. Here we're talking about only about the most popular syllabic-tonic system in Russian and many other languages, from the Greek words “syllable” and “stress”, which is based on such periodicity.)
You can imagine that a period is an oscillation of a pendulum or metronome in one direction (in physics this is called a half-period, but it doesn’t matter, we will call it a period). Each vibration is one stress or one knock. A period is the time between stresses, or a “unit of verse,” i.e. stressed syllable + unstressed syllables following it until the next stressed syllable.
When poets assemble words into lines, they keep track of how many syllables the words have and which syllables are stressed. They collect words in chains, like in children's construction sets, so that with such joining, the stresses in the words have a periodicity, like the oscillations of a pendulum. In other words, so that there is a fixed number of unstressed syllables between stresses in a line.
Why this is being done is quite clear. Like periods/rhythms in music, the rhythm in a poem affects a person on an emotional level (in fact, versification was born from songs). Adds another dimension to the idea and content of the poem, additional colors and feelings. Unfortunately, many aspiring poets believe that rhythm and rhyme are the only requirements for poetry, but that’s another story.
2) Periods in poetry, as a rule, are of two, three and four syllables. A period of two syllables means there is a stressed syllable, then an unstressed one, then again a stressed one, etc. Those. we repeat two syllables, in which one syllable will be stressed. A period of three syllables means there is a stressed syllable, then two unstressed ones, then again a stressed one, etc. Those. We have three syllables repeated, in which one syllable will be stressed. The same will happen with a period of four syllables. Periods of five or more syllables are rarely used.
There is only one stress in one period. It may fall on different syllables in a period, but within one poem the stress will always be on a certain syllable in a period: only on the first syllable, or only on the second, etc. This is done so that there is an equal distance between the accents. Below in paragraph 4 these periods are described in more detail.
In versification, instead of the “physical” word period, the word “foot” is used. This is simply a synonym for the word period, nothing more. Below I will use “period” and “stop” as synonyms. It is curious that one of the creators of the theory of feet, as well as syllabic-tonic versification in general in the Russian language, is Lomonosov, who was a physicist, a philologist, and much more.
3) Now it’s worth paying attention to one difference between stress in poetry and stress in prose. Although each word has its own stress, we sometimes skip these stresses in poetry. For example,
ShaganE you are mine, ShaganE...
My uncle has the most honest rules...
The words “you” and “my”, if we pronounced them in prose, would have their own accents. But in the lines above we skip these accents. So to speak, we close our eyes (or ears) to them and ignore them. Why are we doing this? So that the stresses in these lines maintain a period. In the first line the period consists of three syllables, in the second - of two.
That's all the main ideas. The rest is easy different types such periodicity, i.e. different quantities syllables in a foot and different stresses within the feet.
4) What types of periodicity can you think of? It's very simple. We will denote a stressed syllable as “1”, and an unstressed one as “0” (usually they are denoted as sticks and dashes, such as “_, or / -, etc., but such designations are IMHO less convenient and clear):
10 10 10 10 ...
01 01 01 01 ...
100 100 100 ...
010 010 010 ...
001 001 001 ...
1000 1000 1000 ...
and so on. You can tap these motifs on the table, highlighting the stressed syllable with a stronger tap. All names like “iamb”, “trochee”, etc. invented simply so as not to draw rhythms every time, as they are drawn above, but to call them by standard names.
1 1 1 1 1 1 ... this Brachycolon(this and other names of sizes come from the corresponding Greek words). This is a rare meter in which the poem contains only words of one syllable. Each word will have its own emphasis, i.e. all syllables in the poem will be stressed. For example, DAY - NIGHT, A YEAR Away. A moment - a century, was - no. It’s difficult to write poetry in this size, and it looks too monotonous; I want more variety.
10 10 10 10 .... this Trochee. The stress fell on the first syllable in the line, then on the third, on the fifth... i.e. for all odd syllables. For example, “A STORM covers the sky with darkness.”
01 01 01 01 .... this Iambic. The stress fell on the second syllable, then on the fourth, on the sixth... i.e. for all even syllables. For example, “My uncle has the most honest rules.” The entirety of Eugene Onegin is written in iambic (more precisely, iambic tetrameter; what “tetrameter” is, see below in paragraph 5).
Trochee and iambic have the same period - two syllables (that's why these meters are called bisyllabic or bipartite), just the stress falls on different syllables in this period. Iambic is the simplest and most popular meter in Russian versification.
The period is only important within a single line. We do not pay attention to the periodicity when moving from one line to another. What has grown has grown. For example, in “My uncle has the most honest rules,” the line ends with an unstressed syllable, and the next line also begins with an unstressed syllable, although in one line the iambic syllable must be stressed after the unstressed syllable. It's not a problem.
100 100 100 .... this Dactyl. For example, “The blue ball is spinning and spinning.”
010 010 010 ... this Amphibrachium. For example, “I’m sitting behind bars in a damp dungeon.”
001 001 001 ... this Anapaest. For example, “ShaganE, you are my ShaganE.”
Dactyl, amphibrachy and anapest also have the same periods - three syllables (therefore these sizes are called trisyllabic or trilobed).
1000 1000 1000....
0100 0100 0100....
0010 0010 0010....
0001 0001 0001....
There are four different cases here, but they are all called by the same word Peon and differ in names: “peon with stress on the first syllable” (or “first peon”), “peon with stress on the second syllable” (or “second peon”), etc. For example, “Don’t think down on the seconds. The time will come, you yourself will understand, probably.” This is the second peon.
It is not necessary to remember all these names, although it is simple, there are very few of them. But in any case, the main thing is to understand this general principle, but it is very simple.
Poets choose size for a reason. A certain meter is not just a given rhythm, but also a given mood, which must be combined with the idea and content of the poem. Iambic is a strong and energetic sound. Trochee is softer and smoother. Three-syllable sizes (dactyl, amphibrachium, anapest) - flexible, close to colloquial speech. Peon is often philosophical and thoughtful. Of course, there are exceptions.
All this, by the way, has nothing to do with rhyme. Poems should have a meter regardless of whether they are white or rhymed. The latter will have the only peculiarity that the stressed syllables must rhyme.
5) Now all that remains is to add that poems are also distinguished by the number of periods (stops) in a line. Two-foot means two feet in a line. Trimeter - three lines. Quadruple - four, etc. The number of feet is a specification of the size in addition to the usual name of the size, such as iambic or trochee. About specific poems they say not just “written in iambic,” but, for example, “written in iambic tetrameter.”
Here are some examples kindly provided by our regular sponsor:
The priest had a dog.
Both died of cancer.
- Two syllables in the foot and stress on the first syllable. So it's a trochee.
- Four stresses per line, i.e. four feet per line. So this is a tetrameter trochee.
A cold evening floats in my eyes,
snowflakes tremble on the carriage,
frosty wind, pale wind
will cover red palms,
- Two syllables in the foot and stress on the second syllable. So it's iambic.
- Four stresses in a line, which means it is iambic tetrameter.
No country, no graveyard
I don't want to choose.
To Vasilyevsky Island
I'm coming to die
- Three syllables in the foot and stress on the third syllable. So this is an anapest.
- Two stresses in a line, which means it is a two-foot anapest.
The number of feet in a line, like the length of the feet, also affects the style of the poem. Tetrameters (especially iambic tetrameter) are the most popular and richest in terms of possibilities and can be used in almost all cases. Pentameter and hexameter are a little solemn and epic, characteristic of poems, dramas and sonnets. At the same time, for long lines - pentameter and hexameter - there is often a short pause in the middle, the so-called “caesura”. It is usually appropriate both in meaning and rhythm - it is difficult to read a long line without pauses. As a result, a long line is divided into two half-lines, and, for example, iambic hexameter will sound like trimeter.
Summarizing, we can come to the following hierarchy of “structural units” in a poem: syllable - foot - line - stanza. From the point of view of rhythm and semantic content, the most important structural unit is the line. A stanza usually has 4 lines, but may have fewer or more. For example, a sonnet stanza consists of 14 lines, like the famous “Onegin stanza” (sometimes they say that a sonnet stanza consists of several “ordinary” stanzas). In songs, stanzas are called couplets.
6) As with all rules, there are special cases when determining size. For example, what is the meter of the following poem?
The golden cloud spent the night
On the chest of a giant rock
If you put accents the way they are pronounced in life, you will get
A golden cloud spent the night
On the chest of a giant cliff
What size is it? Something incomprehensible... In such cases, philologists add “imaginary” accents as follows:
THE GOLDEN CLOUD SPENT THE NIGHT
ON THE CHEST OF A GIANT CLIFF
and, accordingly, they call it “a trochee with missing accents.” And they even came up with a special word for this Pyrrhic. This occurs all the time, especially in two-syllable feet, i.e. iambic and trochea. And it’s clear why: few words have only one or two syllables, which means that in most words it will not be possible to maintain the two-syllable rhythm “stress every other.” And sometimes the opposite situation happens: accents are not skipped, but additional ones are added. It is called Spondee.
How to determine the size in such cases? Add imaginary accents or remove extra ones to create a constant period in each line, like above with the golden cloud. And calculate what happens after that.
7) Finally, sometimes the meter in a poem can change, i.e. it may be different in different lines. Usually, the “type” of the size is preserved, i.e. the length of a foot (such as iambic or trochee), but different lines will have a different number of feet. It's normal, it's just a way of doing things. It appears, for example, in fables:
A thief climbed up the spruce tree,
I'm just ready to have breakfast
- The first line has iambic tetrameter, the second line has iambic pentameter.
and also from our regular sponsor (who has everything you can think of):
I entered instead wild beast in a cage,
I burned out my sentence and nickname with a nail in the barracks,
- The first line has a tetrameter anapest, the second line has a pentameter.
At the same time, the last two lines illustrate another a special case: a slightly “dirty” time signature, when the rhythm/period is not strictly maintained. Not just missing or extra stress (as in pyrrhic and spondee), but a different number of syllables in the feet. But our sponsor is allowed to do this. Alternation and mixing of sizes occur frequently in his work, but very harmoniously; he experimented a lot and successfully. You have to be able to break the rules.
8) And, very briefly, about poetic meters (also syllabic-tonic) in English:
- “Size” is meter (or meter in American English), and foot is metric foot, which is logical.
- The names of the sizes sound similar: iambus, trochee, etc. They are formed from the same Greek words as in Russian, but in English they are pronounced in accordance with the peculiarities of the English language.
- The names for “two-foot”, “three-foot”, etc., in contrast to the principle of these names in Russian, are also used in Greek, i.e. not twofeet or threefeet, but dimeter, trimeter, etc. Moreover, “hexameter” in English is hexameter. You probably remember that ancient poems are hexameters. And it’s clear why: in antiquity, poetry was mostly written in hexameter.
- Less strictness in keeping the rhythm, i.e. Much more often than in the Russian language, “dirty” meter occurs, when the number of syllables in a foot is not constant. Often, but not always, such places are smoothed out when reading aloud by changing the pronunciation of some words, namely, swallowing or stretching some syllables. It may seem a little strange at first, but it takes some getting used to. This is not the result of the negligence of poets, just such features of the language and its perception and pronunciation.
- Blank verse is much more common than in Russian versification. For example, most of Shakespeare's tragedies and comedies are written in unrhymed iambic pentameter (he wrote sonnets in rhyme).
That's all, actually. Now you can handle any poetry. Profit!
Even high:
P.S. Drawings provided by another of our sponsors, a great Danish cartoonist
Versification(or versification) - from lat. versus - verse and facio - I do. Versification- organization of poetic speech, elements underlying a specific poetic system. The basis of poetic speech is, first of all, a certain rhythmic principle.Terminology
Rhythm- repetition of any text elements at certain intervals. In Russian, rhythm is formed using stress. Rhyme- consonance of the ends of verses (or hemistiches). Stanza- an organized combination of verses (a verse is a poetic line), naturally repeated throughout a poetic work or part of it.The simplest and most common way to connect verses into a stanza is to connect them with rhyme. The most common type of stanza is the quatrain, the least common is the couplet. Couplet- the simplest strophic formation of two verses joined by rhyme:
Eat pineapples, chew hazel grouse,Quatrain- strophic formation of four verses.
your last day is coming, bourgeois.
(V. Mayakovsky - 1917)
How can I forget? He came out staggeringFoot(Latin leg, foot) - a structural unit of verse. Foot(Latin - leg, foot, foot) is a sequence of several unstressed (weak) and one stressed (strong) syllables, alternating in a certain order.
The mouth twisted painfully...
I ran away without touching the railing,
I ran after him to the gate
(A. Akhmatova - 1911)
For classical meters, the foot consists of either two syllables (trochee and iambic) or three (dactyl, amphibrach and anapest).
The foot is the minimal structural unit of verse.
The number of feet in a poetic line specifies the name of the meter, for example, if a poem is written in iambic octometer, then there are 8 feet in each line (8 stressed syllables).
Foot - group of syllables, allocated and merged with a single rhythmic stress(hictom). The number of stressed syllables in a verse corresponds to the number of feet. Feet - combinations strong and weak (weak) positions are regularly repeated throughout the verse.
A simple foot happens:
- disyllabic, when two syllables are constantly repeated - stressed and unstressed, or vice versa (trochee, iambic...);
- trisyllabic, when one stressed and two unstressed syllables are repeated (anapaest, amphibrachium, dactyl...).
Accent ( speech) systems of versification are divided into three main groups:
- Syllabic,
- Tonic,
- Syllabic-tonic is a method of organizing a poem in which stressed and unstressed syllables alternate in a certain order, unchanged for all lines of the poem.
| Versification systems | Characteristic | Example |
| 1. Syllabic (the number of syllables is fixed) |
A system of versification in which rhythm is created by the repetition of verses with the same number of syllables, and the arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables is not ordered; obligatory rhyme |
Thunder from one country Thunder from another country Vague in the air! Terrible in the ear! Clouds have rolled in Carry the water The sky was closed They were filled with fear! (V.K. Trediakovsky - Description of a thunderstorm) |
| 2. Tonic (the number of accents is fixed) |
A system of versification, the rhythm of which is organized repetition of stressed syllables; the number of unstressed syllables between stresses varies freely |
The street winds like a snake. Houses along the snake. The street is mine. The houses are mine. (V.V. Mayakovsky - poem “Good!”) |
| 3. Syllabic-tonic (the number of syllables and the number of stressed positions are recorded) |
A system of versification, which is based on the equalization of the number of syllables, the number and place of stress in poetic lines | Do you want to know what I saw Free? - Lush fields, Hills covered with a crown Trees growing all around Noisy with a fresh crowd, Like brothers dancing in a circle. (M.Yu. Lermontov - Mtsyri) |
All groups are based on repetition. rhythmic units(rows), the commensurability of which is determined by a given location stressed and unstressed syllables within lines.
System versification, is based on an equal number of stressed syllables in a poetic line, while the number of unstressed syllables in a line is more or less free. Syllabic-tonic dimensions
IN Russian syllabic-tonic versification became widespread five stop:
- Trochee
- Dactyl
- Amphibrachium
- Anapaest
Size is usually defined as a sequence of several feet. Poetic meters are never carried out exactly in a poem, and there are often deviations from the given scheme.
Skipping stress, that is, replacing a stressed syllable with an unstressed one, is called pyrrhichium, replacing an unstressed syllable with a stressed one is called spondee.
Legend
__/ - stressed syllable __ - unstressed syllablePoetic dimensions
(in the syllabic-tonic system of versification)- Two-syllable poetic meters:
__/__
- foot Chorea
Trochee- two-syllable verse meter, in which the stressed syllable comes first , on the second unstressed.
To remember:
The clouds are rushing, the clouds are swirling,
On trochee they are flying
__ __/ - foot YambaIambic- two-syllable verse size, in which first syllable unstressed , second drum.
- Trisyllabic poetic meters:
__/__ __
- foot Dactyl
Dactyl- a three-syllable verse in which the first syllable is stressed and the rest are unstressed.
To remember:
You are dug yes ktilem I'm so deep
__ __/__ - foot AmphibrachiumAmphibrachium- a three-syllable verse in which the second syllable is stressed and the rest are unstressed.
__ __ __/ - foot AnapestaAnapaest- a three-syllable verse in which the third syllable is stressed and the rest are unstressed.
To remember the names trisyllabic sizes poems need to be learned the word LADY.
DAMA stands for:
D- dactyl - stress on the first syllable,
AM- amphibrachium - stress on the second syllable,
A- anapest - stress is on the third syllable.
Examples
Poem |
Poetic size |
Example tetrameter trochee: The storm darkens the sky |
Trochee __/__ |
Example pentameter trochee: I go out alone on the road; |
Trochee __/__ |
Example trimeter trochee: The swallows are gone, |
Trochee __/__ |
Example iambic tetrameter: My uncle has the most honest rules, |
__ __/ |
Example iambic tetrameter: I remember that wonderful moment |
__ __/ |
Example iambic pentameter: Dressed up as wives, we will lead the city together, |
__ __/ |
Example iambic pentameter: You will be sad when the poet dies, |
__ __/ |
Example dactyl trimeter: No matter who calls, I don’t want to |
Dactyl __/__ __ |
Example dactyl tetrameter: Heavenly clouds, eternal wanderers! |
Dactyl __/__ __ |
Example dactyl tetrameter: Glorious autumn! Healthy, vigorous |
Dactyl __/__ __ |
Example trimeter amphibrachium: It’s not the wind that’s raging over the forest, |
Amphibrachium __ __/__ |
Example tetrameter amphibrachium: Dearer than the fatherland - I didn’t know anything |
Amphibrachium __ __/__ |
Example trimeter amphibrachium: There are women in Russian villages |
Amphibrachium __ __/__ |
Example trimeter amphibrachium: There was a lot of noise in the middle of the noise, |
Amphibrachium __ __/__ |
Example trimeter anapest: Oh, spring without end and without edge - |
Anapaest __ __ __/ |
Example trimeter anapest: There are secrets in your songs |
Anapaest __ __ __/ |
Example trimeter anapest: I will disappear from melancholy and laziness, |
Anapaest __ __ __/ |
How to determine poetic size?
|
In writing lessons in high school poetic meters are required. We will find out further how to define them and what they generally mean.
Meaning
How to determine the meter of a poem? First you need to understand the concept of these words. Poetic meter refers to the particular presentation of a poem, its individual rhythm and variation. Poetic meters are an obligatory component of the analysis of any verse.
Poetic dimensions: how to determine
To learn how to understand the dimensions of poetry, it is worth familiarizing yourself with its types and main particles. An important element in determining the size is the foot.
It means a group of syllables that are connected by one stress. The syllable itself plays a secondary role. The brightness and emotionality of the verse depends on the stressed word.
Kinds
In Russian, line length is more relevant in a poem. A striking example of this is iambic meter. He can be:
- monofoot;
- two-footed;
- trimeter;
- tetrameter and so on.
Characteristics of the size of a verse can result in caesuras (the need for a pause in the rhythm of the verse) or catalectics (ending a line with an incomplete foot).
Types of poetic meters
The metrical composition and rhythm of any verse establishes the poetic meters. How to identify them? To do this, you need to remember the following explanations:
1. Monosyllabic meter, also known as brachycolon, is a monocotyledon meter, each foot of which contains a small word consisting of one syllable. In this case, there can be several stops in a line.
Example: Night Day. Light, shadow. Suddenly a sound. That's a knock.
2. Two-syllable sizes. These include trochee - the size is bipartite, in the foot the stress is placed on the first syllable.
Example: The cloud is dark, the night is huge.
Iambic also refers to a bipartite meter. It differs from trochee in the placement of stress on the last syllable of the foot. Paired syllables are stressed in a line.
Example: We are dressed up to lead the city together. But it seems we have no one to watch.
3. Trisyllabic: dactyl, amphibrachium, anapest.
Dactyl is a three-syllable meter in which the stress is placed on the first syllable. This means that the initial first syllable of the dactyl is stressed, and the next two are unstressed. Then comes the second line, in which the syllables are stressed: the fourth, fifth and sixth.
Anapest is a trisyllabic meter with a second stressed syllable. The first and third syllables do not have an expressive connotation; they are unstressed. The second foot of the poem is as follows: the fifth is stressed, the fourth and sixth are unstressed.
Amphibrach is a three-syllable meter, where the stress is on the last syllable and the first two are unstressed.
Logaed
The above poetic meters are based on the sequential order of several similar feet. This is the main difference between them and logaed. The latter means a line meter in which several different stops alternate.
For example: Today is a gloomy day. The grasshopper choir is sleeping. And the gloomy rocks are darker than the gravestones.
How to determine poetic meter
If you are working on an essay, what does it mean? full analysis poem, it will certainly not hurt you to analyze its poetic dimensions. How to determine them and why? Because a poetic work requires evaluation precisely by its rhythm and its sound. This melody of the verse forms the poem itself. Therefore, every philologist knows that a verse cannot be understood without determining the poetic meter in it.
The second important task in determining
One more no less important task in analyzing a poetic work is to determine and name the purpose of the poetic meter.
For example, iambic reflects an energetic narrative, while trochee is more gentle and calm.
Night landscapes and quiet water surfaces have always been described by trochee. All lullaby poems are also included in its dimensions.
Colloquial speech in poetry is typical for three-syllable meters. Nekrasov loved to compose such works.
The poetic meters in the table using two-syllable meters as an example are presented below.
Let's look at the work "Winter Morning" by A. S. Pushkin.
Determine the poetic meter:
Frost and sun; wonderful day!
Are you still dozing, dear friend?
It's time, beauty, wake up.
Open your closed eyes.
Towards the northern Aurora, appear as the star of the north!
The poetic work "Winter Morning" itself consists of 30 lines. This is iambic tetrameter, which gives the verse major and expressiveness. The lines of the poem rhyme in this way: 1-2, 3-6, 4-5.
How to learn to write poetry
Expressing your thoughts and feelings is not always possible with spoken words. Sometimes it’s easier to write poetry for a special episode. But is it that simple? So, if you want to try this craft, then start with the simplest rules:
1. Whether you are talented or not, you must remember that no matter what kind of poetry you are going to write (one-, two-, three-syllable), you need to start with something simple.
2. The rhyme to the word should go in the next line or across the line.
3. Avoid difficult words and phrases, as well as banal rhymes like “love-carrots”.
4. Start your creativity with the usual congratulations to your loved one. A greeting in a postcard, written in your own words, is a rare and original gift.
5. Before you start writing a poem, prepare. For example, write down on a piece of paper the words that will definitely be present in your poetic work. Then choose a few rhymes for them.
6. Write a sample text of what you want to say in prose.
7. After you write your poem, read it carefully several times. If you feel an inconsistency in sound or meaning, try changing the sentence or replacing a word.
If you follow these simple rules, you should end up with a simple iambic - a congratulation written on a major note!
Conclusion
Now we have learned what poetic meters are. We also figured out how to determine on what note a verse is written and its rhythm. If in the future you need to analyze a poem written by the author, you will do it with ease. And if you want to create poetry yourself, then you already have the prerequisites for where to start and with what rhythm to write.