It seems to me that today's writers of poetry do not appreciate the power of meter in poetry, specifically the iamb and the trochee. When experimented with, it generally tends to be just that, an experiment and nothing more. Today's poets don't seem to use the iamb and the trochee for their emotive capabilities and rhythmic potentials.
In some ways, there even appears to exist animosity towards certain, if not all, aspects of classical prosody. It is as if it has been forgotten, or maybe most poets today simply can't accept, that such devices as the iamb and the trochee are simply tools in a rather large toolbox of techniques, methods, and styles.
You don't have to have an ounce of skill using and understanding prosodic feet to write good poetry, but it helps.
Information about the iamb and the trochee from a purely technical standpoint is abundant, yet there are not a lot of examples that demonstrate their use in diverse structures. Starting with the iamb, I will tell you precisely what the iamb and trochee are, and then exemplify them in detail so that they may be seen to work functionally. The iamb and the trochee are each a type of verbal metrical unit known as a foot. There are several types of feet, of which I feel only four are really applicable to the accentual nature of English poetry; however, this will be an article for another time.
The iamb is a foot consisting of an unaccented syllable followed by an accented syllable. A metrical foot can be comprised of a single word or parts of words. Classical prosody used a slash (/) and a "U" to indicate accented (/) and unaccented (U) syllables. I have developed my own notation, which I feel is more appropriate. I use the period (.) for unaccented syllables and the dash (-) for accented syllables.
Let's start looking at line structures. Following are eight examples of iambic lines, starting from the shortest possible line containing an iamb, a single iamb, to a line containing eight iambic feet. After each example line below, I provide its notation and a parenthesized division of the line’s iambs followed by some notes.
I sighed
. -
(
I sighed)
A line containing a single iambus.
I heaved a sigh
. - . -
(
I heaved) (a sigh)
A line containing two iambic feet. Two-foot lines are referred to as a "dimeter" (nounal) or "bimetric" (adjectival), so this is called iambic dimeter.
I heaved my sighs in vain
. - . - . -
(
I heaved) (my sighs) (in vain)
A line containing three iambic feet. Three-foot lines are referred to as "trimeter" or "trimetric", so this is called iambic trimeter.
I found myself among the trees
. - . - . - . -
(
I found) (myself) (among) (the trees)
A line containing four iambic feet. Four-foot lines are referred to as "tetrameter" or "tetrametric", so this is called iambic tetrameter.
I found myself awake among the trees
. - . - . - . - . -
(
I found) (myself) (awake) (among) (the trees)
A line containing five iambic feet. Five-foot lines are referred to as "pentameter" or "pentametric", so this is called iambic pentameter. The iambic pentameter is thought of as the most commonly used meter in English poetry. This is probably true. Popular users of the iambic pentameter include Shakespeare, John Milton, and Robert Service. There are of course many more well known users of the iambic pentameter.
I woke from desert dreams among the dripping trees
. - . - . - . - . - . -
(
I woke) (from des)(ert dreams) (among) (the drip)(ping trees)
A line consisting of six iambic feet. Six-foot lines are referred to as "hexameter" or "hexametric", so this is called iambic hexameter. The hexameter was very popular in Hellenistic (ancient Greek) poetry. But, keep in mind that Greek is not an accented language. The iamb in Greek pertained to a short and a long syllable, not an unaccented and an accented syllable. Oddly, English prosody uses terms from Grecian prosody despite English being such a dramatically different language from Greek.
I woke again from desert dreams among the dripping trees
. - . - . - . - . - . - . -
(
I woke) (again) (from des)(ert dreams) (among) (the drip)(ping trees)
A line consisting of seven iambic feet. Seven-foot lines are referred to as "heptameter" or "heptametric", so this is called iambic heptameter. They are also sometimes called by "septameter". For the heptameter to really work, regardless of the type of feet used, there must be some natural pause within the line. This pause is known as the caesura (see 'syoor ah). They can exist in a line of any length. In this line, the caesura is occurring just after the fourth foot, at the close of the word "dreams".
I woke again from desert dreams among the dripping redwood trees
. - . - . - . - . - . - . - . -
(
I woke) (again) (from des)(ert dreams) (among) (the drip)(ing red)(wood trees)
A line of eight iambic feet. You might guess how these are referenced, "octameter" or "octometric", so this is called iambic octameter. Notice how the 4th, 7th and 8th feet split words. The words aren't actually split when you read, just when analyzing the prosodic structure of the line. In this line the caesura also occurs after the fourth foot. Caesuras can also occur in the middle of a foot.
The dreaded octameter can be extremely overwhelming. I've only used this meter once in all my years of writing. You can see it fully exemplified in that poem (My Love). You'll notice that this poem makes use of the caesura between the forth and fifth feet in order to allow for the option to breath while reading.
The trochee (‘trow kee) is the exact inverse of the iamb. It is a foot consisting of an accented syllable followed by an unaccented syllable. As with the iamb, or any foot, the trochee can be comprised of a single word or parts of words. In the illustrating examples above and below, you’ll notice that I split several words between the parenthesized feet.
Here are eight examples of trochaic (trah ‘kay ik) lines, starting again from the shortest possible line containing a trochee, a single trochee, to a line containing eight trochaic feet.
Listen!
- .
(
Listen)
A line containing a single trochee.
Who is crying?
- . - .
(
Who is) (crying)
A line containing two trochaic feet. This is called trochaic dimeter.
Hear his tender crying?
- . - . - .
(
Hear his) (tender) (crying)
A line containing three trochaic feet. This is called trochaic trimeter.
Listen to that rolling thunder!
- . - . - . - .
(
Listen) (to that) (rolling) (thunder)
A line containing four trochaic feet. This is called trochaic tetrameter.
Thunders peel across the sundered heavens
- . - . - . - . - .
(
Thunders) (peel a)(cross the) (sundered) (heavens)
A line containing five trochaic feet. This is called trochaic pentameter.
Heaven seemed to split beneath the flash of lightning
- . - . - . - . - . - .
(
Heaven) (seemed to) (split be)(neath the) (flash of) (lightning)
A line consisting of six trochaic feet. This is called trochaic hexameter.
All the world fell silent when the thunder thinned to silence
- . - . - . - . - . - . - .
(
All the) (world fell) (silent) (when the) (thunder) (thinned to) (silence)
A line consisting of seven trochaic feet. This is called trochaic heptameter.
Here alone I found a place I now could call my only haven
- . - . - . - . - . - . - . - .
(
Here a)(lone I) (found a) (place I) (now could) (call my) (only) (haven)
A line of eight trochaic feet. This is called trochaic octameter.
Note the presence of that the natural pause I mentioned above. It occurs in all the longer lines, starting with the pentameter. When the pause is very brief, I call this a soft caesura, when it is longer and more pronounced, I call this a hard caesura. Note that in the trochaic octameter a hard caesura occurs just after the word "place", causing the second half of the line to feel more iambic than trochaic. I’ll actually devote an article specifically to caesura and hemistiches sometime down the road. These can be useful to understand in their own right.
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