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Introduction English poetry is divided into lines, and these lines have some rythmic pattern. This is meter.

Metrical patterns of some kind appear to be basic to all poetry. Some of the effects of meter are not fully understood. Perhaps the repeated rhytmic beat is more evident to the hearer's perceptions, making him or her more receptive or even resistant. Other effects of meter are: it can throw emphasis on particular words; it can set up expectations, and the produce effect by satisfying or defeating them; it can contribute to the sense of emotional control in a poem, our feeling that the poet is ordering experience, not being carried away by it. (Definition of meter/ difference with rhythm) (Signs in the scansion of a poem/ definition of scansion) Introduction to Metrical systems The metrical systems that are possible depend on the characteristics of the language in question. In Modern English (1500-1700) it is not possible to use the metrical system like that of the Latin poets of the first century BC. In classical Latin poetry, the meters are consisted of patterns of long an short syllables. These length-patterns did not coincide with the arrangement of the stress in the line. There have been many attempts to imitate classical Latin meters in English poetry (especially in the 16 th century), but this system just will not work in English for several reasons. In the course of English history there has been more than one type of metrical system. In Old English (before 1100), the poets used the alliterative system. Each line was divided into two half-lines, an in each half-line two of the syllables constituted lifts. There were rules concerned with syllable-length and stress, as to what syllables could be lifts.

Some the lifts alliterated with one another: the first lift of the second half-line always began with the same speech pattern of one of the lifts in the first half-line. There were no restrictions on the total number of syllables under a limited number of stress-patterns per half-line. In Beowulf we find from four to eight syllables in a half-line. Since Geoffrey Chaucer's time there have been various theories about English meter, but we have two prominent views in most poetry in the modern period(POINTING TO the slide of metrical systems): The stress-feet metrical system. And the syllable-counting system. (We will develop the first one further in a while, but let's explain a little about the second) Syllable-counting system: Some English poets have based their versification, not on feet, but on the number of syllables in the line. We have types of meters like the fourteeners lines of exactly fourteen syllables and the Poulter's Measure, consisting of lines of twelve syllables and fourteen syllables alternatively, again rhyming in couplets. From the late 17th to the 18th century is a period where the syllable-counting system is used. This is the time of Dryden, Pope and Johnson. The commonest meter was the tensyllable line, usually in rhyming couplets. The application of this system in the English poetry implied smoother and more regular rhythms and the avoidance of successive vowel sounds. As regards FREE VERSE: It is hard to analyze this type of poetry because of its unpredictable line-length, and because it escapes to underlying patters. Besides, poems tend not to be divided into stanzas but in

sections or paragraphs of varied lengths. The stress-feet system: (Pass slide to this metrical system) As we said, this is influenced by classical Latin theories, but with stress playing the part of Latin syllable-length. Each line of verse consists of feet (READ the definition of feet on the slide). (Most common feet in English poetry) (Example) This system was adapted into English poetry during the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance. When we analyze English meters we say that the lines in a given meter have a certain fixed number of feet: (Terms used to indicate the number of feet in a line) Most English verse of the post-medieval period is written in iambic meters, but the other meters are occasionally used. (Example) Finishing (Summary) (Bibliography)

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