Looks like I'm going to have to open shop here. If you have questions about meter or other poetic devices, just ask me. I'm a seasoned pro and a master of meter. Don't know what the hell trochaic tetrameter is or why some goon is making you write in it? Just come to me and I'll sort that shit out pronto.
Poetry Meter School
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Might as well ask since Wikipedia never gives me a clear enough answer.
Someone on another forum said something about my "rhetoric" and I absolutely have no idea what in the bloody hell he meant.
so yeah. >.>
Someone on another forum said something about my "rhetoric" and I absolutely have no idea what in the bloody hell he meant.
so yeah. >.>
Rhetoric is basically the style of speech you use to make a point. It doesn't refer to any one style, really, but in general use, it's just the persuasive tactics you employ in speech or writing. It's also kind of an insult when someone calls your speech "rhetoric," as it dismisses your points as mere persuasion with no real value, and because it openly recognizes your persuasion.
On the subject of rhetoric, have you any idea where I can study more on the subject? I do not have any modules that look into this at my institution.
Moving back to meter.... Pardon my ignorance, but, what's that?
Moving back to meter.... Pardon my ignorance, but, what's that?
If you want to learn more about rhetoric, it's best to start with the classics. Try reading Gorgias by Plato. If that's too difficult, just try to find a decent introductory book on the subject (I'm sure there are tens of thousands).
Meter is the rhythmic structure in a poem. It can be broken down into lines, further into metrical feet, and further into syllables. The English language features stresses in words. Take the word "happening" for example. HAP pen ing. The stress is on the first syllable. I'm going to assume you understand stresses in words.
Well, meter is what you get when you build a line of words in such a way that the stresses repeat some kind of pattern. Say you put in a row a bunch of two syllable words that all have stress on the first syllable:
Tire fortune jealous cherry bottle
TIre FORtune JEALous CHERry BOTtle
You don't have to say the words any differently than you do in everyday speaking for this effect to be apparent enough. You don't actually have to say "FOR! chun" if you read that word in a metered poem. A lot of people make this mistake, thinking that the effect of meter is lost unless they really emphasize it. Don't ever do that.
Anyway, if you look at that line I made up out of nonsense words, you'll see that there are five stresses and five unstressed syllables. When a stressed syllable is followed by an unstressed syllable (whether or not they syllables are in the same word or in two different words), it is called a "trochee." A trochee is just one type of metrical "foot." A foot is a unit of meter...
So trochee is a foot with stressed followed by unstressed
An iamb is a foot with unstressed followed by stressed (inDEED, aROUND, helLO)
There are more kinds of "feet," too, some of which have even three syllables in them.
So when you put five trochees in a row in a single line like I did above, it's called "pentameter" because penta means five. Five metrical feet per line: pentameter. What kind of feet? Trochees. So that line is written in "trochaic pentameter."
There are all kinds of types of meter. Iambic pentameter is famous for being the meter of choice for sonnets. There's also stuff like anapestic triameter, dactylic quadrameter, etc., using different types of feet and different numbers of repetitions per line.
So that's basically what meter is.
Meter is the rhythmic structure in a poem. It can be broken down into lines, further into metrical feet, and further into syllables. The English language features stresses in words. Take the word "happening" for example. HAP pen ing. The stress is on the first syllable. I'm going to assume you understand stresses in words.
Well, meter is what you get when you build a line of words in such a way that the stresses repeat some kind of pattern. Say you put in a row a bunch of two syllable words that all have stress on the first syllable:
Tire fortune jealous cherry bottle
TIre FORtune JEALous CHERry BOTtle
You don't have to say the words any differently than you do in everyday speaking for this effect to be apparent enough. You don't actually have to say "FOR! chun" if you read that word in a metered poem. A lot of people make this mistake, thinking that the effect of meter is lost unless they really emphasize it. Don't ever do that.
Anyway, if you look at that line I made up out of nonsense words, you'll see that there are five stresses and five unstressed syllables. When a stressed syllable is followed by an unstressed syllable (whether or not they syllables are in the same word or in two different words), it is called a "trochee." A trochee is just one type of metrical "foot." A foot is a unit of meter...
So trochee is a foot with stressed followed by unstressed
An iamb is a foot with unstressed followed by stressed (inDEED, aROUND, helLO)
There are more kinds of "feet," too, some of which have even three syllables in them.
So when you put five trochees in a row in a single line like I did above, it's called "pentameter" because penta means five. Five metrical feet per line: pentameter. What kind of feet? Trochees. So that line is written in "trochaic pentameter."
There are all kinds of types of meter. Iambic pentameter is famous for being the meter of choice for sonnets. There's also stuff like anapestic triameter, dactylic quadrameter, etc., using different types of feet and different numbers of repetitions per line.
So that's basically what meter is.