#tetrameter

[i-scan-your-poems]

Macrame Shibari Pixies

scansion:

– ◡ / – ◡ / – ◡ / – ◡ Macra/me Shi/bari / Pixies

metrical form: trochaic tetrameter

other notes: There's a blog (and a cartoon theme song) for that! @trochaic-mutant-ninja-tetrameter

[metricalscansion]

x x / x x / x x / x /

Have u ev | er had sex | with a phar | oah ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

x x / x x x x / x /

put the | pussy | in a | scarmoph | ogoghs

first line is mainly-anapestic tetrameter, second line is a trochee ('pussy') preceded and followed by dibrachs, resolving into iambs for 'scarmophogoghs'

Have u ever had sex with a pharoah ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh put the pussy in a scarmophogoghs

[i-scan-your-poems]

Dies iræ! dies illa

Solvet sæclum in favilla

Teste David cum Sibylla!

Scansion:

– ◡ / – ◡ / – ◡ / – ◡ Dies / iræ! / dies / illa – ◡ / – ◡ / – ◡ / – ◡ Solvet / sæclum / in fa/villa – ◡ / – ◡ / – ◡ / – ◡ Teste / David / cum Si/bylla!

Metrical form: Trochaic tetrameter Rhyme scheme: AAA. The poem that this comes from has an AAA BBB CCC etc. rhyme scheme, and note that the last two syllables of each line rhyme. Other notes: Listen up, chucklefucks... No but seriously this demonstrates some cool issues in Latin scansion that might end up being related to my PhD research. Classical Latin poetry is based on patterns of long and short syllables (a system it borrowed from Ancient Greek poetry), with no rhyme and mostly no rules about where the stress accent falls. The dies irae poem is in Latin but it's from the 13th century, when most Latin poetry wasn't like that and was instead based on stressed and unstressed syllables and rhymes, similar to the way that poetry was written in the vernacular languages of the day. Also, it's in the ninja turtle meter.

[i-scan-your-poems]

Hi! Do you know what type of poem/meter is used in William Vaughn Moody's "Pandora's Song"? I'm obsessed with it so not knowing is driving me nuts. Thank you!

"Of wounds and sore defeat I made my battle stay; Winged sandals for my feet I wove of my delay; Of weariness and fear I made my shouting spear; Of loss, and doubt, and dread, And swift oncoming doom I made a helmet for my head And a floating plume. From the shutting mist of death, From the failure of the breath, I made a battle-horn to blow Across the vales of overthrow. O hearken, love, the battle-horn! The triumph clear, the silver scorn! O hearken where the echoes bring, Down the grey disastrous morn, Laughter and rallying."

Scansion:

"Of wounds / and sore / defeat [3] I made / my bat/tle stay; [3] Winged san/dals for / my feet [3] I wove / of my / delay; [3] Of wea/riness / and fear [3] I made / my shou/ting spear; [3] Of loss, / and doubt, / and dread, [3] And swift / oncom/ing doom [3] I made / a hel/met for / my head [4] And / a floa/ting plume. [3 acephalous] From / the shut/ting mist / of death, [4 acephalous] From / the fail/ure of / the breath, [4 acephalous] I made / a bat/tle-horn / to blow [4] Across / the vales / of o/verthrow. [4] O hear/ken, love, / the bat/tle-horn! [4] The tri/umph clear, / the sil/ver scorn! [4] O hear/ken where / the e/choes bring, [4] Down / the grey / disas/trous morn, [4 acephalous] Laughter / and ral/lying." [3]

Metrical form: It starts out in iambic trimeter (with some trochaic inversions) and moves into mostly iambic tetrameter.

Rhyme scheme: ABAB CC DEDE FFGG HHIHI

Notes: The lines I've marked as acephalous are a bit ambiguous; the first syllable in each of them could be either stressed or unstressed depending on how you emphasize the phrase, in my opinion. So "From the shutting mist of death" could be either acephalous tetrameter, – / ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ –, or it could be trimeter, ◡ ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ –.

Now I'm a little obsessed with this poem too! What a cool piece! And what a cool sound: clearly metrical, but switching up the number of feet per line, and always rhyming but repeatedly switching up the rhyme scheme.

[i-scan-your-poems]

hiii ive been thinking abt it a lot recently,it's very much becoming my favourite poem (i have tied it to one of my favourite ocs its so over for me.) and now im wondering about what the meter for The Tyger by William Blake is? thank you :3 i also hope your day/night is going well

You know,I love The Tyger as well but it's been ages since I've thought about it. It's trochaic tetrameter catalectic! Some lines (like line 4) start with an extra unstressed syllable, arguably making those lines iambic instead.

– ◡ / – ◡ / – ◡ / – Tyger / Tyger, / burning / bright,  – ◡ / – ◡ / – ◡ / – In the / forests / of the / night;  – ◡ / – ◡ / – ◡ / – What im/mortal / hand or / eye,  ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ – Could frame / thy fear/ful sym/metry? – ◡ / – ◡ / – ◡ / – In what / distant / deeps or / skies.  – ◡ / – ◡ / – ◡ / – Burnt the / fire / of thine / eyes? – ◡ / – ◡ / – ◡ / – On what / wings dare / he as/pire? – ◡ / – ◡ / – ◡ / – What the / hand, dare / seize the / fire?

etc.

Also there are a few points where IMO a meaningful word that you'd naturally emphasize goes in a syllable that should be unstressed, so the trochee gets read as a spondee. For example, I read the final line as

– – / ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ – Dare frame / thy fear/ful sym/metry?

The same could apply to dare in line 8. But that might just be me!

[i-scan-your-poems]

scansion:

– ◡ / – ◡ / – ◡ / – ◡ grandma / ate my / fucking / pizza

metrical form: trochaic tetrameter

grandma ate my fucking pizza

[i-scan-your-poems]

From a post I ran across in my archive, poem is by misbehavingmaiar: Stones will break, and roots will squeeze, vines will grow and bend all knees; mushrooms hunt and thorns yolk; weeds strangle and flowers choke. The age of skin is done. The hour of bark is come. Baruuum.

Scansion:

– ◡ / – ◡ / – ◡ / – Stones will break, and roots will squeeze, – ◡ / – ◡ / – ◡ / – vines will grow and bend all knees; – ◡ / – ◡ / – / – mushrooms hunt and thorns yolk; – – / ◡ ◡ / – ◡ / – weeds strangle and flowers choke. ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ – The age of skin is done. ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ – The hour of bark is come. Baruuum.

Metrical form: Lines 1-4 are trochaic tetrameter catalectic. Lines 1-2 have no variations from the basic pattern; line 3 omits an unstressed syllable from the last foot and line 4 has anaclasis of the second and third syllables.

Lines 5-6 remove the initial stressed syllable, becoming iambic trimeter.

Rhyme scheme: AABBCCD

[i-scan-your-poems]

poem for you to scan if youre accepting them? this one's called "the pillars in pairs"

Through the door of golden pine

Down the creaking stairs,

With pale stone streaking granite gold

Of the pillars in pairs.

On the brick-and-mortar path

Near to sunlit mares

Within the light of the shining sun

‘Round the pillars in pairs.

Over hedges rosy-sweet,

By the grazing hares

Across the golden field of grass,

To the pillars in pairs.

T’wards the silver marble men

Near the statue’s hand,

Before the weeping ravens here,

The pairs of pillars stand.

Scansion:

– / ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ – Through / the door / of gol/den pine – / ◡ – / ◡ – Down / the crea/king stairs, ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ – With pale / stone strea/king gra/nite gold ◡ ◡ – / ◡ ◡ – Of the pil/lars in pairs. – / ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ – On / the brick/-and-mor/tar path – / ◡ – / ◡ – Near / to sun/lit mares ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ ◡ – / ◡ – Within / the light / of the shi/ning sun ◡ ◡ – / ◡ ◡ – ‘Round the pil/lars in pairs. – / ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ – O/ver hed/ges ro/sy-sweet, – / ◡ – / ◡ – By / the gra/zing hares ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ – Across / the gol/den field / of grass, ◡ ◡ – / ◡ ◡ – To the pil/lars in pairs. – / ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ – T’wards / the sil/ver mar/ble men – / ◡ – / ◡ – Near / the sta/tue’s hand, ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ – Before / the wee/ping ra/vens here, ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ – The pairs / of pil/lars stand.

Metrical form: Each four-line stanza has the same rhythm, even though each line within the stanza is different: – / ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ – (acephalous iambic tetrameter) – / ◡ – / ◡ – (acephalous iambic trimeter) ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ – (iambic tetrameter) ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ – OR ◡ ◡ – / ◡ ◡ –

The fourth line of the stanza is underlyingly an iambic trimeter. However, in all but the last stanza, this expected line is replaced with an anapestic dimeter: the same number of syllables, but broken into two feet instead of three.

Rhyme scheme: ABCB DBEB FBGB HIJI

[i-scan-your-poems]

I am a dwarf and I'm digging a hole

scansion:

– ◡ ◡ / – ◡ ◡ / – ◡ ◡ / – I am a / dwarf and I'm / digging a / hole

metrical form: dactylic tetrameter catalectic

[i-scan-your-poems]

The source of my vitality:

Into the stars to look—

The heavens, my reality,

The moon, an open book.

I’ve friends that often wait with me

And watch the grand temporal view,

And share with me their majesty

Before the sun on morn renews.

But my acquaintance does not make

The average townsman come alive—

In truth, it makes the soulless quake,

For no one can this sky revive.

I know not nebulae supreme,

Just meager, weak suburban sky—

The firmament a thing of dreams;

But if the streetlights were to die…

I’d dare to stare up at the glare,

And they too deign to raise their gaze—

For blinding light, they tremble scared,

Whilst I stare in amazement dazed.

Scansion:

◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ ◡ – ◡ / ◡ – / ◡ – ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ ◡ ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ – ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ – ◡ – / ◡ – / – ◡ / ◡ – ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ – ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ – ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ – ◡ – ◡ / ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ – ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ – ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ – ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ ◡ / ◡ – ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ – ◡ – / ◡ ◡ / ◡ – / ◡ – ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ – ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ – ◡ – / – – / ◡ – / ◡ – ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ – ◡ – / – ◡ / ◡ – / ◡ –

Metrical form: In the first stanza, odd-numbered lines are iambic tetrameter while even-numbered lines are iambic trimeter. After that, all lines are iambic tetrameter.

Rhyme scheme: ABAB

Other notes: This poem uses occasional pyrrhic, spondaic, and especially trochaic substitutions, replacing individual iambic feet with other types of foot. For example, in the last line, Whilst I / stare in / amaze/ment dazed, the second foot scans as – ◡ (a trochee). In the first tline, The source / of my / vita/lity, the last foot scans as ◡ ◡, a pyrrhic.

[batgovernor]

Using form: Amphibrachic tetrameter: John Beaton, 'Regeneration'

Hay ripens. I sharpen my tapering scythe blade and chamfer its wafer of paper-thin steel with stone swoops; it’s hooked like a peregrine’s talon. The snaking shaft sweeps and the first swathe is side-laid beside me, clean slain. As I swing I can feel the gravid field yielding. Sheaves kneel and then fall in the breeze in formation. Their early seeds dance there like next April’s rain-showers…

[trochaic-mutant-ninja-tetrameter]

🎶Happy Ides of March, y'all! Et tu, Brute?🎵

[i-scan-your-poems]

full scansion:

– / ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ – mon/keys on / the in/terstate ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ – igua/nas in / your home – / ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ – all / my pa/tients kick / and bite ◡ – ◡ / ◡ – / ◡ – wild ani/mals I / have known

metrical form: Alternating lines of acephalous iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter. rhyme scheme: ABCB other notes: Line 4 has an extra syllable between the first and second feet.

Was looking for a book today when I saw these various animal books all on the same shelf and noticed their titles made a nice little impromptu poem about veterinary medicine

[pangur-and-grim]

I'm the opposite of a free-verse person. I love finding formats so complex that their instructions look like summoning circles. it is FUN!! I am PLAYING!!

[i-scan-your-poems]

Please please can you tell me more about the Mem Cake poems from Splatoon 2: Octo Expansion? These two are from "Octoling" and "Pearl":

Though parted by the ocean deep, /

My oldest friend, we meet again. /

I touch your face; you rouse from sleep.

-

"I rule," you said, "It's in my blood. /

Don't step to me—ESPECIALLY /

if you can't hang with my best bud."

full scansion:

◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ – Though par/ted by / the o/cean deep, ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ – My ol/dest friend, / we meet / again. ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ – I touch / your face; / you rouse / from sleep. ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ – "I rule," / you said, / "It's in / my blood. ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ – Don't step / to me/—ESPE/CIALLY ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ – / ◡ – if you / can't hang / with my / best bud."

metrical form: iambic tetrameter rhyme scheme: ABA other notes: the last line of the second one has some anaclasis, creating a slower tempo I guess. It's more like – ◡ / ◡ – / ◡ – / – –

[the-northern-continent]

Rhythm and Breath in Dragon Age: Inquisition

Inquisition plays around with a couple recurring rhythms:

iambic pentameter (dagger skill tree, Maryden)

trochaic tetrameter (Saga of Tyrdda Bright-Axe)

the cadence from the song Hallelujah (Solas)

Many folks have already written technical comparisons of these different rhythms, but I specifically wanted to talk about how they handle breath.

Without even paying attention to the word content of these rhythms, the breath patterns help set the mood. Are my breaths regularly spaced? Am I gulping for air? Am I breathing slowly and calmly?

As we go through the different rhythms, try reading them aloud to see where your breath lands.

Iambic Pentameter

Iambic pentameter is a five (penta-) foot meter, where each foot is an iamb. An iamb is a two-syllable “da-DUM” sound, an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. So each line has 10 syllables total.

Here’s an example from the dagger skill tree, with the feet color-coded:

You leap through shadows to attack your foe

With deadly strikes that hit them from behind.

Before your target turns to face your blow,

You move to stealth, impossible to find.

If we read this aloud, we find that 10 syllables is a lot! There are very few mid-line commas, so we naturally want to breathe between lines. But each of those breaths needs to last for ten syllables. If we don’t want to pass out, we’re reading the lines a bit faster than we normally would.

The iambs add even more forward momentum. Since we need to save more breath for the second syllable in each pair, we hurry slightly faster over the unstressed syllables.

Because we keep repeating that same syllable count and stress pattern, the overall effect is one of speed and precision. This is a rogue rapidly making blow after blow after blow with their daggers, hitting every single time. This is Maryden rattling off each sentence with perfect poise and musical training. There’s no time here for thinking; no room for mistakes. The next line is going to be ten syllables too. And the next. And the next.

Trochaic Tetrameter

By contrast, the Saga of Tyrdda Bright-Axe only has 4 (tetra-) trochees (DUM-da) per line. On every other line, the final unstressed syllable is dropped (catalexis).

That’s a lot of jargon, let’s color code the feet:

Tell the tale of Tyrdda Bright-Axe

mountain maker, spirit’s bride:

Free, her people, forged in fastness

made in mountains, hardy hide.

This is a classic meter, often found in nursery rhymes and folk songs. Because there’s only 8 syllables per line (plus lots of mid-line commas), we can read each line at a casual pace, without speeding up. The catalexis adds extra emphasis to the rhyming lines, since we get to the last (7th) syllable with more breath to spend. And even within each foot, we don’t have to manage our breath as much, because the stressed syllable comes first.

This creates a comfortable rhythm that lends itself to memorization and recitation. We can easily imagine this saga being passed down beside a campfire.

Hallelujah

Since the Hallelujah cadence comes from music rather than poetry, it has an additional kind of stress, the mid-measure secondary stress.*

We don’t exactly have feet, but we can color code each measure:

I lay in dark and dreaming sleep

while countless wars and ages passed.

I woke still weak a year before I joined you.

For the first two lines, each measure is 4 syllables long, so we get 8 syllables in each line, similar to the Tyrdda poem. If we read it aloud, it’s easy to do it slowly and thoughtfully. The secondary, quieter stresses also create an echoing effect, which emphasizes that Solas is thinking about the past.

Then the last line goes absolutely bananas. It abandons the unstressed-stressed repetition and gets much longer, flying up to 11 syllables — even longer than the 10-syllable lines in iambic pentameter.

Additionally, Solas tends to glue the first two lines together, which is SIXTEEN syllables, so they sound closer to an octameter** than the tetrameter(ish) sound of the original song.

The overall effect is of someone trying to be measured and thoughtful, but partway through he gets hit with nostalgia and the lines spill out in a long breathless rush. Bro has to speak quietly so he doesn’t totally run out of air.

*Music theory sidebar: Leonard Cohen’s original version is in 12/8 time, so the secondary stress isn’t as prominent. It shows up in one or two verses, but not all. A lot of the subsequent covers, including k.d. lang’s, sound more like 6/8. That means every measure has a 2-beat count: 1-2-3 4-5-6. I think the 6/8 version fits Solas’ speech pattern a bit more. But he’s not singing, and secondary stresses are harder to place. Syllables don’t have to align 1:1 with melody notes (in fact, in Hallelujah there are several places where the syllable alignment changes from verse to verse). So someone else could easily hear a slightly different stress pattern.

**This implies a cursed version of Solas where the last line is omitted and he’s actually syncing his speech to Modern Major-General.