RHYME and RHYTHM

RHYME: Words that sound alike

RHYME SCHEME:  Any pattern of rhymes is poetry. Each new sound is assigned the next letter in the alphabet. The  rhyme scheme for a Shakespearean sonnet is abab cdcd efef gg.

RHYTHM:  A series of stressed or accented syllables in a group of words, arranged so that the reader expects a similar series to follow.

METER:  Any regular pattern of rhythm based on stressed and unstressed syllables. In English verse the following meters are most commonly used:

 

1. Iamb-  two syllables, unstressed-stressed, as in "to day"  "con trol"
2. Trochee-  two syllables, stressed-unstressed, as in "stand ard"   "stu pid.
3. Anapest-  three syllables, unstressed-unstressed-stressed, as in "dis en gage"  "con tra dict"
   
4. Dactyl-  three syllables, stressed-unstressed-unstressed, as in "prob ab ly"  "clum si ness

 

When a line is divided into metrical units, or feet, the following terms are used to indicate the number of feet per line.

1. monometer (one)
2. dimeter (two)
3. trimeter (three
4. tetrameter (four)
5. pentameter (five)
6. hexameter (six)
7. heptameter (seven)
8. octometer (eight)

                 Shakespeare wrote in iambic pentameter.

IAMBIC PENTAMETER