Discussing meter

I spent a lot of time deciding how to discuss meter. The easiest way to talk about it is to talk about its rhythms. That’s one method I tried—just describing the rhythm of the verse, like DUM-te-te-DUM-te-te-DUM-DUM-te-DUM. That’s a pentameter line with ten syllables. (By the way, I have a simple glossary of terms in case you need it.) It’s easy to tell what it sounds like. (It’s not very easy to write, but that’s a reasonable sacrifice.) A major problem with this system is that it’s pretty annoying to read this stuff over and over. I found it helpful enough to illustrate an example every now and then (and I kept it for that special purpose only) but it’s too unwieldy to use for a discussion of the meter of 154 poems. I also tried describing the types of metrical feet in terms of their relation to the standard iamb (an unstressed first syllable and a stressed second syllable): a reversed stress (trochee), a double stress (spondee) and two unstressed syllables (pyrrhic). This system has the advantage of not requiring the reader to memorize any jargon (except iamb and pentameter), but it’s very unwieldy, especially when trying to describe common combinations, like the trochee-iamb (“a reversed stress followed by an iamb”) or a pyrrhic-spondee (“two unstressed syllables followed by a double stress”). In the end, I decided it best to combine the use of the names of the four metrical feet found in The Sonnets (iambs, trochees, spondees and pyrrhics) with occasional use of description of stressed beats (such as “three stressed beats in a row”) and the sound of a particular rhythm (like the pentameter line described above, which, by the way, is a trochee, iamb, pyrrhic, spondee, iamb). I think this is a good compromise in terms of understandability and readability. (I have also included a glossary on the website.)

There are other systems that are used to talk about meter that I have completely avoided. When discussions turn to proclitics and enclitics, or stress-maxima, I find them too distant from the poetry to be of value to me and for that reason I have not found a personal use for them.

Too often, discussions of meter are complex and difficult. My aim has been to make a discussion of the meter of The Sonnets as pleasant to read as The Sonnets themselves. I hope you’ll check out what I’ve written on my website and let me know if you like it. But if that’s not your thing right now, just keep reading my blog. I’ll do my best to keep you interested.