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Introduction
Accent
Verse construction
Introduction
All speech is made up of words. Words
themselves are made up of syllables which are groups of one or more
letters containing, in very simple terms, a sound, typically and most
commonly a vowel. The letter ‘a’ can constitute a syllable on its own
because it makes a definite and specific sound as air is released
through the open mouth. The letter ‘b’ on its own does not constitute a
syllable because it is made by putting the lips together and then
opening them slightly. The word ‘bee’ (often used to articulate the
letter ‘b’) does constitute a syllable but it is the following ‘ee’
sound that makes it a syllable rather than the ‘b’ itself.
Accent
In speech, syllables may be accented or
unaccented. While the word ‘accent’ is commonly and correctly used to
describe the way in which a person speaks, as in a Scottish ‘accent’, it
is also used to describe the relative strength of the pronunciation of
syllables. For example, in pronouncing the word ‘syllable’ itself, more
emphasis is placed on the first part of the word than the remainder. It
could thus be written ‘SYLLable’ to show how it is pronounced. The
first syllable ‘SYLL’ is said to be accented while the remainder is not.
Verse construction
All speech is made up of combinations
of Accented and Unaccented syllables. So it is with poetry. Any group
of two or more syllables of which one is accented as above is known as a
foot.
Number of
Feet
in a
line/verse
1
Monometer
2
Dimeter
3
Trimeter
4
Tetrameter
5
Pentameter
(standard verse length in English)
6
Hexameter
(standard verse length in other languages)
7
Heptameter
8
Octameter
There are no formal naming conventions for longer
lines, which do occur but only rarely.
One or more feet form a line or
verse and a number of lines form a stanza. While the word
stanza always refers to a group of lines in a poem, the word
verse can be properly but sometimes confusingly used in a number of
ways. It can mean the same as stanza to refer to a group of
lines in a poem; it can mean a single line; and it can of course refer
to the concept of poetry as opposed to prose.
Number of Lines
in a stanza
2
Couplet
3
Triplet
4
Quatrain
5
Quintet
6
Sextet or Sextain
7
Septet
8
Octave
9
Nine line stanza (surprise, surprise!)
10
Ten line stanza (ditto)
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