![]() ![]() Brogan issues a stern warning about the temptations of overly detailed scansion: Ictus refers to the position within a line that is experienced as a beat, or to the syllable that fills it. Thus a syllable, regardless of its level of stress, that realizes a beat is ictic and a syllable, regardless of its level of stress, that does not is nonictic. These phenomena are called "promotion" and "demotion". This can most easily be understood through the principle of relative stress: an unstressed syllable between 2 even slightly weaker syllables may be perceived as a beat and the reverse is true of a stressed syllable between 2 even slightly stronger syllables. A perfectly regular line of iambic pentameter may have anywhere from 2 to 9 stresses, but it is still felt to exhibit 5 pulses or beats. ![]() However, marking stress is not the same as marking meter. All other aspects of language are present, indeed they are vital to the rhythm of the verse but they are not ordered by the meter. In English (and in many modern languages) the language is ordered by syllabic stress. It is an ordering of language by means of an extremely limited subset of its characteristics. ![]() Lewis observes, "f the scansion of a line meant all the phonetic facts, no two lines would scan the same way".Meter is another matter. The rhythm of language is infinitely varied all aspects of language contribute to it: loudness, pitch, duration, pause, syntax, repeated elements, length of phrases, frequency of polysyllabic words. There is even a debate among scholars as to what systems were inherited from the Greek and Roman poetry.To understand any form of scansion, it is necessary to appreciate the difference between meter and rhythm. Systems of scansion, and the assumptions (often tacit or even subconscious) that underlie them, are so numerous and contradictory that it is often difficult to tell whether differences in scansion indicate opposed metrical theories, conflicting understandings of a line's linguistic character, divergent practical goals, or whether they merely constitute a trivial argument over who has the "better ear" for verse. Over the years, many systems have been established to mark the scansion of a poem. In both cases, the meter often has a regular foot. In English poetry, they are based on the different levels of stress placed on each syllable. In classical poetry, these patterns are quantitative based on the different lengths of each syllable. These differences are often deliberate and can be used by the writer to create different meanings in a poem.Scansion ( SKAN-shən, rhymes with mansion verb: to scan), or a system of scansion, is the method or practice of determining and (usually) graphically representing the metrical pattern of a line of verse. Look out for differences in the metre of different lines. A line of iambic pentameter has five feet (five units) of iambs in it. E.g.: ‘If mus/ic be/the food/of love/play on’ (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) BUT REMEMBER(!): A poem’s metre may not be the same on every line (it would be very boring if it were!). The most commonly known rhythm and metre is iambic pentameter. E.g.: Linda Find the Table Why do So a line of trochaic poetry might look like this: How do farmers know the cows are dirty (The rhythm in each line sounds like tum-te/ tum-te/ tum-te/ tum-te/ tum-te ) When you have worked out the rhythm and the metre of a poem, you stick them together. It is a stressed beat followed by an unstressed beat. E.g.: I think The car A goat Le anne So a line of iambic poetry might look like this: A dog went to the park to see his friend (The rhythm in each line sounds like te- tum/ te- tum/ te- tum/ te- tum/ te- tum ) A trochee is the exact opposite. Iambs and Trochees. An iamb is an unstressed beat followed by a stressed beat. There are 2 main types to learn at A-Level. To work out the rhythm of a line of poetry, you look at each ‘foot’ and see what kind of rhythm it uses. If it is made up of five feet, it is written in pentameter. For example, if the line is made up of four feet, it is written in tetrameter. ![]() To work out the metre of a line, you count the number of feet in that line. A line of poetry is made of units of rhythm. You don’t have to talk about it, but it can make you aware of hidden meanings in a poem and can help you access the higher grade boundaries. Scansion is the analysis of a poem’s rhythm and metre. ![]()
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