What is scansion and how important is it? How do I talk about the rhythm and metre of a poem on an exam?

Scansion is the analysis of a poem’s rhythm and metre. 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. A line of poetry is made of units of rhythm. These units are called ‘feet’. To work out the metre of a line, you count the number of feet in that line. For example, if the line is made up of four feet, it is written in tetrameter. If it is made up of five feet, it is written in pentameter. To work out the rhythm of a line of poetry, you look at each ‘foot’ and see what kind of rhythm it uses. There are 2 main types to learn at A-Level. Iambs and Trochees. An iamb is an unstressed beat followed by a stressed beat. (Stressed beats shown in bold). E.g.:                                                                                  I think The car A goat Leanne 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. It is a stressed beat followed by an unstressed beat. (Stressed beats shown in bold). 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. The most commonly known rhythm and metre is iambic pentameter. (This was Shakespeare’s favourite!). 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!). Look out for differences in the metre of different lines. These differences are often deliberate and can be used by the writer to create different meanings in a poem. 

Answered by Emily M. English tutor

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