In a single line of verse, a pair of unstressed (/) and stressed (x) syllables is called a foot. The number of feet in a line will tell you the meter. In Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet," the line "But soft! What light through yonder window breaks?" has five feet of stressed and unstressed syllables, as shown: But soft! | What light | through yon | der win | dow breaks? Count the feet in a line to determine the meter. The different types of feet and meter are explained below.
There are six types of feet in poetry. Two-syllable feet are iambic (x/), trochaic (/x), pyrrhic (xx) and spondaic (//). Three syllable feet are anapestic (xx/) and dactylic (/xx).
The types of meter are named according to Greek number prefixes. Monometer has one foot, dimeter two feet, trimeter three feet, tetrameter four feet, pentameter five feet, hexameter six feet, heptameter seven feet and octameter eight feet.
There are many various combinations of meter and foot, but some are more common and well-known than others. Once becoming familiar with the types of feet and meter and how to identify stressed vs. unstressed syllables, you should be able to identify the foot and meter of any English poem. Here are three examples of common poetry patterns:
Dactylic dimeter in Tennyson's "Charge of the Light Brigade"
HALF a league | HALF a league
HALF a league | ON ward
Trochaic tetrameter in Blake's "The Tyger"
TYger | TYger | BURNing | BRIGHT
IN the | FOR ests | OF the | NIGHT
Iambic pentameter in Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet"
But SOFT! | What LIGHT | through YON | der WIN | dow BREAKS?
It IS | the EAST | and JUL | iet IS | the SUN.