How to find the meter of a poem?

[Anonymous No.20711565]

When I try to read poetry I sometimes can't figure out which syllables are emphasised and it really gets on my nerves. Shakespeare's Sonnets are great because it's really clear which syllables are stressed and all the lines have the same amount of syllables and are clearly divided into Iambs, but not all poems are like that. I was reading a poem yesterday and I was trying to figure out it's meter but the lines didn't all have the same amount of syllables, which really triggered my OCD, and that made it impossible to divide the lines into feet. Please help me learn how to identify stressed and unstressed syllables in poems. I don't know how to read them in my mind and it's giving me a lot of anxiety.

[Anonymouṡ No.20711628]

>>20711565

Its.

You have to try to see the big picture. Some poems (and poets) are like a metronome, but most are not. Concentrate on stresses, not syllables. In English, stresses are more important. For example:

Ding dong bell
Pussy's in the well.

The two lines are rhythmically identical — three stresses, BONG BONG BONG. The extra two syllables in the second line don't matter. This is demonstrated by the fact that the tune is identical for each of the two lines.

It helps to read a lot of stricter stuff first. Then it's easier to feel the underlying beat when the poet is taking liberties. Here are some strict iambic pentameter poems:


>Elegy in a Country Churchyard (Gray)
The curfew tolls the knell of parting day,
The lowing herd wind slowly o'er the lea,
The plowman homeward plods his weary way,
And leaves the world to darkness and to me.


>The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam (tr. Fitzgerald)
The moving finger writes, and having writ
Moves on; nor all thy piety nor wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a line,
Nor all thy tears wash out a word of it.


>To Penshurst (Jonson)
Thou art not, Penshurst, built to envious show,
Of touch or marble; nor canst boast a row
Of polished pillars, or a roof of gold...


>Essay On Man (Pope)
Two principles in human nature reign;
Self-love, to urge, and reason, to restrain;
Nor this a good, nor that a bad we call,
Each works its end, to move or govern all...


>The Deserted Village (Goldsmith)
How often have I paused on every charm,
The sheltered cot, the cultivated farm,
The never-failing brook, the busy mill,
The decent church that topp'd the neighbouring hill,
The hawthorn bush, with seats beneath the shade,
For talking age and whispering lovers made!

[Anonymouṡ No.20711637]

>>20711628
And here are some more:


>Aubade (Larkin)
I work all day, and get half-drunk at night.


>Lines For A Book (Gunn)
I think of those exclusive by their action,
For whom mere thought could be no satisfaction —
The atheletes lying under tons of dirt,
Or standing gelded so they cannot hurt
The pale curators and the families
By calling up disturbing images.


>Ode to Autumn (Keats)
Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
Among the river sallows, borne aloft
Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies...


>Strange Meeting (Owen)
It seemed that out of battle I escaped
Down some profound dull tunnel, long since scooped
Through granites which titanic wars had groined.


>Lines Composed A Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey (Wordsworth)
And now, with gleams of half-extinguished thought,
With many recognitions dim and faint,
And somewhat of a sad perplexity,
The picture of the mind revives again:
While here I stand, not only with the sense
Of present pleasure, but with pleasing thoughts
That in this moment there is life and food
For future years.


>Ulysses (Tennyson)
The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks:
The long day wanes: the slow moon climbs: the deep
Moans round with many voices. Come, my friends,
'Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order smite
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars, until I die.

[Anonymous No.20711682]

>>20711628
>Ding dong bell
>Pussy's in the well.
>The two lines are rhythmically identical — three stresses, BONG BONG BONG. The extra two syllables in the second line don't matter. This is demonstrated by the fact that the tune is identical for each of the two lines.
So, basically, the unstressed syllables are omitted from the first line, and there are just pauses in place of them?
Thanks for the poems.

[Anonymous No.20711699]

If you want to understand poetry read Stephen Fry's book.

[Anonymous No.20711707]

>>20711699
Okay, I will. Thanks.

[Anonymous No.20711811]

>>20711699
Thanks!

[Anonymous No.20712182]

>>20711682
No.

1. Ding. 2. Dong. 3. Bell
1. Pussy’s 2. In the 3. Well

[Anonymous No.20712211]

>>20712182
Is it like PUSsy's and IN the or pusSY'S and in THE. Also, is it like DING DONG or ding DONG or ding dong or DING dong?

[Anonymous No.20712214]

>>20711707
>>20711811
Don't listen to this man. Fry is a charlatan. Read this book.

[Anonymous No.20712226]

>>20712211
DING DONG BELL
PUSsy's IN the WELL

[Anonymous No.20712319]

>>20712226
Okay.
>>20712214
I'll read both, I guess. Thanks.