Poetry Craft Lesson

Into Poetry

A Lesson on Playing with Meter

Works:
Various Limericks
Teachable Terms
iambic limerick
anapestic sonnet
trochaic villanelle
dactylic sestina
meter scansion
fixed form polysyllabic
Purpose
Most poetry prior to the 20th century was written in meter, that is, in a patterned
repetition of stressed and unstressed syllables that faithfully follows the rules of the
specific fixed form (sonnet, villanelle, sestina, blank verse, etc.) being used. Most
modern poetry, on the other hand, is written in free verse – without such a set
rhythm. Free verse is undoubtedly more “conversational” in tone and more easily
approachable than metered poetry. Students will need some help acclimatizing to
the formality of metered poetry. One of the best ways to demystify meter is to allow
students to play around with it for themselves. As award-winning poet Mary Oliver
says in her fine guide to understanding and writing poetry, A Poetry Handbook,
“…imitation is a very good way of investigating the real thing…. Acquaintance with the
main body of English poetry is absolutely essential—it is clearly the whole cake, while
what has been written in the last hundred years or so, without meter, is no more than
an icing.” The following lesson constitutes a quick entry into the world of metered,
fixed-form poetry; students will learn and gain confidence in their understanding of
this world by doing their own metered poem fragments.

Procedure
Step One: Background knowledge. Begin by acquainting students with the core
ideas presented in the accompanying study guide, “Poetry Terms – Rhythm.” Most
essentially, students need to know that the meter of a line is technically defined as:
the kind of foot (characteristic rhythm) in the line + the number of times that foot is
repeated. For example, “iambic pentameter” for a typical blank verse line from
Shakespeare means that five consecutive iambs (an unstressed syllable followed by
a stressed one) make up each line. (Thus, Hamlet’s first line is “A little more than kin
and less than kind.” Ten syllables; five iambs; iambic pentameter). Second,
students also need to know that there are four main kinds of rhythmic feet (iambic,
anapestic, trochaic and dactylic) and what each one sounds like. 80 percent of
metered English poetry is iambic in rhythm.

Step Two: Teach students how to scan a line of metered poetry. The six steps for
doing so are included on the “Poetry Terms – Rhythm” study guide. It is helpful to
practice scanning, at least initially, with a familiar fixed form – in this lesson, the
limerick. By convention, one marks an unstressed syllable by putting a breve( ˘ )
Poetry Craft Lesson
Into Poetry
over it; stressed syllables are indicated by placing an ictus ( ' ) over them. A vertical
bar ( / ) indicates the division between feet. (Be sure and tell students that in
scanning a line, a single two syllable word can be part of two different rhythmic feet.
For example, the word “little” in Hamlet’s opening line quoted above is both the
second half of the first foot and the first half of the second foot of the line.)

Proceed by writing a limerick on the blackboard, dry-erase board or overhead; then

demonstrate how the first line of it is scanned:

1 A student once had the ambition

2 Of becoming a wealthy physician.

3 But med school was strict;

4 He didn’t get picked

5 So instead he became a mortician.

(Begin by placing the appropriate marks over the polysyllabic words – STU-dent & am-
BI-tion. Now, fill in the remaining syllables with the correct accent marks and
separate the line into feet – in this case, an iamb, followed by two anapests, plus the
“extra” throwaway “tion” syllable at the end of the line -- technically known as an
“extrametrical syllable.”)

1 A STU / dent once HAD / the am BI / tion

The predominant foot in this line is the anapest; there are three feet; so, the “meter”
for this line is anapestic trimeter.

Continue in the same way, perhaps demonstrating how to scan one more line, then
inviting students to try it in their notebooks; then, a series of brave volunteers can
demonstrate their solutions to the rest of the class, line by line.

The remaining lines should scan as follows:

2 Of be COM / ing a WEALTH / y phy SI / cian

3 But MED / school was STRICT;

4 He DID / ‘nt get PICKED

5 So in STEAD / he be CAME / a mor TI / cian.

Once students have correctly scanned the limerick, have them identify the rhythm
and rhyme requirements of this particular fixed form. (Answer: For a limerick, lines 1,
Poetry Craft Lesson
Into Poetry
2 and 5 are always anapestic trimeter and rhyme with each other; and lines 3 and 4
are always anapestic dimeter and rhyme with each other.)

Here are two more limericks you can use to give students more opportunities to hone
their scanning skills, if you think that is needed:

1. A lad who would woo a fair maid

2. Should apprentice himself to the trade
3. And study all day
4. In a disciplined way
5. How to flatter, cajole and persuade.

1. The limerick packs laughs anatomical

2. Into space that’s quite economical
3. But the good ones I’ve seen
4. So seldom are clean
5. And the clean ones so seldom are comical.

Or, of course, substitute your own favorite limerick to work with.

Step Three: Now that students have thoroughly dissected the limerick’s metrical
requirements, it is time for them to attempt writing one on their own. This is made
fairly easy by the formulaic opening of many limericks which students can use to
jump-start their own first line, “There once was a ____ ____ named ____ ____.” Pick
a name that is easy to rhyme with and the “poet” practically has the limerick
assignment completed before s/he begins. Give students a few minutes to write;
then invite those who are quick studies to share what they have come up with. The
remaining students should complete the limerick task for homework.

Assignment / Connection
Follow-up: The scanning-into-writing approach used in this lesson can be used for
any of the fixed-forms of classical poetry from the Sonnet (Italian or Elizabethan) to
blank verse, the heroic couplet, sestina, villanelle, and so on. In the Wadsworth
Anthology of Poetry acquired by Portland Public Schools in the recent instructional
materials purchase and widely available throughout the district, there are sections
dedicated to each of these fixed forms. It is probably not advisable to overemphasize
this kind of writing; nevertheless, a small amount of it can go a long way in making
students more comfortable reading and appreciative of the demands of writing in
meter.