Rhyme’s Reason: Poetry: Structure and Meter

And the widows of Ashur are loud in their wail,
And the idols are broke in the temple of Baal
–"The Destruction of Sennacherib," Lord Byron

Fairest of stars, last in the train of night,
If better thou belong not to the dawn,
Sure pledge of day, that crownest the smiling morn
With thy bright circlet, praise him in thy sphere,
While day arises, that sweet hour of prime.
–Paradise Lost, John Milton

So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
–"Sonnet 18," William Shakespeare

Higgledy-piggledy,
Benjamin Harrison,
Twenty-third President,
Was, and, as such,

Served between Clevelands, and
Save for this trivial
Idiosyncrasy,
Didn’t do much.
–"Historical Reflections," John Hollander

I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast
–"This is Just to Say," William Carlos Williams

poetry is motion graceful
as a fawn
gentle as a teardrop
strong like the eye
finding peace in a crowded room
–"Poetry" by Nikki Giovanni

The way a crow
Shook down on me
The dust of snow
From a hemlock tree
–"Dust of Snow," Robert Frost

Because I could not stop for Death –
He kindly stopped for me –
The Carriage held but just Ourselves –
And Immortality.
–"Because I could not stop for Death," Emily Dickinson

When identifying the meter of the poem, it is customary to identify the type of metrical foot the poem uses as well as the number of feet per line. A poem written in iambic pentameter, for example, has five iambs per line. Poetry that has no regular meter and does not rhyme is called "free verse."

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal grace.
I love thee to the level of every day’s
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.
–"How Do I Love Thee (Sonnet 43)," Elizabeth Barrett Browning

That time of year thou mayst in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.
–"Sonnet 73," William Shakespeare

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
–"Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," Robert Frost

Wind sings in its whirling,
water murmurs going by,
unmoving stone keeps still.
Wind, water, stone.

Each is another and no other:
crossing and vanishing
through their empty names:
water, stone, wind.
–"Wind, Water, Stone," Octavio Paz

I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.
–"How Do I Love Thee (Sonnet 43)," Elizabeth Barrett Browning

We real cool. We
Left school. We

Lurk late. We
Strike straight. We

Sing sin. We
Thin gin. We

Jazz June. We
Die soon.
–"We Real Cool," Gwendolyn Brooks

To identify the meter of a poem, you must first analyze the patterns of stress. A syllable is stressed when it is spoken with emphasis. In the word WINTER, for example, the first syllable is stressed and the second syllable is unstressed.

O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being,
Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead
Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing,

Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red,
Pestilence-stricken multitudes: O thou,
Who chariotest to their dark wintry bed
–"Ode to the West Wind," Percy Bysshe Shelley

A belt of straw and Ivy buds,
With Coral clasps and Amber studs:
And if these pleasures may thee move,
Come live with me, and be my love.
–"The Passionate Shepherd to His Love," Christopher Marlowe

Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble.
–Macbeth, William Shakespeare