46. Metrical Patterns

Question 1

What’s the common metrical pattern?

Answer 1

Iambic pentameter.

Question 2

In what ways was iambic pentameter used?

Answer 2

It couldn’t be followed mechanically, so we have different versions of it. For example, we could have a stressed syllable, two unstressed ones, before the standard iambic pattern is finally followed.

Question 3

List all the line length types by using terms.

Answer 3

Monometer - 1;
Dimeter - 2;
Trimeter - 3;
Tetrameter - 4;
Pentameter - 5;
Hexameter - 6;
Heptameter - 7;
Octameter - 8;

Question 4

Does anything ever rhyme in a blank verse?

Answer 4

Yes, but it’s rare.

Question 5

Recall the poets who used blank verse.

Answer 5

In many of the poems by Wordsworth and Coleridge.

Question 6

What can you say about the further treatment of the traditional systems of metrical patterns?

Answer 6

They are not systematically followed. There is more freedom. In this way, we get free verse.

Question 7

What’s free verse?

Answer 7

It has no regular line length. It depends on the rhythms of speech, tempo and intonation.