Tapping the right foot!

I would first like to mention that this concept of meters was first introduced to me by a friend after which I took to finding out details and thought of sharing it with my readers. Special thanks to my friend...

I know many of our readers are not too keen for poetry appreciation. Reading poems can be tedious sometimes. In that case, mine, would be the best example. The fact that I write poems myself does not help me to develop interest in poetry reading. No doubt, poems make facts sound very beautiful. They also add rhythm to your monotonous read. Yet, you fail to appreciate it. Why is that? What is it that you do not understand in poems and so are refrained from reading them as regularly as you read prose? Let me help you find out. Poems have feet! Might sound bizarre. Read on…

So what is a foot? A foot is essentially a set of syllables. The syllables may be stressed or unstressed. For those who have forgotten what syllables are: they are simply distinct sounds made by the tongue while we speak. The word ‘syllable’ has 3: ‘sy’, ‘lla’and ’ble’. Simply put, when you pronounce the word your tongue makes three distinct sounds. I’m sure this has helped you recall. So we move on to feet. A set of two or more such syllables is a foot. This leads us to conclude that the word ‘syllable’ is in itself a foot. Now depending on whether the syllables in a foot are stressed or unstressed and their order decides what kind of a foot it is. Stressed means a long sound while unstressed means a short sound. I’ll mention a few types and give famous examples so that it is easier to understand:

One of the most famous 2 syllabic foot is the Iambic foot which is an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. Assuming all of us have read ‘The Daffodils’ by William Wordsworth, here goes the example:

‘I wandered lonely as a cloud’

Remember how we learnt this poem by heart? Ya in that typical rhythm ‘da dum da dum da dum da dum’. So read it that way again. This time don’t forget to notice the syllables. I’ll mark them for you…

‘I-wan-dered-lone-ly-as-a-cloud’

Each of these is a syllable. Take note that the bold ones are stressed while reciting. While others are unstressed. So in this line after every unstressed syllable there is a stressed syllable. Thus every pair of syllable here is an Iambic foot. i.e ‘I-wan’, ‘dered-lone’, ‘ly-as’, ‘a-cloud’. Now if I tell you that many such feet make a meter, then this line would be a tetrameter since it has four such Iambic feet. Getting interesting? Good. Now if you read this poem completely you will realise that it has been written wholely in Iambic tetrameter! Amazing isn’t it? How can someone write so perfectly in rhythm? Now you know why this particular poem was easier to learn, don’t you?

Like Iambic there are other types of feet or other combinations of syllables which are used in poetry and sometimes unknowingly in prose too. Trochee and Spondee are 2 syllabic feet. A stressed syllable is followed by an unstressed one in Trochee while both the syllables in Spondee are stressed. Likewise, there are 3 syllabic feet with various combinations of stressed and unstressed syllables. They are called Anapest and Dactyl. In some poems 1 line may contain more than one type of feet. For eg.

Two roads -di verged - in a yel - low wood .......4 feet

                                        (spondee)    (iambic)    (anapest)   (iambic)

So this is a tetrameter with different kinds of feet. Taken from the poem ‘The road not taken’ by Robert Frost.

 I will mention the website for the details of every meter. www.PoemofQuotes.com. The reason I chose not to explain all of them here is, restriction of space. Another important reason is these are profound concepts and take time to assimilate into our brains. So, take your time and enjoy them. What I am going to tell you next is even more interesting. These feet and meters exist not only in English but also in all other languages. From Sanskrit to Spanish all languages have feet and meters. They are merely named differently. One significant example is the Bhagwat Geeta which has been written mainly in one meter called ‘Anustupa’. All old literature, be it from any language, flaunts work in metrical structures. This is what makes it so rich and precious. So, leaving you with a different perspective of poetry. On the last note some interesting facts related to literature:

‘Prosody’: stands for the rhythm, stress and intonation of speech! (Most of us know the band better.)

 Scansion: of a poem is the analysis of the poem based on its metrical structure.

Caesurae: are pauses inserted between syllables of a verse in a poem.