English poetry employs five basic rhythms of varying stressed (/) and unstressed (x) syllables. The most common meters are:

(Stressed syllables are marked in blue and unstressed are in red font color rather than the traditional "/" and "x.")

Iambic

A foot which starts with an unaccented and ends with an accented (stressed) syllable. It is the most common meter in the English language and naturally falls into everyday conversation. An example is "To be or not to be" from Shakespeare's Hamlet.

Trochaic

The opposite of an iambic meter. It begins with an accented then followed by an unaccented syllable. An example is the line "Doule, doule, toil and trouble." from Shakespeare's Macbeth.

Anapestic

A foot which has two unaccented syllables followed by an accented syllable. Example: "I arise and unbuild it again" from Shelley's Cloud.

Dactylic

A foot including an accented syllable followed by two unaccented syllables. Example: openly.

Spondee

A foot consisting of two accented syllables. Example: heartbreak.

Pyrrhic

A foot including two unaccented syllables, generally used to vary rhythm.


Each pair of unstressed and stressed syllables makes up a unit called a foot.

The meters with two-syllable feet are

• IAMBIC (x /) : That time of year thou mayst in me behold
• TROCHAIC (/ x): Tell me not in mournful numbers
• SPONDAIC (/ /): Break, break, break / On thy cold gray stones, O Sea!

Meters with three-syllable feet are

• ANAPESTIC (x x /): And the sound of a voice that is still
• DACTYLIC (/ x x): This is the forest primeval, the murmuring pines and the hemlock (a trochee replaces the final dactyl)

Each line of a poem contains a certain number of feet of iambs, trochees, spondees, dactyls or anapests.

1. A line containing 1 foot is called a “Monometer”
2. A line containing 2 feet is called a “Diameter”
3. A line containing 3 feet is called a “Trimeter”
4. A line containing 4 feet is called a “Tetrameter”
5. A line containing 5 feet is called a “Pentameter”
6. A line containing 6 feet is called a “Hexameter”
7. A line containing 7 feet is called a “Heptameter”
8. A line containing 8 feet is called a “Octameter”

Here are some serious examples of the various meters.

Iambic pentameter (5 iambs, 10 syllables)

• Thattime| of year | thou mayst | in me | behold

Trochaic tetrameter (4 trochees, 8 syllables)

• Tell me | not in | mournful | numbers

Anapestic trimeter (3 anapests, 9 syllables)

• And the sound | of a voice | that is still

Dactylic hexameter (6 dactyls, 17 syllables; a trochee replaces the last dactyl)

• This is the | forest pri | meval, the | murmuring | pine and the | hemlocks

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The Me you have always known, the Me that's a stranger still.