Line & Meter 1

According to Brittanica, "alexandrine, verse form that is the leading measure in French poetry. It consists of a line of 12 syllables with major stresses on the 6th syllable (which precedes the medial caesura[pause]) and on the last syllable, and one secondary accent in each half line."

The etymology of alexandrine derives from the brain of Alexander the great, specifically the French Roman d’Alexandre verses. It came back into usage during the 16th century, mainly used by Pierre de Ronsard. Come to the 19th century, the iron-clad structure of its usage lessened and poets had a bit more creative freedom with the device. A notable poet who did such was Paul Verlaine, whose modification to a three-part line, named the vers romantique and would soon be replaced alotogether by free-verse.

(https://www.britannica.com/art/alexandrine)

Examples of the Alexandrine are found in "Fifine at the Fair" by Robert Browing.

"O trip and skip, Elvire! Link arm in arm with me!

Like husband and like wife, together let us see

The tumbling-troop arrayed, the strollers on their stage,

Drawn up and under arms, and ready to engage."

(https://poemanalysis.com/poetic-meter/alexandrine/)

While most of the work is written in Alexandrine verse, some lines deviate a bit. This could be down to add new stresses to different thoughts or to all around change the structure of a line from its previous. 

Definition:

The Poetry Foundation defines Caesura as “stop or pause in a metrical line, often marked by punctuation or by a grammatical boundary, such as a phrase or clause.” 

It also includes definitions for three different variations of Caesurae:

Medial- when the pause splits the line into equal parts

Initial- when the occurs in the beginning of the line

Terminal- when the pause occurs at the end of the line.

Britannica has another definition too: “a pause within a poetic line that breaks the regularity of the metrical pattern.”

History, Examples, and Usage:

Caesura was commonly used in Old English Poetry, such as Beowolf.  The word is derived from the Latin word meaning “to cut.”

This Site gives a few examples of Caesura in poems written in Modern English, with the proper scansion to indicate where the pause is within the line.  I’ve put one below:

“Ozymandias”: by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1818)

Who said—”Two vast and trunkless legs of stone

Stand in the desert … || Near them, || on the sand …

My name is Ozymandias, || King of Kings; ||

Look on my Works, || ye Mighty, || and despair!

Nothing beside remains. || Round the decay

Britannica  gives another example from Keats:

Thou foster-child of silence || and slow time

It seems that caesura was used to create a kind of dynamic for the poem. It is used to bring a dramatic pause or to better replicate the cadence of human speech.

DEFINITION: A metrical line containing 14 syllables, typically composed of seven iambic feet.

HISTORY: These long lines can typically found in poetry from the Middle Ages through the 16th century.

EXAMPLE: In stanza four of “Casey at the Bat” by Ernest Thayer, there is a good example of a fourteener:

“And when the dust had lifted, and men saw what had occurred,”

SOURCES:

 https://www.poetryfoundation.org/learn/glossary-terms/fourteener#:~:text=A%20metrical%20line%20of%2014,common%20measure%20or%20ballad%20meter.

https://poemanalysis.com/poetic-form/fourteener/

Definition: Dactylic Hexameter is a meter composed of five dactyls (/UU) followed by either a spondee (//) or a trochee (/U), in which any of the first four dactyls, and less commonly the fifth, are replaced by a spondee

History: This meter was first used by early Greek poets, and is the meter used in a lot of classical epics that exist today, such as the Iliad, or the Odyssey. In fact, this meter often gets called heroic hexameter or meter of epic, further implying its popularity during the more ancient stages of poetry.

Tips and Tricks: Dactylic hexameter has a sort of bounce to it, similar to that of a waltz, in which each beat can be divided into three parts, in which most of the time, the first part will be the stressed syllable, while the second and third part will be unstressed, thus creating that sort of musical rhythm you might expect from a waltz. With this comparison, I think that this meter would work best when writing an epic poem, or something along the lines of a fairytale, types of stories that can often be associated with music through our modern perception of such stories. There's also a comedic application of this meter that I think could be interesting through my own observation of how this meter is intended to be read. In order to maintain a common meter (4 beats in a measure) when reading this, the reader is required to pause after reading a line for about two beats. Using this, you can very easily drop a punchline in a poem with maximum effectiveness, although this could be applied more seriously to reveal a plot twist or something of that nature.

Famous Works/Poets: As mentioned, both the Iliad and the Odyssey apply dactylic hexameter, and are among the most popular classical epics in history, both written by Ancient Greek poet Homer.

"Mênin áeide, theá, Pēlēïádeō Akhilêos" (Iliad)

Most famous examples of this meter are from ancient poetry, so this meter seems to have lost its value over time, however, the very unique cadence of this meter definitely makes it a reliable structure for any poem that might want to explore these older themes.

Definition: A pair of rhyming iambic pentameters.

History: Although unknown how it initially began, it was used extensively in England by Chaucer in the 14th century by Chaucer. By the mid-17th century, it became the go-to form for works of drama

Famous Works/Poets: Prominent poets to employ this were Chaucer in the 1500s in Legend of Good Women and Canterbury Tales, John Dryden in the 1600s, and Alexander Pope in the 1700s, the latter two of whom are said to have perfected the form.

From Pope's "Eloisa to Abelard,"

Then share thy pain, allow tha sad relief;

Ah, more than share it, give me all thy grief.

Sources: Check out Britannica and the Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics.

(Written by Gabriel Cowley)

Definition: "Blank verse poetry has no fixed number of lines. It has a conventional meter that is used for verse drama and long narrative poems. It is often used in descriptive and reflective poems and dramatic monologues — the poems in which a single character delivers his thoughts in the form of a speech."

www.quora.com/What-is-a-blank-verse-poem-and-its-uses

History: "Blank verse is such a common form that some scholars estimate as much as three-quarters of all English poetry written between the 16th and 20th centuries was written in blank verse. The form lends itself to writing long narrative poems and plays, since iambic pentameter has a rhythm that mimics the natural cadence of speech, and it's therefore quite easy to listen to for extended periods of time without fatiguing the listener. For instance: however difficult it may be for modern readers to understand the language of Shakespeare's plays, it's hard to deny that the rhythm of his writing lends itself well to dialogue."

https://www.litcharts.com/literary-devices-and-terms/blank-verse

Example/Famous Poet: "Like all of Shakespeare's plays, Hamlet is composed in blank verse. Shakespeare's prolific use of blank verse, in fact, arguably helped to popularize the form for centuries to come. In this passage, Hamlet curses his mother for remarrying so soon after her husband's death."

"Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears
Had left the flushing in her gallèd eyes,
She married. O most wicked speed, to post
With such dexterity to incestuous sheets!
It is not nor it cannot come to good,
But break, my heart, for I must hold my tongue."

https://www.litcharts.com/literary-devices-and-terms/blank-verse