Line & Meter 1

Definition:

• “The foundation of most alexandrines consists of two hemistichs (half-lines) of six syllables each, separated by a caesura (a metrical pause or word break, which may or may not be realized as a stronger syntactic break).” (Wikipedia). The English adapted it in a 12-syllable iambic line. (The Poetry Foundation) It is also possible to have a tetrameter alexandrine (4+4+4) or romantic trimeter (3-3-3-3). It is also found in plays, such as Le Cid.  

History:

• "The name of this verse comes from a poem in the Roman d'Alexandre composed by Lambert le Tort, in which all the verses are composed of 12 syllables, although it is unclear whether this is a reference to the name of its hero, Alexander the Great, or to Alexandre de Bernay, Lambert le Tort's successor and publisher. This poetic cycle, written in epic style, dates from the 12th century, but it was not until the 15th century that the term Alexandrine was first attested." (Wikipedia)

• It is said that the alexandrine is the most noble line in French poetry.

My Response:

• I was already familiar with the Alexandrine line form before looking up a specific definition. We learn about it very early on in school. However, I had forgotten the history of the Alexandrine. I really like the Alexandrine – it creates a pleasant symmetry. 

What is this poetic element like? (metaphor ou simile)

• In classical alexandrines, with two hemistiches of six syllables each, it looks like a tandem. Each hemistich is a paddle that propels forward the boat that is the poem. 

Examples: 

A few names: Hugo, Ronsard, Rimbaud, Baudelaire, Du Bellay, Racine…

1. Monologue of Don Diègue, in Le Cid by Corneille (Act I, scene 4)

Don Diègue:
Ô rage ! Ô désespoir ! Ô vieillesse ennemie !
N’ai-je donc tant vécu que pour cette infamie ?
(...)

Translation: 

Diegue: 

O anger! O despair! O age my enemy!

Have I lived simply to know this infamy!

(...)

2. Rudyard Kipling, “If–” translated into french by André Maurois “Si,”

“If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,”

(...)

Structure of the poem:

4 stanzas, each with 8 lines.

8 lines x 4 stanzas

Translation:

“Si tu peux voir détruit l’ouvrage de ta vie

Et sans dire un seul mot te mettre à rebâtir,

Ou perdre en un seul coup le gain de cent parties

Sans un geste et sans un soupir ;”

(...)

Structure of the poem:

8 stanzas, each with 4 lines composed of:

3 alexandrines lines and 1 octosyllabic line per stanza

4 lines x 8 stanzas.

3. Demain, dès l'aube…, by Victor Hugo, in Les Contemplations. (MOST IMPORTANT ONE)

Demain, dès l'aube, à l'heure où blanchit la campagne,
Je partirai. Vois-tu, je sais que tu m'attends.
J'irai par la forêt, j'irai par la montagne.
Je ne puis demeurer loin de toi plus longtemps.

Je marcherai les yeux fixés sur mes pensées,
Sans rien voir au dehors, sans entendre aucun bruit,
Seul, inconnu, le dos courbé, les mains croisées,
Triste, et le jour pour moi sera comme la nuit.

Je ne regarderai ni l'or du soir qui tombe,
Ni les voiles au loin descendant vers Harfleur,
Et quand j'arriverai, je mettrai sur ta tombe
Un bouquet de houx vert et de bruyère en fleur.

Translation:

Tomorrow, at dawn, at the moment when the day breaks,

I will go. You see, I know that you are waiting for me.

I will go through the forest, I will go across mountains.

I cannot stay away from you any longer.

I will walk eyes fixed on my thoughts,

Without seeing anything outside, without hearing a noise,

Alone, unknown, back hunched, hands crossed,

Sad, and the day for me will be as the night.

I will watch neither the gold of the evening setting sun,

Nor the faraway sailboats descending upon Harfleur.

And when I arrive, I will put on your grave

A bouquet of green holly and heather in bloom.

Definition:

• Caesura is a deliberate break or cut in a line of a poem. It interupts the rhythm, and it can be either an initial, medial, or terminal caesura.

  • Initial: at the beginning of the line

  • Medial: in the middle of the line

  • Terminal: at the end of the line

• Source: The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics

History:

• Caesura comes from the latin words caesuras or caesurae, literally meaning "cutting". It is found across Ancient Greek and Latin poetry, as well as in Modern European and Old English poetry. Furthermore, it can be found in South and Southeast Asian Brahmic scripts, and Polish syllabic verse.

  • Source: Wikipedia, "Caesura"

My Response:

• A Caesura forces the reader to slow down and adjust their breathing, making the rhythm less smooth and more natural. I'm a huge fan of the deliberative interruptions, and I like incorporating these into my poetry. It plays a major role in shaping the poem, and it feels more like a flow of thoughts/conversation, over a mechanical piece of writing.

What is this poetic element like?

• The caesura is like a catching of breath. It allows important moments in the poem to have emphasis, or even hesitation. This intentional pause/breath, the silence becomes part of the meaning in the poem. Without caesura, the poem may feel like a ticking metronome. However, with caesura it feels like it has a breath or a pulse, almost making it feel human.

Example: 

Emily Dickenson's "I'm Nobody! Who are you?" where she uses punctuation marks like exclamation points and emdashes in the middle of lines as medial caesuras.

"I'm Nobody! Who are you?

Are you - Nobody - too?

Then there's a pair of us!

Dont tell! they'd banish us - you know!

How dreary - to be - Somebody!

How public - like a Frog -

To tell your name - the livelong June -

To an admiring Bog!"

Definition: A hymn metre (US: meter) indicates the number of syllables for the lines in each stanza (verse) of a hymn. This provides a means of marrying the hymn's text with an appropriate hymn tune for singing. 

Source: Metre (hymn) - Wikipedia 

History: Hymn metre has been around since English folk poems. English minister and hymn writer Isaac Watts, who wrote hundreds of hymns and was instrumental in the widespread use of hymns in public worship in England, is credited with popularizing and formalizing these metres, which were based on English folk poems, particularly ballads. 

Source: Metre (hymn) - Wikipedia 

My Response: When I think of hymn meter, I think of the famous song "Amazing Grace," which is often sung in churches. I grew up going to a Baptist church where this song was sung often. 

What is this poetic element like? Many songs are set in hymn meter, such as "Amazing Grace" and many of Mozart's and Beethoven's works.

Examples: 

1.  Mozart, NEW YEAR’S HYMN (1846)

2.  Beethoven, PARKER (1850)

3.  Beethoven, BONN (1846) 

4. Mozart, PEARL (1845) 

5. Amazing Grace

Definition: 

Dactylic hexameter is a metrical form that utilizes six feet of dactyls (/uu) per line. As is common of some meters, dactylic hexameter is used primarily in one language which is ancient Greek. 

History: 

The history of dactylic hexameter is inextricably tied to ancient Greek epics such as the Iliad or Odyssey. Later writers after Homer continued using this meter as somewhat of a standard when trying to evoke a sense of the epic or heroic. Dactylic hexameter even bled over into Latin as they continued the epic tradition. (Dactylic hexameter - Wikipedia )

My Response: 

As a lover of Hellenism and poetry, I find this to be a fun little aspect of meter. Though it's not something I could practically use in English, being introduced to certain forms that are synonymous with certain effects makes one more aware of the history of practices but also, the way that they have been manipulated. I don't have a good example, but I could imagine someone using dactylic hexameter which is associated with grand sweeping narratives for something mundane or tragic instead of epic. 

What is it like:

Examples: 

Homer, Iliad 1.1

μῆνιν ἄειδε, θεά, Πηληϊάδεω Ἀχιλῆος 

"Sing, goddess, the anger of Peleus' son Achilles"

Definition: 

From the Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics, a metrical line with 14 syllables, usually made from 7 iambs; iambic heptameter. 

It is common for fourteener couplets to be split into quatrains, with iambic foots split 4-3-4-3. Chaining together these fragmented fourteener couplets with an abab rhyme scheme creates the ballad meter.

History: 

From the Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics, the origins of the fourteener might come from an imitation of medieval Latin septenarius poems (trochaic tetrameter with the last unstressed syllable removed) which had 8 syllables in the first line and 7 syllables in the second. The fourteener would manifest when poets would drop the last syllable on the first line as well. 

The history of the fourteener specifically (the fourteen syllable lines, as opposed to the broken version that creates ballad meter), is not well known. William Blake is one poet who used the unbroken fourteener in his "prophetic books" as an imitation of the biblical style from English translations. 

My Response: 

The fourteener, to me, plays out like a narrative, at least more so than other metrical styles. The longer lines, the inspiration from epic poems, and the imitation of biblical verse all point towards this meter providing a structure for great journeys or tragedies. It doesn't rely on each individual word, phrase, or even line to be intensely lyrical or impactful. Fourteeners allow space to develop a scene, explore characters, and reach conclusions. 

What is this poetic element like?

The fourteener is like the reverse pummelo fruit. The pummelo is one of the roots of many different kinds of citrus fruits, such as the modern orange, grapefruits, and lemons. The fourteener comes from the ballad meter, the trochaic tetrameter, and the dactylic hexameter all independently tampered with to create the modern fourteener. 

Example: 

The Burning Babe by Robert Southwell 

As I in hoary winter’s night stood shivering in the snow,

Surpris’d I was with sudden heat which made my heart to glow;

And lifting up a fearful eye to view what fire was near,

A pretty Babe all burning bright did in the air appear;

Who, scorched with excessive heat, such floods of tears did shed

As though his floods should quench his flames which with his tears were fed.

“Alas!” quoth he, “but newly born, in fiery heats I fry,

Yet none approach to warm their hearts or feel my fire but I!

My faultless breast the furnace is, the fuel wounding thorns,

Love is the fire, and sighs the smoke, the ashes shame and scorns;

The fuel Justice layeth on, and Mercy blows the coals,

The metal in this furnace wrought are men’s defiled souls,

For which, as now on fire I am to work them to their good,

      So will I melt into a bath to wash them in my blood.”

      With this he vanish’d out of sight and swiftly shrunk away,

      And straight I called unto mind that it was Christmas day.

Definition: 

Heroic couplets are pairs of rhyming lines written in iambic pentameter, typically forming a self-contained unit of sense and syntax. According to The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics (Fourth Edition), heroic couplets are characterized by their balance, symmetry, and rhetorical clarity. Each couplet often completes a thought, argument, or observation, giving the form a sense of closure and authority.

History:

 
Heroic couplets developed in English poetry during the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, influenced by classical Latin verse and Renaissance ideals of order and proportion. The form reached its height during the Restoration and Augustan periods, particularly in the work of Alexander Pope, John Dryden, and Samuel Johnson. Pope’s use of heroic couplets set the standard for poetic wit, moral argument, and satire. As noted in The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics and discussed on the Poetry Foundation and the Academy of American Poets websites. 

My Response:

 
What stands out to me about heroic couplets is how controlled and deliberate they feel. Each pair of lines works like a polished statement, forcing the poet to think carefully about precision, balance, and rhetorical impact. When done well, heroic couplets feel authoritative without being heavy-handed. 

What is this poetic element like?

 
Heroic couplets are often compared to blank verse, since both use iambic pentameter. However, blank verse lacks rhyme, allowing thoughts to spill across lines, while heroic couplets tend toward closure and containment. Each couplet often functions like a miniature argument or aphorism. As emphasized in The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics, this makes heroic couplets especially effective for satire, moral philosophy, and didactic poetry rather than lyric expression or narrative flow. 

Example: 

An Essay on Criticism by Alexander Pope: 

A little learning is a dangerous thing;
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring:
There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
And drinking largely sobers us again.