Now Available.....................Shakespeare: a Guide to the Complete Works............................................
.
By the Author of This Web Site 

Plot Summaries of All the Plays and Narrative Poems | Themes | Imagery | Historical Background | Glossaries
Shakespeare's Theatre | Drama Terms | Essays | Analysis of the Sonnets | and Much More 
Meter in Poetry and Verse
A Study Guide
Cummings Guides Home..|..Contact This Site..|..Shakespeare Videos..|..Shakespeare Books
.
By Michael J. Cummings...© 2006

.......In verse and poetry, meter is a recurring pattern of stressed (accented, or long) and unstressed (unaccented, or short) syllables in lines of a set length. For example, suppose a line contains ten syllables (set length) in which the first syllable is unstressed, the second is stressed, the third is unstressed, the fourth is stressed, and so on until the line reaches the tenth syllable. The line would look like the following one (the opening line of Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 18") containing a pattern of unstressed and stressed syllables. The unstressed syllables are in blue and the stressed syllables in red. 

    ShallI comPAREthee TOa SUMmer’sDAY?
Each pair of unstressed and stressed syllables makes up a unit called a foot. The line contains five feet in all, as shown next:
        1              2                3             4              5
    ShallI..|..comPARE..|..theeTO..|..aSUM..|..mer’s DAY?
.......A foot containing an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable (as above) is called an iamb. Because there are five feet in the line, all iambic, the meter of the line is iambic pentameter. The prefix pent in pentameter means five (Greek: penta, five). Pent is joined to words or word roots to form new words indicating five. For example, the Pentagon in Washington has five sides, the Pentateuch of the Bible consists of five books, and a pentathlon in a sports event has five events. Thus, poetry lines with five feet are in pentameter.
.......Some feet in verse and poetry have different stress patterns. For example, one type of foot consists of two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed one. Another type consists of a stressed one followed by an unstressed one. In all, there are five types of feet:
.
...Iamb (Iambic) Unstressed + Stressed .........Two Syllables
...Trochee (Trochaic) Stressed + Unstressed .........Two Syllables
...Spondee (Spondaic) Stressed + Stressed .........Two Syllables
...Anapest (Anapestic) Unstressed + Unstressed + Stressed .........Three Syllables
...Dactyl (Dactylic Stressed + Unstressed + Unstressed .........Three Syllables
.
The length of lines–and thus the meter–can also vary. Following are the types of meter and the line length:
.
 
..Monometer One Foot
..Dimeter Two Feet
..Trimeter Three Feet
..Tetrameter Four Feet
..Pentameter Five Feet
..Hexameter Six Feet
..Heptameter Seven Feet
..Octameter Eight Feet
.
.......Meter is determined by the type of foot and the number of feet in a line. Thus, a line with three iambic feet is known as iambic trimeter. A line with six dactylic feet is known as dactylic hexameter.  Consider now the following two lines from William Blake’s poem “The Tyger”:
    Tyger Tyger burning bright
    In the forests of the night
These lines contain trochaic feet–stressed + unstressed, as in TYger and BURNing–but the final foot of each line is incomplete, containing only a stressed syllable. The absence of the unstressed syllable is called catalexis, and bright and night are called catalectic feet. The meter of these lines is trochaic tetrameter–tetrameter because they each contain three complete feet and one incomplete foot, for a total of four feet.
 .
. 
.
Shakespeare DVD's Available at Amazon.com
.
Film Director Actors
Antony and Cleopatra (1974) Trevor Nunn, John Schoffield Richard Johnson, Janet Suzman
As You Like It (1937) NR Paul Czinner  Henry Ainley, Felix Aylmer
Hamlet (1948) NR Laurence Olivier Laurence Olivier, Jean Simmons
Hamlet (1990) NR Kevin Kline Kevin Kline
Hamlet(1991) PG Franco Zeffirelli Mel Gibson, Glenn Close
Hamlet (1996) PG-13 Kenneth Branagh Kenneth Branagh, 
Hamlet (1964) NR John Gielgud, Bill Colleran Richard Burton, Hume Cronyn
Hamlet (1964) NR Grigori Kozintsev Innokenti Smoktunovsky
Hamlet (2000) NR Cambpell Scott, Eric Simonson Campbell Scott, Blair Brown
Henry V (1989) PG-13 Kenneth Branagh Kenneth Branaugh, Derek Jacobi
Henry V( 1946) NR Laurence Olivier Leslie Banks, Felix Aylmer
Julius Caesar (1950) NR David Bradley Charlton Heston
Julius Caesar (1953) NR Joseph L. Mankiewicz Marlon Brando, James Mason
Julius Caesar (1970) G Stuart Burge Charlton Heston, Jason Robards
King Lear (1970) Grigori Kozintsev Yuri Yarvet
King Lear (1971) Peter Brook Cyril Cusack, Susan Engel
King Lear (1974) NR Edwin Sherin James Earl Jones
King Lear (1976) NR Tony Davenall Patrick Mower, Ann Lynn
King Lear (1984) NR Michael Elliott Laurence Olivier, Colin Blakely
King Lear (1997) NR Richard Eyre Ian Holm
Love's Labour's Lost (2000) Kenneth Branagh Kenneth Branagh, Alicia Silverstone 
Macbeth (1971) R Roman Polanski Jon Finch, Francesca Annis
Macbeth (1978) NR Philip Casson Ian McKellen, Judy Dench
The Merchant of Venice (2004) R  Michael Radford Al Pacino, Jeremy Irons
The Merchant of Venice (2001) NR Christ Hunt, Trevor Nunn David Bamber, Peter De Jersey
The Merry Wives of Windsor (1970) NR Leon Charles, Gloria Grahame
Midsummer Night's Dream (1996) PG-13 Adrian Noble Lindsay Duncan, Alex Jennings
A Midsummer Night's Dream  (1999) Michael Hoffman Kevin Kline, Michelle Pfeiffer
Much Ado About Nothing (1993) PG 13 Kenneth Branaugh Branaugh, Emma Thompson
Othello (1990) NR Trevor Nunn Ian McKellen, Michael Grandage
Othello (1955) NR Orson Welles Orson Welles
Ran  (1985) Japanese Version of King Lear R Akira Kurosawa Tatsuya Nakadai, Akira Terao
Richard II (2001) NR John Farrell  Matte Osian, Kadina de Elejalde
Richard III (1912) NR André Calmettes, James Keane  Robert Gemp, Frederick Warde
Richard III - Criterion Collection (1956) NR Laurence Olivier Laurence Olivier, Ralph Richardson
Richard III (1995) R Richard Loncraine Ian McKellen, Annette Bening
Romeo and Juliet (1968) G Franco Zeffirelli Leonard Whiting, Olivia Hussey
Romeo and Juliet (1996) PG-13 Baz Luhrmann Leonardo DiCaprio, Claire Danes
Romeo and Juliet (1976) NR Joan Kemp-Welch Christopher Neame, Ann Hasson
The Taming of the Shrew (1967) Franco Zeffirelli Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton
The Taming of the Shrew  (1976) Kirk Browning Raye Birk, Earl Boen, Ron Boussom
The Taming of The Shrew (1983) NR Franklin Seales, Karen Austin, 
The Tempest PG Paul Mazursky John Cassavetes, Gena Rowlands
The Tempest (1998) Jack Bender Peter Fonda, John Glover, Harold Perrineau,
Throne of Blood (1961) Macbeth in Japan NR Akira Kurosawa Toshirô Mifune, Isuzu Yamada
Twelfth Night (1996) PG Trevor Nunn Helena Bonham Carter
The Winter's Tale  (2005) NR Greg Doran Royal Shakespeare Company