Rhyme Scheme Review
How to figure out the rhyme scheme of a poem: Rhyme scheme is the pattern of rhyming words in a poem. The rhyme scheme of a poem is indicated by using different letters of the alphabet for each new rhyme. For example:
Mary had a little lamb A (every line ending with a word that rhymes with “lamb” gets an “A”)
Her fleece was white as snow B (does not rhyme with “lamb”)
And everywhere that Mary went C (does not rhyme with “lamb” or “snow”)
The lamb was sure to go B (because “go” rhymes with “snow,” this gets a B)
It followed her to school one day, D (everything that rhymes with “day” gets a D)
Which was against the rules. E (everything that rhymes with “rules” gets a E)
It made the children laugh and play, D
To see a lamb at school E
And so the teacher turned it out F (everything that rhymes with “out” gets an F)
But still it lingered near G (everything that rhymes with “near” gets a G)
And waited patiently about, F
Till Mary did appear G
"Why does the lamb love Mary so?" B (rhymes with “snow” from line 2)
The eager children cry H
"Why, Mary loves the lamb, you know." B
The teacher did reply H
Practice: Determine the rhyme scheme for this poem.
Acquainted with the Night
by Robert Frost
I have been one acquainted with the night. _____
I have walked out in rain—and back in rain. _____
I have outwalked the furthest city light. _____
I have looked down the saddest city lane. _____
I have passed by the watchman on his beat _____
And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain. _____
I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet _____
When far away an interrupted cry _____
Came over houses from another street, _____
But not to call me back or say good-by; _____
And further still at an unearthly height _____
One luminary clock against the sky _____
Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right. _____
I have been one acquainted with the night. _____
Meter Review
The meter of a poem is its rhythmical pattern. This pattern is determined by the number and types of stresses, or beats, in each line. How do we determine meter? Follow the steps below.
1. Count the number of syllables in each line. You can do this by clapping on each syllable or by placing your hand under your chin and counting the “hits”. Try numbering each syllable in the line below.
2. Find the first two-syllable word in the line and figure out which syllable has the stress on it. In the above line, the word “outlook” has the stress on the word OUT, so you would mark that syllable with the over it. The syllable LOOK is unstressed, which is indicated by the
symbol. Based on this, you should be able to notice a pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables throughout the line.
3. Divide the stressed and unstressed syllables into groups using a parenthesis between each set of syllables. Each of these groups is called a foot.
4. Figure out what type of feet the line contains. Below are the most common types of feet in English poetry:
iamb: a foot with one unstressed and one stressed syllable, as in the word ( )
“be/fore” This foot is IAMBIC
trochee: a foot with a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable, as in
the word ( )
“glo/ry” This foot is TROCHAIC
anapest: a foot with two unstressed syllables followed by one stressed syllable,
as in the phrase ( )
“a/ra/besque” This foot is ANAPESTIC
dactyl: a foot with on stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables,
as in the word ( )
“won/der/ful” This foot is DACTYLIC
( )
spondee: a foot with two strong stresses, as in the word “space/walk”
This foot is SPONDAIC
Lines are also described in terms of the number of feet in each line, such as:
1: Monometer: a line with one foot
Example: All things/ Must pass/ Away
2: Dimeter: a line with two feet
Example: When up aloft/ I fly and fly
3: Trimeter: three foot lines
Example: I know not whom I meet/ I know not where I go
4: Tetrameter: four foot lines
Example: Had we but World enough, and Time,/This coyness Lady were no crime.
5: Pentameter: five foot lines
Example: But soft, what light through yonder window breaks?
6: Hexameter: six foot lines
Example: To think how they may ache in icy hoods and mails
7: Heptameter: seven foot lines
Example: O could I feel as I have felt, or be what I have been,
8: Octometer: eight foot lines
Example: Once upon a midnight dreary,while I pondered, weak and weary
9: Nonometer: nine foot lines
10: Decameter: ten foot lines
Scansion Homework
Scan each line below to determine the meter. Remember, first you count the syllables, then you figure out which syllables are stressed (check the two syllable words first), then divide into feet. Determine which type of foot the poem contains, and then count the feet to determine the name of the meter. You only have to scan the first line of each, as both lines will have the same meter. All meters below are either iambic or trochaic (the most common types).
1. He thrusts his fists against the post
2. Workers earn it.
3. Double, double, toil and trouble
4. There they are, my fifty men and women
5. When I consider how my life was spent
6. Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
7. Much more the bird must dare a dash at something good.
8. Dark behind it rose the forest,
DIRECTIONS: Scan the following poems and then determine how the meter and rhythm contributes to the tone / meaning.
1. The morns are meeker than they were,
The nuts are getting brown;
The berry’s cheek is plumper,
The rose is out of town. --Emily Dickinson
2. Bats have webby wings that fold up;
Bats from ceilings hang down rolled up;
Bats when flying undismayed are;
Bats are careful; bats use radar; --Frank Jacobs, “The Bat”
3. For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling—my darling—my life and my bride,
In her sepulchre there by the sea,
In her tomb by the sounding sea. --Edgar Allan Poe, “Annabel Lee”
The Raven
by Edgar Allan Poe
In the box below each stanza, write a summary of what is happening in your own words.
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore[1]—
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
"'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door— 5
Only this and nothing more."
Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December,
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.
Eagerly I wished the morrow;—vainly I had sought to borrow
From my books surcease[2] of sorrow—sorrow for the lost Lenore— 10
For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore—
Nameless here for evermore.
And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain
Thrilled me—filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;
So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating 15
"'Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door—
Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door;
This it is and nothing more."
Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer,
"Sir," said I, "or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore; 20
But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,
And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door,
That I scarce was sure I heard you"—here I opened wide the door—
Darkness there and nothing more.
Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing, 25
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortals ever dared to dream before;
But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token,
And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, "Lenore?"
This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, "Lenore!"—
Merely this and nothing more. 30
Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning,
Soon again I heard a tapping something louder than before.
"Surely," said I, "surely that is something at my window lattice;
Let me see, then, what thereat is and this mystery explore—
Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore;— 35
'Tis the wind and nothing more.
Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter,
In there stepped a stately Raven of the saintly days of yore[3].
Not the least obeisance[4] made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he,
But, with mien[5] of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door— 40
Perched upon a bust of Pallas[6] just above my chamber door—
Perched, and sat, and nothing more.
Then the ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,
By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore[7],
"Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou," I said, "art sure no craven[8], 45
Ghastly grim and ancient Raven wandering from the Nightly shore—
Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night's Plutonian shore[9]!"
Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."
Much I marvelled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly,
Though its answer little meaning—little relevancy bore; 50
For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being
Ever yet was blessed with seeing bird above his chamber door—
Bird or beast upon the sculptured bust above his chamber door,
With such name as "Nevermore."
But the Raven, sitting lonely on that placid bust, spoke only 55
That one word, as if its soul in that one word he did outpour
Nothing farther then he uttered; not a feather then he fluttered—
Till I scarcely more than muttered: "Other friends have flown before—
On the morrow he will leave me, as my Hopes have flown before."
Then the bird said "Nevermore." 60
Startled at the stillness broken by reply so aptly spoken,
"Doubtless," said I, "what it utters is its only stock and store,
Caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful Disaster
Followed fast and followed faster — so, when Hope he would adjure[10],
Stern Despair returned, instead of the sweet Hope he dared adjure — 65
Of 'Never—nevermore.'"
But the Raven still beguiling all my sad soul into smiling,
Straight I wheeled a cushioned seat in front of bird and bust and door;
Then, upon the velvet sinking, I betook myself to linking
Fancy unto fancy, thinking what this ominous bird of yore— 70
What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt, and ominous bird of yore
Meant in croaking "Nevermore."
This I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressing
To the fowl whose fiery eyes now burned into my bosom's core;
This and more I sat divining[11], with my head at ease reclining 75
On the cushion's velvet lining that the lamp-light gloated o'er,
But whose velvet violet lining with the lamp-light gloating o'er
She shall press, ah, nevermore!
Then, methought, the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer[12]
Swung by Seraphim[13] whose foot-falls tinkled on the tufted floor. 80
"Wretch," I cried, "thy God hath lent thee—by these angels he hath sent thee
Respite—respite and nepenthe[14] from thy memories of Lenore!
Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe and forget this lost Lenore!"
Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."
"Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil!—prophet still, if bird or devil!— 85
Whether Tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore,
Desolate, yet all undaunted[15], on this desert land enchanted—
On this home by Horror haunted—tell me truly, I implore—
Is there—is there balm in Gilead[16]?—tell me—tell me, I implore!"
Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore." 90
"Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil!—prophet still, if bird or devil!
By that Heaven that bends above us—by that God we both adore—
Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn[17],
It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name Lenore—
Clasp a rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore." 95
Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."
"Be that our sign of parting, bird or fiend!" I shrieked, upstarting—
"Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonian shore!
Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul has spoken!
Leave my loneliness unbroken!—quit the bust above my door! 100
Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!"
Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."
And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting
On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;
And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming 105
And the lamp-light o'er him streaming throws his shadows on the floor;
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
Shall be lifted—nevermore!
implore (verb) to beg:
grim (adj) harsh, forbidding, and morbid
ominous (adj): threatening or warning of something negative; a bad omen
quaff (verb) to drink
tempest (noun): a violent storm
1. Describe the speaker’s situation at the start of the poem: what is the setting (time and place) and what is he doing?
2. Who is Lenore? What do you think was the speaker’s relationship to her? What happened to her?
3. How does the speaker’s reaction change each time the bird says “Nevermore”? Why does it change?
4. What does the raven symbolize in this poem?
5. In this poem, how much of what happens is real and how much the narrator’s imagination? How can you tell?