Book notes 35-75

Poetry: No attention to margins, specifically the right margins.

Verse: It means "to turn", which was originally came from Latin.Length and rhythm

 In metrical verse, each line of the poem can be divided into feet, and each foot into stresses (syllable sounds), to reveal the overall rhythmic pattern.

The process of the dividing a line into its metrical feet and each foot into its individual parts is called scansion. An iamb, or an iambic foot, is one light stress followed by one heavy stress.  

Five iambic feet strung together to create an iambic pentameter line. 

The iambic pentameter line is the most widely used line in English metrical verse. 

1. One-foot--monometer
2. Two-foot--diameter
3. Three-foot--trimester
4. Four-foot-tetrameter
5. Five foot-pentameter
6. Six-foot--hexameter. Maybe called alexandrine when it's pure iambic line. 
7. Seven-foot--heptameter
8. Eight-foot--octameter.
•                                            Metrical feet and symbols:
1. Iamb: a light stress followed by a heavy stress.
2. Trochee: a heavy stress followed by a light stress.
3. Dactyl: a heavy stress followed by two light stresses.
4. Anapest: two light stresses followed by a heavy stress.
5. Spondee: two equal stresses.
• Constancy: Readers are easy to get into the atmosphere of a poem. Rthyms become the most important element which keeps the constancy.
• Variation: Lines of good poetry are apt to be a little irregular. Variation wakes us up with its touch of difference, just as a cadence of drums.
• The beginning and the end of the line: The most important thing is the end of the line. The beginning of the line comes after it. When a poem does begin with a heavy stress, it immediately signals to the reader that something dramatic is at hand.
• Turning the line: There is a brief pause in each ending of the line. It builds a connection between two lines, and it stimulates the interests of readers to read. Especially a time when the writer wants to make the line self-closed, the pause is formed.