Okuzeka
Literature vocabulary · Poetry

Meter

Meaning in literature, with examples

/ˈmiːtə/nounCommon term

In literature, meter means: A regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in poetry, measured in units called feet, such as the iamb (da-DUM) or the trochee (DUM-da).

In Turkish: ölçü, vezin

How it is used

Used in poetry analysis and prosody. Poems are written in a meter, such as iambic pentameter; critics talk about strict or loose meter and lines that break the meter. The adjective is metrical; scanning a line to find its meter is called scansion.

Example sentences

  1. The poem is written in a strict meter, but the last line breaks it.

  2. Identify the meter of the first line and mark the stressed syllables.

Common collocations

  • iambic meter
  • strict meter
  • regular meter
  • break the meter
  • rhythmThe pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables, pauses and speed in a line of poetry or prose, which gives it a sense of movement.
  • iambic pentameterA line of poetry made of five iambs, each an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one, giving ten syllables: da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM.
  • free versePoetry that does not follow a regular meter or rhyme scheme, relying instead on natural speech rhythms, line breaks and imagery.
  • rhymeThe repetition of the same or similar sounds at the ends of words, especially at the ends of lines in a poem, as in 'night' and 'light'.
  • verseWriting arranged in lines with a rhythm, as opposed to prose; also a single line of a poem or a group of lines in a song.

More terms: Poetry

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