Meter
Not Just For Measuring: Austin Kobza
What Is Meter In Poetry?
Meter in poetry is the amount of beats per line a poem has. This is also called feet. Meter is what gives a poem its rhythmic feel and tone. Here is a list of some of the words that you use to describe the amount of beats:
One Foot: Monometer
Two Feet: Dimeter
Three Feet: Trimeter
Four Feet: Tetrameter
Five Feet: Pentameter
Six Feet: Hexameter
Seven Feet: Heptameter
Eight Feet: Octameter
Here Is An Example of Meter in a Real Poem: A Late Walk by Robert Frost
When I go up through the mowing field, Nine Beats
The headless aftermath, Six Beats
Smooth-laid like thatch with the heavy dew, Nine Beats
Half closes the garden path. Seven Beats
When I go up through the mowing field, Nine Beats
The headless aftermath, Six Beats
Smooth-laid like thatch with the heavy dew, Nine Beats
Half closes the garden path. Seven Beats
And when I come to the garden ground, Nine Beats
The whir of sober birds Six Beats
Up from the tangle of withered weeds Nine Beats
Is sadder than any words Seven Beats
A tree beside the wall stands bare, Eight Beats
But a leaf that lingered brown, Seven Beats
Disturbed, I doubt not, by my thought, Eight Beats
Comes softly rattling down. Seven Beats
I end not far from my going forth Nine Beats
By picking the faded blue Seven Beats
Of the last remaining aster flower Ten Beats
To carry again to you. Seven Beats
And when I come to the garden ground, Nine Beats
The whir of sober birds Six Beats
Up from the tangle of withered weeds Nine Beats
Is sadder than any words Seven Beats
A tree beside the wall stands bare, Eight Beats
But a leaf that lingered brown, Seven Beats
Disturbed, I doubt not, by my thought, Eight Beats
Comes softly rattling down. Seven Beats
I end not far from my going forth Nine Beats
By picking the faded blue Seven Beats
Of the last remaining aster flower Ten Beats
To carry again to you. Seven Beats