Poetry

===Prosody===
{{Main|Meter (poetry)}}
Prosody is the study of the meter, [[rhythm]], and [[Intonation (linguistics)|intonation]] of a poem. Rhythm and meter are different, although closely related.<ref>{{Harvnb|Pinsky|1998|p=52}}</ref> Meter is the definitive pattern established for a verse (such as [[iambic pentameter]]), while rhythm is the actual sound that results from a line of poetry. Prosody also may be used more specifically to refer to the [[scansion|scanning]] of poetic lines to show meter.<ref>{{Harvnb|Fussell|1965|pp=20–21}}</ref>

====Rhythm====
{{Main|Timing (linguistics)|tone (linguistics)|Pitch accent}}
[[File:Robinsonjeffers (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Robinson Jeffers]]]]
The methods for creating poetic rhythm vary across languages and between poetic traditions. Languages are often described as having timing set primarily by [[stress-timed language|accents]], [[syllable-timed language|syllables]], or [[mora-timed language|moras]], depending on how rhythm is established, although a language can be influenced by multiple approaches. [[Japanese Language|Japanese]] is a [[mora (linguistics)|mora]]-timed language. [[Latin language|Latin]], [[Catalan language|Catalan]], [[French language|French]], [[Leonese language|Leonese]], [[Galician language|Galician]] and [[Spanish language|Spanish]] are called syllable-timed languages. Stress-timed languages include [[English language|English]], [[Russian language|Russian]] and, generally, [[German language|German]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Schülter |first=Julia |title=Rhythmic Grammar |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |year=2005 |pages=24, 304, 332}}</ref> Varying [[Intonation (linguistics)|intonation]] also affects how rhythm is perceived. Languages can rely on either pitch or tone. Some languages with a pitch accent are Vedic Sanskrit or Ancient Greek. [[Tonal language]]s include Chinese, Vietnamese and most [[Niger–Congo languages|Subsaharan languages]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Yip |first=Moira |author-link=Moira Yip |title=Tone |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-521-77314-0 |series=Cambridge textbooks in linguistics |pages=1–4, 130}}</ref>

Metrical rhythm generally involves precise arrangements of stresses or syllables into repeated patterns called [[foot (prosody)|feet]] within a line. In Modern English verse the pattern of stresses primarily differentiate feet, so rhythm based on meter in Modern English is most often founded on the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables (alone or [[elision|elided]]).<ref>{{Harvnb|Fussell|1965|p=12}}</ref> In the [[classical languages]], on the other hand, while the [[Meter (music)|metrical]] units are similar, [[vowel length]] rather than stresses define the meter.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Jorgens |first=Elise Bickford |title=The well-tun'd word : musical interpretations of English poetry, 1597–1651 |publisher=University of Minnesota Press |year=1982 |isbn=978-0-8166-1029-7 |page=23}}</ref> [[Old English]] poetry used a metrical pattern involving varied numbers of syllables but a fixed number of strong stresses in each line.<ref>{{Harvnb|Fussell|1965|pp=75–76}}</ref>

[[File:Marianne Moore 1935.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Marianne Moore]]]]
The chief device of ancient [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] [[Biblical poetry]], including many of the [[psalms]], was ''[[parallelism (rhetoric)|parallelism]]'', a rhetorical structure in which successive lines reflected each other in grammatical structure, sound structure, notional content, or all three. Parallelism lent itself to [[antiphon]]al or [[call and response (music)|call-and-response]] performance, which could also be reinforced by [[Intonation (linguistics)|intonation]]. Thus, Biblical poetry relies much less on metrical feet to create rhythm, but instead creates rhythm based on much larger sound units of lines, phrases and sentences.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Walker-Jones |first=Arthur |title=Hebrew for biblical interpretation |publisher=Society of Biblical Literature |year=2003 |isbn=978-1-58983-086-8 |pages=211–213}}</ref> Some classical poetry forms, such as [[Venpa]] of the [[Tamil language]], had rigid grammars (to the point that they could be expressed as a [[context-free grammar]]) which ensured a rhythm.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Bala Sundara Raman |first1=L. |last2=Ishwar |first2=S. |last3=Kumar Ravindranath |first3=Sanjeeth |year=2003 |title=Context Free Grammar for Natural Language Constructs: An implementation for Venpa Class of Tamil Poetry |journal=Tamil Internet |pages=128–136 |citeseerx=10.1.1.3.7738}}</ref>

[[Shi (poetry)|Classical Chinese poetics]], based on the [[Four tones (Middle Chinese)|tone system of Middle Chinese]], recognized two kinds of tones: the level (平 ''píng'') tone and the oblique (仄 ''zè'') tones, a category consisting of the rising (上 ''sháng'') tone, the departing (去 ''qù'') tone and the entering (入 ''rù'') tone. Certain forms of poetry placed constraints on which syllables were required to be level and which oblique.

The formal patterns of meter used in Modern English verse to create rhythm no longer dominate contemporary English poetry. In the case of [[free verse]], rhythm is often organized based on looser units of [[Cadence (poetry)|cadence]] rather than a regular meter. [[Robinson Jeffers]], [[Marianne Moore]], and [[William Carlos Williams]] are three notable poets who reject the idea that regular accentual meter is critical to English poetry.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hartman |first=Charles O. |title=Free Verse An Essay on Prosody |publisher=Northwestern University Press |year=1980 |isbn=978-0-8101-1316-9 |pages=24, 44, 47}}</ref> Jeffers experimented with [[sprung rhythm]] as an alternative to accentual rhythm.<ref>{{Harvnb|Hollander|1981|p=22}}</ref>

====Meter====
{{Main|Scansion}}
[[File:Alkaios Sappho Staatliche Antikensammlungen 2416 n2.jpg|thumb|right|[[Attica|Attic]] [[red-figure]] ''kathalos'' painting of [[Sappho]] from c. 470 BCE<ref>{{Citation |last=McClure |first=Laura K. |title=Sexuality and Gender in the Classical World: Readings and Sources |date=2002 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W742ZLpdLBoC&q=Glyptothek+Sappho+and+Alcaeus&pg=PA38 |page=38 |place=Oxford, England |publisher=Blackwell Publishers |isbn=978-0-631-22589-8 }}</ref>]]
In the Western poetic tradition, meters are customarily grouped according to a characteristic [[Foot (prosody)|metrical foot]] and the number of feet per line.<ref>{{Harvnb|Corn|1997|p=24}}</ref> The number of metrical feet in a line are described using Greek terminology: [[tetrameter]] for four feet and [[hexameter]] for six feet, for example.<ref>{{Harvnb|Corn|1997|pp=25, 34}}</ref> Thus, "[[iambic pentameter]]" is a meter comprising five feet per line, in which the predominant kind of foot is the "[[Iamb (poetry)|iamb]]". This metric system originated in ancient [[Greek poetry]], and was used by poets such as [[Pindar]] and [[Sappho]], and by the great [[Tragedy|tragedians]] of [[Athens]]. Similarly, "[[dactylic hexameter]]", comprises six feet per line, of which the dominant kind of foot is the "[[dactyl (poetry)|dactyl]]". Dactylic hexameter was the traditional meter of Greek [[epic poetry]], the earliest extant examples of which are the works of [[Homer]] and [[Hesiod]].<ref name="greek">{{Cite web |url=http://aoidoi.org/articles/meter/intro.pdf |title=Introduction to Greek Meter |last=Annis |first=William S. |date=January 2006 |publisher=Aoidoi |pages=1–15}}</ref> Iambic pentameter and dactylic hexameter were later used by a number of poets, including [[William Shakespeare]] and [[Henry Wadsworth Longfellow]], respectively.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.unibl.eu/pdf/examples_metrical_systems.pdf |title=Examples of English metrical systems |publisher=Fondazione Universitaria in provincia di Belluno |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120308211254/http://www.unibl.eu/pdf/examples_metrical_systems.pdf |archive-date=8 March 2012 |access-date=10 December 2011}}</ref> The most common metrical feet in English are:<ref>{{Harvnb|Fussell|1965|pp=23–24}}</ref>

[[File:Homer British Museum.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Homer]]: Roman bust, based on Greek original<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=460092&partId=1 |title=Portrait Bust |website=britishmuseum.org |publisher=The British Museum}}</ref>]]
* [[Iamb (poetry)|iamb]] – one unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable (e.g. des-'''cribe''', in-'''clude''', re-'''tract''')
* [[trochee]]{{mdash}}one stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable (e.g. '''pic'''-ture, '''flow'''-er)
* [[dactyl (poetry)|dactyl]] – one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables (e.g. '''an'''-no-tate, '''sim'''-i-lar)
* [[anapaest]]{{mdash}}two unstressed syllables followed by one stressed syllable (e.g. com-pre-'''hend''')
* [[spondee]]{{mdash}}two stressed syllables together (e.g. '''heart'''-'''beat''', '''four'''-'''teen''')
* [[pyrrhic]]{{mdash}}two unstressed syllables together (rare, usually used to end dactylic hexameter)

There are a wide range of names for other types of feet, right up to a [[choriamb]], a four syllable metric foot with a stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables and closing with a stressed syllable. The choriamb is derived from some ancient [[Greek literature|Greek]] and [[Latin poetry]].<ref name=greek/> Languages which use [[vowel length]] or [[Intonation (linguistics)|intonation]] rather than or in addition to syllabic accents in determining meter, such as [[Metre (poetry)#Ottoman Turkish|Ottoman Turkish]] or [[Vedic meter|Vedic]], often have concepts similar to the iamb and dactyl to describe common combinations of long and short sounds.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kiparsky |first=Paul |date=September 1975 |title=Stress, Syntax, and Meter |journal=Language |volume=51 |issue=3 |pages=576–616 |doi=10.2307/412889 |jstor=412889}}</ref>

Each of these types of feet has a certain "feel," whether alone or in combination with other feet. The iamb, for example, is the most natural form of rhythm in the English language, and generally produces a subtle but stable verse.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Thompson |first=John |title=The Founding of English Meter |publisher=Columbia University Press |year=1961 |page=36}}</ref> Scanning meter can often show the basic or fundamental pattern underlying a verse, but does not show the varying degrees of [[stress (linguistics)|stress]], as well as the differing pitches and [[vowel length|lengths]] of syllables.<ref>{{Harvnb|Pinsky|1998|pp=11–24}}</ref>

There is debate over how useful a multiplicity of different "feet" is in describing meter. For example, [[Robert Pinsky]] has argued that while dactyls are important in classical verse, English dactylic verse uses dactyls very irregularly and can be better described based on patterns of iambs and anapests, feet which he considers natural to the language.<ref>{{Harvnb|Pinsky|1998|p=66}}</ref> Actual rhythm is significantly more complex than the basic scanned meter described above, and many scholars have sought to develop systems that would scan such complexity. [[Vladimir Nabokov]] noted that overlaid on top of the regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of verse was a separate pattern of accents resulting from the natural pitch of the spoken words, and suggested that the term "scud" be used to distinguish an unaccented stress from an accented stress.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Nabokov |first=Vladimir |url=https://archive.org/details/notesonprosodyon0000nabo/page/9 |title=Notes on Prosody |publisher=[[Bollingen Foundation]] |year=1964 |isbn=978-0-691-01760-0 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/notesonprosodyon0000nabo/page/9 9–13]}}</ref>

====Metrical patterns====
{{Main|Meter (poetry)}}
[[File:Lewis Carroll - Henry Holiday - Hunting of the Snark - Plate 6.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Lewis Carroll]]'s ''[[The Hunting of the Snark]]'' (1876) is mainly in [[anapestic tetrameter]].]]
Different traditions and genres of poetry tend to use different meters, ranging from the Shakespearean [[iambic pentameter]] and the Homeric [[dactylic hexameter]] to the [[anapestic tetrameter]] used in many nursery rhymes. However, a number of variations to the established meter are common, both to provide emphasis or attention to a given foot or line and to avoid boring repetition. For example, the stress in a foot may be inverted, a [[caesura]] (or pause) may be added (sometimes in place of a foot or stress), or the final foot in a line may be given a [[Meter (poetry)|feminine ending]] to soften it or be replaced by a [[spondee]] to emphasize it and create a hard stop. Some patterns (such as iambic pentameter) tend to be fairly regular, while other patterns, such as dactylic hexameter, tend to be highly irregular.<ref>{{Harvnb|Fussell|1965|pp=36–71}}</ref> Regularity can vary between language. In addition, different patterns often develop distinctively in different languages, so that, for example, [[iambic tetrameter]] in Russian will generally reflect a regularity in the use of accents to reinforce the meter, which does not occur, or occurs to a much lesser extent, in English.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Nabokov |first=Vladimir |url=https://archive.org/details/notesonprosodyon0000nabo/page/46 |title=Notes on Prosody |publisher=Bollingen Foundation |year=1964 |isbn=978-0-691-01760-0 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/notesonprosodyon0000nabo/page/46 46–47]}}</ref>

[[File:Kiprensky Pushkin.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Alexander Pushkin]]]]
Some common metrical patterns, with notable examples of poets and poems who use them, include:
* [[Iambic pentameter]] ([[John Milton]], ''[[Paradise Lost]]''; [[William Shakespeare]], ''[[Shakespeare's Sonnets|Sonnets]]'')<ref>{{Harvnb|Adams|1997|p=206}}</ref>
* [[Dactylic hexameter]] (Homer, ''[[Iliad]]''; [[Virgil]], ''[[Aeneid]]'')<ref>{{Harvnb|Adams|1997|p=63}}</ref>
* [[Iambic tetrameter]] ([[Andrew Marvell]], "[[To His Coy Mistress]]"; [[Alexander Pushkin]], ''[[Eugene Onegin]]''; [[Robert Frost]], ''[[Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening]]'')<ref name="tetra">{{Cite web |url=http://www.tetrameter.com |title=What is Tetrameter? |publisher=tetrameter.com |access-date=10 December 2011}}</ref>
* [[Trochaic octameter]] ([[Edgar Allan Poe]], "[[The Raven]]")<ref>{{Harvnb|Adams|1997|p=60}}</ref>
* [[Trochaic tetrameter]] ([[Henry Wadsworth Longfellow]], ''[[The Song of Hiawatha]]''; the Finnish national epic, ''[[Kalevala|The Kalevala]]'', is also in trochaic tetrameter, the natural rhythm of Finnish and Estonian)
* {{lang|fr|[[Alexandrin]]}} ([[Jean Racine]], ''[[Phèdre]]'')<ref>{{Cite book |last1=James |first1=E. D. |url=https://archive.org/details/racinephdre00jame |title=Racine: Phèdre |last2=Jondorf |first2=G. |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1994 |isbn=978-0-521-39721-6 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/racinephdre00jame/page/32 32–34] |url-access=registration}}</ref>