Verse
Verse is a metrical composition of text, such as a poem. Verse is also commonly found in song lyrics.
Writing without a meter, which follows more closely to everyday speech, is called prose.
Examples
Here are some examples of meters commonly found in verse:
Trochee
"DUM-da"
- Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December;
- And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.
Iamb
"da-DUM"
- Amazing Grace! How sweet the sound
- That saved a wretch like me;
- I once was lost, but now am found;
- Was blind, but now I see.
Dactyl
"DUM-da-da"
- Picture your self in a boat on a river with
- tangerine tree-ees and marmalade skii-ii-es.
Anapest
"da-da-DUM"
- The Assyrian came down like a wolf on the fold
- And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold
- And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea
- When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee.
More complex cases
The above examples are all simple in that their feet are complete throughout. In practice, often the beginning and/or end of a line may contain an incomplete foot. To make things yet more complicated, individual syllables may also be silent or doubled. For example, consider the old nursery rhyme:
- There was an old woman who lived in a shoe,
- She had so many children she didn't know what to do;
- She gave them some broth without any bread;
- Then whipped them all soundly and put them to bed.
The basic meter here is "da-DUM-da-da-DUM-da-da-DUM-da-da-DUM", which is a dactyl; both the beginning and end of each line are incomplete feet. "She had" and "she didn't" are doubled syllables; there is a silent syllable before "without".
See also
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