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accentual meter

Meter
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

A metrical system based on counting stressed syllables per line rather than total syllables

Detailed Definition
A metrical system based on counting stressed syllables per line regardless of the total syllable count or the number of unstressed syllables between stresses. This contrasts with syllabic meter, which counts all syllables, and accentual-syllabic meter, which counts both stresses and total syllables in patterned feet. Accentual meter characterizes much Germanic poetry including Old English verse and survives in English folk forms. The system allows flexibility while maintaining rhythmic regularity through stress recurrence, creating emphatic, driving rhythms.
Example
Example in poetry:
Old English “Beowulf” uses accentual meter with four stresses per line and alliteration; “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” relies on strong beats rather than syllable count; Nursery rhymes like “Hickory Dickory Dock” prioritize stress over syllabic regularity; Modern poets like Heaney revive accentual meter to echo Anglo-Saxon oral tradition; Accentual meter appears in folk ballads such as “Barbara Allen,” where stress drives narrative pace.
Additional Notes
Accentual meter counts only stressed syllables per line, ignoring unstressed ones; prevalent in Germanic and early English verse, it contrasts with syllabic or accentual-syllabic meters like iambic pentameter.
Also Known As
Stress meter Strong-stress pattern Accent rhythm Accent verse Accentual verse Dolnik verse stress-based meter
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