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Added foot

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

An extra metrical foot inserted into a line, disrupting or extending the standard pattern

Detailed Definition
An added foot is a metrical foot inserted into a line of poetry beyond the established pattern, often used to create rhythmic variation, emphasize a particular idea, or disrupt expected cadence; for example, adding an extra iamb to an iambic pentameter line yields a hexameter effect that can signal emotional intensity or thematic disruption.
Example
Example in poetry:
In "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe, an extra unstressed syllable is added at the end of some lines, creating an added foot for haunting effect; Shakespeare’s Sonnet 129 ends with a hypermetrical line: “All this the world well knows; yet none knows well / To shun the heaven that leads men to this hell”—the final line slightly exceeds strict iambic pentameter; In "Ode to a Nightingale," Keats occasionally inserts an added foot to mirror emotional overflow: “My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains”; Milton’s "Paradise Lost" sometimes uses an added foot in blank verse to emphasize grandeur or disruption.
Additional Notes
An added foot is an extra metrical foot inserted into a line, often to emphasize emotion, disrupt rhythm, or signal a thematic shift; common in dramatic or lyrical poetry to mimic natural speech or heighten intensity; related to hypermetrical lines and catalexis (the opposite, where a foot is omitted).
Also Known As
Extra metrical foot Hypermetric foot Surplus syllable Added metrical unit Extra-metrical Foot addition Extrametrical
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