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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

The basic unit of meter, a pattern of stressed/unstressed syllables.

Explore this topic in depth (1)

Metre and Rhythm — Metre gives poetry an underlying pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables; rhythm is the living sound that results when a person reads it. Learn to hear the beat before naming it, and to notice how poets use regularity and variation to make language move.

Detailed Definition
Foot is the basic metrical unit in poetry, composed of a specific pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables (e.g., iamb: ∪ –; trochee: – ∪); feet combine to form lines of verse, and their consistent or varied arrangement establishes a poem’s rhythm, pace, and musical character.
Example
Example in poetry:
Foot appears as iamb in Shakespeare: “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”; Trochee in Blake: “Tyger Tyger, burning bright”; Dactyl in Longfellow: “This is the forest primeval”; Anapest in Byron: “Twas the night before the Christmas-day”; Spondee in Milton: “Rocks, caves, lakes, fens, bogs, dens, and shades of death”.
Additional Notes
Foot is the basic metrical unit in poetry, composed of stressed and unstressed syllables (e.g., iamb, trochee); identifying feet helps scan rhythm and understand how sound supports meaning.
Other Meanings of “Foot”
Also Known As
Metrical unit Syllable group Prosodic measure Beat unit Base
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