Iconic meter refers to a metrical pattern in poetry that mimetically enacts or mirrors the subject matter through its rhythm, pace, or sonic qualities—such as using halting, irregular beats to convey anxiety or smooth, flowing lines to suggest tranquility; this principle of “sound as sense” aligns form with content to create a deeper experiential impact, as seen in Tennyson’s “The Charge of the Light Brigade,” where galloping dactylic meter mimics cavalry movement, or in Gerard Manley Hopkins’s sprung rhythm, which replicates the jagged energy of natural phenomena through abrupt stresses and clustered syllables.

Meter that mimics or represents its subject. Form matches content. Related: imitative harmony, sound symbolism. Study: onomatopoeia vs. structural imitation.