Home › Glossary › Letter M

meter pattern

Meter
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

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 arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables into a repeated scheme

Detailed Definition
Meter pattern is the recurring sequence of stressed and unstressed syllables that defines a poem’s rhythmic foundation, such as iambic, trochaic, or anapestic; recognizing and analyzing meter patterns is essential for understanding prosody, tone, and poetic tradition.
Example
Example in poetry:
The basic iambic pentameter meter pattern is da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM; A dactylic hexameter meter pattern is DUM-da-da DUM-da-da DUM-da-da DUM-da-da DUM-da-da DUM-da-da; Trochaic tetrameter: DUM-da DUM-da DUM-da DUM-da; Anapestic trimeter: da-da-DUM da-da-DUM da-da-DUM.
Additional Notes
The established sequence of stressed and unstressed syllables (or long and short in classical verse) within a line or stanza; the fundamental structure of meter; e.g., iambic pentameter pattern.
Also Known As
Metrical scheme pattern of meter rhythmic structure Cadence
Skip to main content