Home › Glossary › Letter M

metrical verse

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

Poetry composed in regular metrical patterns, as opposed to free verse

Detailed Definition
Metrical verse adheres to a regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables (e.g., iambic pentameter), creating rhythmic structure through consistent feet and line lengths; this formal discipline provides musicality, emphasis, and pacing, allowing poets to shape emotional tone and meaning through the interplay of predictable meter and strategic variation or substitution.
Example
Example in poetry:
metrical verse: "Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? / Thou art more lovely and more temperate" (iambic pentameter); "Tyger Tyger, burning bright, / In the forests of the night" (trochaic tetrameter); "And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting" (trochaic octameter); "This is the forest primeval, the murmuring pines and the hemlocks" (dactylic hexameter); "I wandered lonely as a cloud" (iambic tetrameter); Regular rhythmic pattern distinguishes it from free verse.
Additional Notes
metrical verse denotes poetry structured by consistent metrical patterns (e.g., iambic pentameter), distinguishing it from free or syllabic verse; students should learn to identify common meters and their effects—e.g., dactylic hexameter for epic grandeur, anapestic tetrameter for galloping energy—and how variations create emphasis or disruption.
Also Known As
quantitative verse rhythmic poetry measured line formal metered poetry Measured poetry measured verse
Skip to main content