FOOT AND METER PRACTICE Name________________________________ Hour____

foot – a combination of accented and unaccented syllables which make up a metrical unit. A foot may
incorporate syllables from different words, and the foot divisions may cut across words, thus:

“the cúr/tains dráwn / upón / unfríend/ly níght.”

anapestic: two unaccented syllables followed by one accented syllable (interrúpt).

dactylic: one accented syllable followed by two unaccented syllables (dífferent).
iambic: one unaccented syllable followed by one accented syllable (abóve).
trochaic: one accented syllable followed by one unaccented syllable (prómise).

meter or metrical line – a line of verse composed of one or more feet. The following are used to identify the
most common lines:

monometer: one foot pentameter: five feet

dimeter: two feet hexameter: six feet
trimeter: three feet heptameter: seven feet
tetrameter: four feet octameter: eight lines

Directions: For each example below, mark the stressed and unstressed syllables on the example. Then in the
space provided, indicate the foot and meter for each example.

EXAMPLE:

1. For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams

from Annabel Lee by Edgar Allan Poe

Foot__________________________ Meter__________________________

2. Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,

Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
from The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe

Foot__________________________ Meter__________________________

3. Like the leaves of the forest when Summer is green,

from The Destruction of Sennacherib By Lord Byron

Foot__________________________ Meter__________________________
4. My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
From Sonnet 130 by William Shakespeare

Foot__________________________ Meter__________________________

5. Pale grew thy cheek and cold

From When We Two Parted by Lord Byron

Foot__________________________ Meter__________________________

6. Ah what a pleasure it is to discover it

From Song, from An Evening's Love by John Dryden

Foot__________________________ Meter__________________________

7. The outlook wasn't brilliant for the Mudville nine that day;
From Casey at Bat by Ernest Lawrence Thayer

Foot__________________________ Meter__________________________

8. Double, double toil and trouble;

From Macbeth by William Shakespeare

Foot__________________________ Meter__________________________

9. Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

From Sonnet XVIII by William Shakespeare

Foot__________________________ Meter__________________________

10. Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.

From Twas the Night Before Christmas by Clement Clarke Moore

Foot__________________________ Meter__________________________