Hello, Class!

Click to edit Master subtitle style

Today: Scansion
~ /
4/29/12

English Language Arts Grade 8

To get ready for class today, take out your homework (your favorite line of poetry or your favorite lyric from a song). Write your name on the same
4/29/12

Objective
Students will use scansion to identify meter in poetry.

Purpose
To teach students the process of scanning poetry. Scanning is used to identify the meter and rhythmic pattern of a poem.
4/29/12 To establish something meaningful

Scansion

Scansion is the dividing of lines of poetry into stressed and unstressed syllables. These syllables make up poetic feet. Once the stress pattern and number of feet are counted and combined, we can determine the poems meter.

4/29/12

What is Meter?
Meter

tells us the stress pattern and the amount of feet in a line of poetry.

Meter

can also be referred to as the rhythm of a poem.

4/29/12

Stress pattern?!?!
Dont STRESS out! A stress pattern is simply a fancy phrase that poets use to label the stressed and unstressed syllables of words or phrases in the poem. These stressed and unstressed syllables make up poetic feet.
4/29/12

Lets count syllables!

We use symbols to mark the stressed and unstressed syllables. ~ = Unstressed / = Stressed To determine the stressed and unstressed syllables in my name, I would first say my name out loud: Jessica 4/29/12

Poets like fancy words

In poetry, there is a chart that labels the stress patterns as fancy words. This is important because it is the first step in identifying the meter of a poem. Once you have labeled the stress pattern in your name, look at the Stress Pattern Chart and find the word that best fits the stress 4/29/12

Stress Pattern Chart of Fancy Words

~ = Unstressed / = Stressed
Pattern ~/ ~~/ /~ /~~ //
The stress pattern in my name was /~~.

Noun iamb anapest trochee dactyl spondee

Adjective iambic anapestic trochaic dactylic spondaic

I can now identify that pattern as a dactyl. Turn to the person next to you and tell them the noun for the
4/29/12

Poems dont walk, why do they need feet?

Poems

use feet as a measurement tool. A foot includes at least one STRESSED and at least one UNSTRESED syllable. count the number of stress patterns in a line of poetry. also have a chart of fancy words.
4/29/12 you put the adjective

Feet They

When

Poetic Foot Chart of Fancy Wordsper line Feet Fancy Word

One Two Three Four Five Six Seven Eight
4/29/12

monometer dimeter trimeter tetrameter pentameter hexameter heptameter octameter

Lets put it together!

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? -Shakespeare Sonnet 18 Stress Pattern: ~ / / ~ / ~ / ~ /~

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? 4/29/12

Your Turn!
With the person next to you, try to identify the meter in these lines of poetry/music: Thou art more lovely and more temperate. -Shakespeare Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. 4/29/12

Homework
Identify the meter in the line of poetry or song lyric that you wrote down in the beginning of class. Be prepared to share your homework with the class.

4/29/12