Pentameter
Pentameter is a poetic meter. А poem is
said to be written in a particular pentameter when the lines of the
poem have the length of five feet, where 'foot' is a combination of a
particular number (1 or 2) of unstressed (or weak) syllables and a
stressed (or strong) syllable. Depending on the pattern of feet, pentameter can
be iambic (one of three two-syllable meters alongside trochaic and spondaic)
or dactylic (one of two three-syllable meters alongside anapestic).
Octameter
Octameter in poetry is
a line of eight metrical feet. It is
not very common in English verse. E.g.: -
Once
upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary
Over
many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore-
While
I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping
As of
some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door
(Edgar
Allan Poe, "The Raven")
Couplet
A couplet is a pair of lines of metre in poetry. A
couplet usually consists of two lines that rhyme and
have the same metre. A couplet may be formal (closed) or run-on (open). In a formal
(or closed) couplet, each of the two lines is end-stopped, implying that
there is a grammatical pause at the end of a line of verse. In a run-on
(or open) couplet, the meaning of the first line continues to the second.
Shall
I compare thee to a summer’s day? (Sonnet 18)
William Shakespeare, 1564 - 1616
Shall
I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou
art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough
winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And
summer’s lease hath all too short a date.
Sometime
too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And
often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And
every fair from fair sometime declines,
By
chance, or nature’s changing course, untrimmed;
But
thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor
lose possession of that fair thou ow’st,
Nor
shall death brag thou wand’rest in his shade,
When
in eternal lines to Time thou grow’st.
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can
see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to
thee.
Alfred,
Lord Tennyson
Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson, FRS (6
August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was Poet Laureate of
Great Britain and Ireland during
much of Queen Victoria's reign and remains one of the most popular British poets.
“The
Raven”
"The
Raven" is a narrative poem by American
writer Edgar Allan Poe. First published in January 1845, the poem is often
noted for its musicality, stylized language, and supernatural atmosphere.
It tells of a talking raven's mysterious visit to a distraught lover,
tracing the man's slow fall into madness. The lover, often identified as being
a student, is lamenting the loss of his love, Lenore. Sitting on a bust of Pallas,
the raven seems to further instigate his distress with its constant repetition
of the word "Nevermore". The poem makes use of a number of folk,
mythological, religious, and classical references.
"I
Wandered Lonely as a Cloud"
BY WILLIAM WORDSWORTH
I
wandered lonely as a cloud
That
floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When
all at once I saw a crowd,
A
host, of golden daffodils;
Beside
the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering
and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous
as the stars that shine
And
twinkle on the milky way,
They
stretched in never-ending line
Along
the margin of a bay:
Ten
thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing
their heads in sprightly dance.
The
waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did
the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet
could not but be gay,
In
such a jocund company:
I
gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What
wealth the show to me had brought:
For
oft, when on my couch I lie
In
vacant or in pensive mood,
They
flash upon that inward eye
Which
is the bliss of solitude;
And
then my heart with pleasure fills,
And
dances with the daffodils.
