HOW TO WRITE THE METRICAL PATTERN OF A LINE OF POEM?

NOTE: I have researched the other term for beat pattern and that is ‘metrical pattern.’ Once I ask you for the metrical
pattern or beat pattern, they are the same.

Before we answer the question, let us go back to our prior knowledge and learn new basics for this lesson:

SYLLABLE – the division of a word into units

Examples: “dog” has one syllable; “window has two syllables (wind-ow); beautiful has three syllables (beaut-i-ful)

STRESS – the emphasis or force placed on a syllable. Generally, the effect of the stress will be a high tone on that
syllable.

There are two types of stress placed in a syllable:

a. STRESSED – the syllable that will receive the highest pitch. The stress is placed on a syllable depending on
situations.
b. UNSTRESSED – the syllable that will receive the lowest pitch.

EXAMPLES (the bolded syllable is the stressed syllable):

a. window d. produce (as a verb)

Now that you have remembered back the two basics, let us now meet and define the two things that compose the
metrical pattern:

A. FOOT – the rhythmic pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables

Why rhythmic? It is because the metrical pattern will rely heavily on rhythm or sound of the syllable to determine the
foot.

TYPES OF FOOT:

For you to remember easily, we will label the stressed syllable as DUH or S and unstressed syllable as da or U.

1. IAMB – the UNSTRESSED syllable then STRESSED syllable (da-DUH or U-S). It must have TWO SYLLABLES.
Examples: produce (as a verb), behold, amuse, “Of Mice and Men,” Biñan, Jose Rizal, Jhoanna Carla Escalante

2. TROCHEE – the STRESSED syllable then UNSTRESSED syllable (DUH-da or S-U). It must have TWO SYLLABLES
Examples: planted, singer, double, Pasay, Manila, Santa Rosa, Armand Blastique, Jonas Matthew Sia

3. DACTYL – There must be THREE SYLLABLES. In this foot, the STRESSED syllable goes first followed by TWO
UNSTRESSED syllables (DUH-da-da or S-U-U).
Examples: carefully, changeable, glycerine, parable, strawberry, Nasugbu, Kirk Benedict Guerra, Apolinario Mabini

4. ANAPEST – There must be THREE SYLLABLES. In this foot, TWO UNSTRESSED syllables go first followed by the
STRESSED syllable (da-da-DUH or U-U-S).
Examples: understand, interrupt, anapaest, contradict, “get a life,” “in the blink of an eye,” Cabuyao, Emilio Aguinaldo

5. SPONDEE – the two syllables are all STRESSED (DUH-DUH or S-S).

6. PYRRH – the two syllables are all UNSTRESSED (da-da or U-U). Unfortunately, rarely do this happen because all
of the words must have a stressed syllable.

B. METER – the collection of feet or rhythmic patterns in a line. We use Greek terms for numbers to identify the
number of meters. Therefore, MONO is for one, DI is for two, TRI is for three, TETRA is for four, PENTA is for five,
HEXA is for six, HEPTA is for seven, OCTA is for eight, NONA is for nine, and DECA is for ten.

Now, we know the two ingredients of a metrical pattern, let us now give the procedure to answer the question above.
Let us start with this line: “She sells sea shells by the seashore.”

STEP ONE: Find the foot of the line.

Why finding the foot first? It is because the foot will determine the number of syllables to be divided into meters.

How to find the foot of the line? Read the sentence CAREFULLY and listen VERY WELL as to how the words are stressed
in the sentence.

The trick here is to find the foot IN THE FIRST FOUR SYLLABLES. Why four? Remember that dactyl and anapaest feet
must have three syllables while the rest will have two. It will be safe for us to use four syllables.

You can immediately identify the foot if you use your pointing finger in reading. You will point up if the syllable is
stressed and point down if unstressed.

With that in mind, read the sentence above again with your pointing finger pointing upward or downward. Being the
capital-lettered syllable as the stressed syllable, the sentence will read as: SHE sells SEA shells BY the SEAshore.

What do you notice in the stress-marked sentence? Looking at the first four syllables, they suggest a pattern of S-U-S-U.
If you point your finger, it will start upward. In the fifth syllable, it is stressed. Following the pattern, we can conclude
that the foot is a TROCHEE.

STEP TWO: Divide the line into meters.

Since we know that a trochee must have two syllables, we will divide the line in groups of two syllables. With that, the
sentence is divided as follows: She sells / sea shells / by the / seashore.

STEP THREE: Identify the type of meter.

There are four meters in the line, therefore looking at our Greek terms, it is TETRA.

STEP FOUR: Write the metrical pattern of the line.

A metrical pattern is written in this way: FOOT + ic + (space) + Greek term + METER with some changes in the last letters
in some feet. Therefore the foot is written as iambic, trochaic, dactylic, anapaestic, spondaic, and pyrrhic.

Combining our outputs from the three steps above, the sentence “She sells sea shells by the seashore” has a metrical
pattern of TROCHAIC TETRAMETER.

SENTENCE NO. 2: “This is the forest primeval, the murmuring pine and the hemlocks.”

STEP ONE: The pattern of the first three syllables is S-U-U while the fourth is S. Therefore, it is DACTYLIC.
STEP TWO: THIS is the / FORest prim / Eval, the / MURmuring / PINE and the / HEMlocks.
STEP THREE: six dactyls = hexameter
STEP FOUR: dactylic pentameter

NOTE: If you notice on the last meter, the foot is a trochee. If the number of syllables is an odd number (such as the
sentence above which has 17 syllables), the foot of the last meter will not affect the overall foot of the line. Those
syllables with complete patterns will be considered in the meter counting.

SENTENCE NO. 3: “Honesty is the best policy.”

STEP ONE: Pattern is S-U. It is iambic.