Trochaic octameter - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Trochaic octameter is a poetic

Poetry

Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...

meter

Meter (poetry)

In poetry, metre is the basic rhythmic structure of a verse or lines in verse. Many traditional verse forms prescribe a specific verse metre, or a certain set of metres alternating in a particular order. The study of metres and forms of versification is known as prosody...

that has eight trochaic

Trochee

A trochee or choree, choreus, is a metrical foot used in formal poetry consisting of a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed one...

metrical feet

Foot (prosody)

The foot is the basic metrical unit that generates a line of verse in most Western traditions of poetry, including English accentual-syllabic verse and the quantitative meter of classical ancient Greek and Latin poetry. The unit is composed of syllables, the number of which is limited, with a few...

per line. Each foot has one stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable. Trochaic octameter is a rarely used meter.

Description and uses

The best known work in trochaic octameter is Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...

's "The Raven

The Raven

"The Raven" is a narrative poem by American writer Edgar Allan Poe, first published in January 1845. It 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 descent into madness...

," which utilizes five lines of trochaic octameter followed by a "short" half line (in reality, 7 beats) that, by the end of the poem, takes on the qualities of a refrain.

Because of the length of the line, trochaic octameter lends itself to the heavy use of internal rhyme and alliteration and is also extraordinarily difficult to use consistently. The Raven, for example, breaks into two half-lines of approximately 8 syllables, generally with a caesura

Caesura

thumb|100px|An example of a caesura in modern western music notation.In meter, a caesura is a complete pause in a line of poetry or in a musical composition. The plural form of caesura is caesuras or caesurae...

between them, and utilizes dactyl

Dactyl

Dactyl may refer to:* Dactyl , a creature in Greek mythology* Dactyl , a metrical foot consisting of one long syllable and two short* Dactyl , the small natural satellite orbiting the asteroid Ida...

s (which still lead with the stress but then have two unstressed syllables) to break up the monotony of the pure trochaic octameter.

Example

A trochee foot is a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable. We could write the rhythm like this:

DUM

A line of trochaic octameter is eight of these in a row:

DUM

We can scan

Systems of scansion

A system of scansion is a way to mark the metrical patterns of a line of poetry. In classical poetry, these patterns are based on the different lengths of each syllable, and in English poetry, they are based on the different levels of stress placed on each syllable. In both cases, the meter often...

this with a 'x' mark representing an unstressed syllable and a '/' mark representing a stressed syllable. In this notation a line of trochaic octameter would look like this:

The following first verse from "The Raven" shows the use of trochaic octameter. Note the heavy use of dactyls

Dactyl (poetry)

A dactyl is a foot in meter in poetry. In quantitative verse, such as Greek or Latin, a dactyl is a long syllable followed by two short syllables, as determined by syllable weight...

in the second and fifth line, which help to emphasize the more regular lines, and the use of strong accents to end the second, forth and fifth lines, reinforcing the rhyme:

We can notate the scansion

Scansion

Scansion is the act of determining and graphically representing the metrical character of a line of verse.-Overview:Systems of scansion, and the assumptions that underlie them, are so numerous and contradictory that it is often difficult to tell whether differences in scansion indicate opposed...

of this as follows:

Once

up-

mid-

night

drear-

while

pon-

dered

weak

and

wear-

O-

ver

man-

quaint

and

cur-

ous

vol-

ume

for-

got-

ten

lore,

While

nod-

ded,

near-

nap-

ping,

sud-

den

there

came

tap-

ping,

some-

one

gent-

rap-

ping,

rap-

ping

cham-

ber

door.

"'Tis

some

vis-

tor,"

mut-

tered,

"tap-

ping

cham-

ber

door;

On-

this,

and

noth-

ing

The following first two lines from "Womanizer"

Womanizer (song)

"Womanizer" is a song by American recording artist Britney Spears from her sixth studio album, Circus. It was released on September 26, 2008 by Jive Records as the lead single of the album. Produced and co-written by Nikesha Briscoe and Rafael Akinyemi of The Outsyders, the song had to be...

by Britney Spears

Britney Spears

Britney Jean Spears is an American recording artist and entertainer. Born in McComb, Mississippi, and raised in Kentwood, Louisiana, Spears began performing as a child, landing acting roles in stage productions and television shows. She signed with Jive Records in 1997 and released her debut album...

also show trochaic octameter. Note that in line two, the word "Oh" is anceptic to emphasize the importance of what follows: "Womanizer."

We can notate the scansion

Scansion

of this as follows:

Wo-

man-

zer

Wo-

man

Wo-

man-

zer

you're

Wo-

man-

zer

Wo-

man-

zer

you're

Wo-

man-

zer

ba-

It becomes more important in another section of the chorus, in which words are repeated so as to maintain the meter.

Boy

don't

try

front

(I)

know

just

(just)

what

you

are

are.

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