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Verse
From Spanking Art
Verse is a metrical composition of text, such as a poem. Verse is also commonly found in song lyrics.
Writing without a meter, which follows more closely to everyday speech, is called prose.
Contents |
[edit] Examples
Here are some examples of meters commonly found in verse:
[edit] Trochee
"DUM-da"
- Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December;
- And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.
[edit] Iamb
"da-DUM"
- Amazing Grace! How sweet the sound
- That saved a wretch like me;
- I once was lost, but now am found;
- Was blind, but now I see.
[edit] Dactyl
"DUM-da-da"
- Picture your self in a boat on a river with
- tangerine tree-ees and marmalade skii-ii-es.
[edit] Anapest
"da-da-DUM"
- The Assyrian came down like a wolf on the fold
- And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold
- And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea
- When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee.
[edit] More complex cases
The above examples are all simple in that their feet are complete throughout. In practice, often the beginning and/or end of a line may contain an incomplete foot. To make things yet more complicated, individual syllables may also be silent or doubled. For example, consider the old nursery rhyme:
- There was an old woman who lived in a shoe,
- She had so many children she didn't know what to do;
- She gave them some broth without any bread;
- Then whipped them all soundly and put them to bed.
The basic meter here is "da-DUM-da-da-DUM-da-da-DUM-da-da-DUM", which is a dactyl; both the beginning and end of each line are incomplete feet. "She had" and "she didn't" are doubled syllables; there is a silent syllable before "without".
[edit] Quiz
Hover your mouse pointer over the following lines to see the meter!
- Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall...
- Old Mother Twitchet had but one eye, and a long tail which she let fly...
- A frog he would a-wooing go...
- I love little pussy, her coat is so warm, and if I don't hurt her she'll do me no harm...
- Old King Cole was a merry old soul, and a merry old soul was he...
- The Queen of Hearts she made some tarts, all on a summer's day...
- There was a little man and he had a little gun, and his bullets were made out of lead, lead, lead...
- Pussy cat, pussy cat, where have you been? I've been to London to look at the Queen...
- Simple Simon met a pieman going to the fair...
