Confused about feet. I.e. meter

Question

I don't really understand how to tell if somethings iambic pentameter? what do you mean by feet?
I take it this isn't in iambic pentameter?

Epitaph by Amy Levy

This is the end of him, here lies;
The dust in his throat, the worm in his eyes,
The mould in his mouth, the turf on his ***;
This is the end of him, this is best,
He will never lie on his couch awake,
Wide-eyed, tearless, till dim daybreak.
Never again will he smile and smile
When his heart is breaking all the while.
He will never stretch out his hands in vain
Groaping and groaping - never again.
Never ask for bread, get a stone instead,
Never pretend that the stone is bread,
Never sway and sway'twixt the false and the true,
Weighing and noting the long hours through.
Never ache and ache with the chok'd-up sighs;
This is the end of him, here he lies.

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

This doesn't appear to be any consistent meter. From a poetry website:

Iambic pentameter is one of the most common types of meter, or metrical schemes. The word pentameter is used because the line is broken up into five feet. An iamb is a poetic foot consisting of one unstressed beat followed by a stressed one, and is often given the notation "|u x|," where u is the unstressed beat and x the stressed one (for example, "to-DAY". An example of how iambic pentameter is read would be:

| i WANT| to GO | to REST | au RANT | this EVE |

Other common types of feet are the trochee, a stressed beat followed by an unstressed one "|x u|" ("SWEET-ner"), and the spondee, two stressed beats in succession "|x x|" ("LET'S GO").

Earlier poets were far more concerned than contemporary ones with meter. Many poets wrote almost their entire body of work in a very limited number of metrical schemes. Shakespeare, for example, wrote his sonnets and the poetic language of his plays in iambic pentameter.
Iambic pentameter is one of the most common metrical schemes in English, because it sounds the most like ordinary speech. However, much of twentieth-century poetry has been written in a style without a carefully observed meter, called free verse. If you like, call it slacker poetry. Rules, shmules.

Julielai · Answer

Hi Mr. M!

I think I have a general feel of iambic, but do you know on top of your head any poems that are primary in

trochee or spondee? I'd like to read aloud a few to get the hang of the other less common meters.

Thanks. :-)

Mister Micawber · Answer

HIAWATHA'S SAILING

"Give me of your bark, O Birch-tree!
Of your yellow bark, O Birch-tree!
Growing by the rushing river,
Tall and stately in the valley!
I a light canoe will build me,
Build a swift Cheemaun for sailing,
That shall float upon the river,
Like a yellow leaf in Autumn,
Like a yellow water-lily!

"Lay aside your cloak, O Birch-tree!
Lay aside your white-skin wrapper,
For the Summer-time is coming,
And the sun is warm in heaven,
And you need no white-skin wrapper!"

Thus aloud cried Hiawatha
In the solitary forest,
By the rushing Taquamenaw,
When the birds were singing gayly,
In the Moon of Leaves were singing,
And the sun, from sleep awaking,
Started up and said, "Behold me!
Geezis, the great Sun, behold me!"

And the tree with all its branches
Rustled in the breeze of morning,
Saying, with a sigh of patience,
"Take my cloak, O Hiawatha!"

You cannot write a poem in spondees-- it would be an uninterrupted series of stressed syllables.

Julielai · Answer

Thank you! <img class='emoticon' style='Width:19px;Height:19px;' data-delaysrc='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' src='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' alt='Emotion: smile'/>

Confused about feet. I.e. meter

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