How to Apply Tetrameter to Poetry

Tetrameter is a four foot line in poetry. A foot is unit of rhythm that repeats across a verse. In tetrameter, there are eight syllables per line, with varying emphases for rhythmic effect. You can write and find poetry in trochaic, anapestic, dactylic or iambic tetrameter. A poet decides what syllables to stress in order to create mood. Tetrameter generally is a rapidly read verse. Classical poetry provides many excellent examples of tetrameter forms.

Instructions

1. 

   Read "Milton" by William Blake for an example of trochaic tetrameter. "And did those feet in ancient time . . . " The line has eight syllables. Blake emphasizes every second syllable. An example from Shakespeare is Cymbeline: "Fear no more the heat o' the sun." The Bard emphasizes the first syllable of each trochee.

2. 

   Find examples of anapestic tetrameter. Less well-known, anapestic tetrameter, with two syllables followed by an emphasized syllable, creates interesting and less cliche rhythm. Read Lord Byron's "The Destruction of Sennacherib" and notice the rhythm: "The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold, And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold."

3. 

   Study poems that employ dactylic tetrameter, introduced by one long syllable, which is followed by two shorter syllables. The line, "Down in the valleys of beautiful fantasy" (poet unknown) reads accordingly: one and a/ two and a/ three.

4. 

   Read and absorb the rhythm of iambic tetrameter in Alfred Lord Tennyson's "In Memoriam A.H.H" (see Resources below): "Strong Son of God, immortal Love, Whom we, that have not seen thy face." The beauty of simplicity in myriad examples of iambic tetrameter can be found in Shakespeare, Tennyson and countless poets across the ages. Although iambic tetrameter is a simple rhythm, it takes a poet to create beauty in a verse.

Tips & Warnings

• Practice writing the various forms of tetrameter

Resources

• In Memoriam A.H.H.
• Meter and Rhyme Forms: Iambic Pentameter and Iambic Tetrameter
• Anapestic Tetrameter