Scansion in poetry with Examples - Literary Terms

Tags: Scansion in poetry with Examples, Scansion definition, Scansion  examples

Scansion in poetry with Examples - Literary Terms

Scansion:

 Analyzing the METER in lines of POETRY by counting and marking the accented and unaccented syllables, dividing the lines into metrical feet, and showing the major pauses, if any, within the line. The conventional system for scanning English poetry calls for marking accented syllables (ʹ) and unaccented syllables (˘). Other symbols include a vertical line (l) to separate one foot from another, and a double line (l l) to indicate a CAESURA or major pause. The scansion of A. E. Housman's “When I Was One-and-Twenty" shows the standard way to indicate the meter of a poem:

 When i was one-and-twenty

I heard a wise man say,

“Give crowns and pounds and guineas

But not your heart away;

Give pearls away and rubies

But keep your fancy free."

But I was one-and-twenty,

No use I to talk co me.

when I was one-land-twenty

I heard him say again,

“The heart out of tħe bosom

Was never given in vain;

‘Tis paid with sighs a-plenty

And sold for end less rue.”

And i am two-and-twenty,

And oh, 'tis true, 'tis true.

Some methods of scansion also include refinements, such as symbols indicating secondary accents and long and short syllables.

See also:

FOOT,

METER,

RHYME SCHEME. 

Tags: Scansion in poetry with Examples, Scansion definition, Scansion  examples