What on Earth is Tetrameter?
Tetrameter is a rhythmic tool that poets use.
First, we have to start with feet.
Image from Wikipedia
A foot is a group of syllables. The foot is classified by the number of syllables it contains. In English, the most common foot is the iamb . An iamb contains two feet with the emphasis on the last syllable: da-DUM.
Tetra- is a prefix that means “four”. So, iambic tetrameter is four iambs: da-DUM, da-DUM, da-DUM,da-DUM. A total of eight syllables. The syllable count does not have to be perfect and you are allowed to reverse the pattern (DA-dum). an inverted iamb is called a trochee. When you read Shakespeare’s “Winter”, what you hear is the rhythm of iambic tetrameter.
Image from Wikipedia
Winter
By William Shakespeare
When icicles hang by the wall,
And Dick the shepherd blows his nail,
And Tom bears logs into the hall,
And milk comes frozen home in pail,
When blood is nipped, and ways be foul,
Then nightly sings the staring-owl,
Tu-who;
Tu-whit, tu-who–a merry note,
While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.
When all aloud the wind doth blow,
And coughing drowns the parson’s saw,
And birds sit brooding in the snow,
And Marian’s nose looks red and raw,
When roasted crabs hiss in the bowl,
Then nightly sings the staring owl,
Tu-who;
Tu-whit, tu-who–a merry note,
While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.
–William Shakespeare
But iambic tetrameter is the overlooked middle child of the English language. The most popular poetic arrangement by far (and the one you’ve probably heard of) is iambic pentameter: da-DUM,da-DUM,da-DUM,da-DUM, da-DUM. Ten syllables in all.
Sonnet 18
| Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? |
| Thou art more lovely and more temperate: |
| Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, |
| And summer’s lease hath all too short a date: |
| Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, |
| And often is his gold complexion dimm’d; |
| And every fair from fair sometime declines, |
| By chance or nature’s changing course untrimm’d; |
| But thy eternal summer shall not fade |
| Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest; |
| Nor shall Death brag thou wander’st in his shade, |
| When in eternal lines to time thou growest: |
| So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, |
| So long lives this and this gives life to thee. |
-William Shakespeare
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Of course, many poets use rhythm without knowing any of these terms. They just know how the words sound when read aloud. Modern poets write mostly in vers libre or free verse, using no meter and no rhyme, or rhyme without meter or meter without rhyme.
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Tags: poetry, technique, tetrameter
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March 16th, 2009 at 4:11 am
It’s interesting, but my verse is usually not pentameter, but tetrameter. That is what feels natural to me.
Interesting article.
March 16th, 2009 at 5:22 am
Is that what he was up to? j
March 16th, 2009 at 7:13 am
Trochaic Tetrameter is also the rhythm of heroic verse. Beowulf was written in tetrameter. It gives that marching feet feel to verse.
March 16th, 2009 at 8:24 am
Hi, Stephanie. Good job on this one. I love using tetrameters.
Meter without rhyme is either blank verse or blank poems, rhyme without meter is free form. Free verse may use any of these at any time, but does not use any one of these all the time.
March 16th, 2009 at 9:52 am
Excellent! That was cool. I loved it! Thnx 4 sharing
March 16th, 2009 at 11:29 am
Great Article!:)
March 16th, 2009 at 6:45 pm
Great explanation, wonderful article!
March 16th, 2009 at 7:26 pm
great article and interesting facts.
March 16th, 2009 at 7:33 pm
Alas, since I’ve sworn off poetry, I’ll leave this great advice to the true poets. Great article.
March 17th, 2009 at 8:17 am
nicely written, i like your point of view!
March 17th, 2009 at 5:13 pm
Thank you for explaining. Good job.