Meter, Punctuation, and Self-Understanding in Poetry

It’s possible to view poems from different perspectives, or points of view. You could read “I’m Nobody! Who Are You?” from the point of view of a child, from Dickinson’s perspective, or from your own point of view.

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When we talk, we don't pronounce all the words in a sentence or all the sounds that make up a long word with equal emphasis. Some sounds are louder (stressed) than the others (unstressed). What is this called?

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

• Tone

• Theme

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If you read poems aloud, you'll often notice that the stressed and unstressed syllables form a pattern. It's this pattern that we call the rhythm of the poem.

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When we analyze the rhythm in the lines of a poem, we often find units that repeat. We call these units ______.

• meter

• feet

• rhyme

• tone

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A line of poetry usually contains two to six feet. One of the most common feet in English poetry is an iamb. An iamb is a pair of syllables in which the first is unstressed and the second is stressed.

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The word meter refers to the basic rhythmic structure.

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If there are five iambs in each line the meter is

• iambic trimeter

• iambic pentameter

• iambic tetrameter

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Punctuation is important because it forces readers to pause and reflect upon the meaning of a poem. Select tips that will help you read poetry according to the punctuation:

• Stop briefly at semicolons.

• Stop briefly after periods, question marks, and exclamation points.

• Pause at commas.

• Look for sudden shifts in thought after dashes.

• Don’t come to a full stop if a line doesn’t end with a punctuation mark. Instead, pause and continue reading until the end of the sentence.

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The punctuation mark that stands out in Dickinson’s poetry is the

• dash (—)

• period (.)

• comma (,)

• semicolon (;)

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Poets use figurative language to effectively play around with, vary, and develop meaning within a poem.

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