Foot - grouping of stressed and unstressed syllables used in line or poem
Iamb - unstressed syllable followed by stressed
Made famous by the Shakespearian sonnet, closest to the natural rhythm of human speech
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways
Spondee - stressed stressed
Used to add emphasis and break up monotonous rhythm
Blood boil, mind-meld, well- loved
Trochee - stressed unstressed
Often used in children’s rhymes and to help with memorization, gives poem a hurried feeling
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
Anapest - unstressed unstressed stressed
Often used in longer poems or “rhymed stories”
Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house
Dactyls - stressed unstressed unstressed
Often used in classical Greek or Latin text, later revived by the Romantics, then again by the Beatles, often thought to create a heartbeat or pulse in a poem
Picture yourself in a boat on a river,
With tangerine trees and marmalade skies.
The iamb stumbles through my books; trochees rush and tumble; while anapest runs like a hurrying brook; dactyls are stately and classical.
Imagery - the author’s attempt to create a mental picture (or reference point) in the mind of the reader. Remember, though the most immediate forms of imagery are visual, strong and effective imagery can be used to invoke an emotional, sensational (taste, touch, smell etc) or even physical response.