Iambic Tetrameter, Trochaic Trimeter, and a Cat in a Luxury Car
While you were reading this poem, you should have noticed a certain bounciness in the language of the lines. That, Shmoopers, is no accident. That's meter at work! But how does it work? Let's take a closer look, shall we?
First off, the meter of "A Poison Tree" varies quite a bit. The most basic type of meter found here is something that folks in the know would call iambic tetrameter. What's that? Well, it's a type of meter in which there are four (tetra- is Greek for four) iambs. (An iamb is pair of syllables in which the first is unstressed and the second is stressed.) So, for example, check out line 2: