Meter refers to a systematic rhythmical pattern found in poetry.

Meter is globally the most common method of organizing poetry, from the rap concerts of American metropolises to the highland hills of Papua New Guinea. In almost all languages they are governed by convoluted rules and regulations, the stuff of nightmares of any student of literature. Indeed, meter is so fundamental to many poetic traditions that Europeans often had trouble realizing that non-metrical verse actually constituted poetry.

In English, poetic meter is usually conflated with the specific forms of meter that occur in traditional English poetry: iambic pentameter, anapestic tetrameter, and so forth. This is a very narrow perspective on meter that fails to cover even the entire poetic tradition of English, never mind those of other languages.

Below are some of the global principles of meter.

  ISOCHRONY. Isochrony refers to the division of languages into stress-timed, syllable-timed, and morae-timed ones depending on the rhythm of the speech. In stress-timed ones like English, stressed syllables are pronounced for longer and the duration of time between stressed syllables tends to be similar. This means that when you say "Lord of the Rings," the stressed syllables "Lord" and "Rings" take longer to pronounce than "of" and "the" (if you take the time to pronounce all four words for the same length, it sounds like you're stressing "of" and "the" as well). In syllable-timed ones like French, by contrast, each syllable tends to be pronounced for the same amount of time.

Finally, in mora-timed languages like Japanese, each mora (plural morae) is pronounced for the same duration of time. A mora is a subunit of a syllable that determines syllable weight; closed syllables (syllables that end in consonants) and syllables with long vowels or diphthongs (two vowels) have more morae and are considered heavier. If English was mora-timed, "your" (two morae: you-r) would be pronounced twice as long as "you", and "yours" (three morae: you-r-s) would be pronounced even longer.

How valid isochrony is remains in dispute, but it turns out to be very useful when we're talking about poetic meter:

• Stress-timed languages tend to have stress-counting meter, which regulates the number of stressed syllables in a line, or a syllable-stress meter, which regulates both the total number of syllables and the arrangement of stressed syllables within them.
• Syllable-timed languages tend to have syllable-counting meter, which regulates the number of syllables in a line, stressed or otherwise.
• Mora-timed languages tend to have mora-counting meter, which regulates only the number of morae in a line, or a quantitative meter, which regulates both the total number of syllables and the arrangement of heavy syllables within them.

Almost all languages that have meter have one (or a combination) of these three types. The rare exceptions, such as Korean, barely do more than prove the rule.

On top of these three general types of meter, there are other globally common features of meter:

• There is always great variation within metrical rules―rules are made to be broken.
• Many forms of meter specify bridge rules and caesura rules. A bridge rule states that at a certain location, two adjacent syllables / stressed syllables / morae must belong to the same word or syntactic/prosodic unit. A caesura rule states the opposite, that two adjacent units must belong to different words or units.
• Tonal languages like Chinese often have tone meter on top, which specifies the arrangement of tones in the line.

Below, we examine of relatively familiar examples of these five basic types of meter, as well as an instance from Classical Chinese of tone meter.

A stress-counting meter: Rap

In stress-counting meters, each line has a fixed number of stressed syllables. The number of unstressed syllables between them is not controlled for, or controlled for only loosely. In some cases (the strong-stress meter), the meter may demand only that each line have a fixed number of strongly stressed syllables and leave the total number of stresses uncontrolled.

Stress-counting meters are common in stress-timed languages, including English. English has always been a stress-timed language, and its oldest meters counted stressed syllables. While the influence of continental literature during the Middle Ages ultimately made syllable-stress meter the default for written poetry, stress-counting meters remain very natural for all English-speakers, as the following example demonstrates.

Rap is a modern English-language poetic genre that features a strong-stress meter that counts four strongly stressed syllables in each line, which is divisible into two parts, each with two strong stresses (this is a caesura rule). Between the strong stresses there may be one or multiple stressed syllables, unstressed syllables, or no syllables at all.

In the following work, strongly stressed syllables are bolded and caesuras are marked.

His palms are sweaty, || knees weak, arms are heavy

There's vomit on his sweater already, || mom's spaghetti

He's nervous, but on the surface || he looks calm and ready

To drop bombs, || but he keeps on forgettin'

What he wrote down, || the whole crowd goes so loud

He opens his mouth, || but the words won't come out

He's chokin', how, || everybody's jokin' now

The clocks run out, || times up, over, blaow!

"Lose Yourself", Eminem, 2002

As we expect from stress-counting meters, there's no fixed number of syllables between the four strong stresses here.

A syllable-stress meter: Blank verse

In syllable-stress meters, each line has a fixed order in which stressed and unstressed syllables must occur. This has the consequence of fixing both the total number of syllables in a line and the order of stressed and unstressed syllables within it.

Syllable-stress meters are also common in stress-timed languages, and its variants are traditionally the dominant forms of meter in English poetry.

In some cases, the meter is the only systematic way by which poetry is organized. This is the case in the English-language genre of blank verse, where every line consists of a syllable-stress verse called iambic pentameter, which alternates unstressed and stressed syllables five times.

Here's a famous example of blank verse:

ROMEO: But soft, what light through yonder window breaks?

        It is the east and Juliet is the sun!

        Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,

        Who is already sick and pale with grief

        That thou her maid art far more fair than she.

        [......]

JULIET : O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?

        Deny thy father and refuse thy name;

        Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,

        And I'll no longer be a Capulet.

Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare, 1597

Now we count the syllables and, in a simplified model, mark them as stressed (red) or unstressed (black). We see that the iambic pentameter pattern of five pairs of alternating unstressed and stressed syllables recurs, producing ten syllables with stressed even and unstressed odd ones, with some variations:

ROMEO : But(1) soft,(2) what(3) light(4) through(5) yon(6)der(7) win(8)dow(9) breaks?(10)

        It(1) is(2) the(3) east(4) and(5) Ju(6)li(7)et(8) is(9) the(10) sun!(11)

        A(1)rise,(2) fair(3) sun,(4) and(5) kill(6) the(7) en(8)vi(9)ous(10) moon,(11)

        Who(1) is(2) al(3)rea(4)dy(5) sick(6) and(7) pale(8) with(9) grief(10)

        That(1) thou(2) her(3) maid(4) art(5) far(6) more(7) fair(8) than(9) she.(10)

        [......]

JULIET : O(1) Ro(2)meo(3), Ro(4)meo!(5) where(6)fore(7) art(8) thou(9) Ro(10)meo?(11)

        De(1)ny(2) thy(3) fa(4)ther(5) and(6) re(7)fuse(8) thy(8) name;(10)

        Or,(1) if(2) thou(3) wilt(4) not,(5) be(6) but(7) sworn(8) my(9) love,(10)

        And(1) I'll(2) no(3) lon(4)ger(5) be(6) a(7) Ca(8)pu(9)let.(10)

A syllable-counting meter: English haiku

Syllable-counting meters control only the total number of syllables per line. This often means that all lines in a poem must have the same number of syllables; in Classical Chinese regulated verse, this is usually five or seven, whereas the French alexandrin demands twelve.

Syllable-counting meters are usually found in syllable-timed languages, which include both French and Chinese. English, however, is a stress-timed language where the rhythm of accents overrules that of syllables; this means that syllable-counting meter is extremely rare in English, and usually an imitation of the meter of foreign languages. This is the case in English haiku, the best-known syllabic meter in English.

As we'll see below, Japanese is a mora-timed language and the Japanese genre of haiku actually deploys a mora-counting meter, not a syllable-counting one. But because the concept of morae is utterly foreign to English, when haiku was adopted into the language, it was with a syllable-counting meter.

Like its Japanese model, the English haiku is a three-line poem. The first and third lines have five syllables; the second one has seven.

"Haiku", Etheridge Knight, 1986

With an exception in the final line of stanza 3, the 5-7-5 syllable-counting meter is retained throughout the work:

1   Eas(1)tern(2) guard(3) to(4)wer(5) // glints(1) in(2) sun(3)set;(4) con(5)victs(6) rest(7) // like(1) li(2)zards(3) on(4) rocks(5)

3   Mor(1)ning(2) sun(3) slants(4) cell(5) // Drunks(1) stag(2)ger(3) like(4) crip(5)ple(6) flies(7) // On(1) jail(2)house(3) floor(4)

7   Un(1)der(2) moon(3) sha(4)dows(5) // A(1) tall(2) boy(3) fla(4)shes(5) knife(6) and(7) // Sli(1)ces(2) star(3) bright(4) ice(5)

9   Ma(1)king(2) jazz(3) swing(4) in(5) // Se(1)ven(2)teen(3) syl(4)la(5)bles(6) AIN'T(7) // No(1) square(2) po(3)et's(4) job(5)

A mora-counting meter: Japanese haiku

Mora-counting meters are usually found in mora-timed languages (though most familiar mora-timed languages tend to use quantitative meter, which we'll discuss below). The defining characteristic of mora-counting meter is that they regulate the number of morae alone, without any concern for the total number of syllables.

The best-studied examples all come from Japanese, including the most internationally famous one of all. The traditional Japanese genre of haikai poetry begins with an initial stanza with a number of restrictions, including that it must be a complete statement, that it must reference the seasons, that it must feature a juxtaposition between two elements, and that it must usually consist of three 5-7-5 mora-counting lines. This stanza was called hokku. Eventually, poets began to experiment with using hokku as independent poems, giving rise to the modern haiku.

The Japanese haiku/hokku is not about syllables, and never was. Here are some examples of how mora-counting and syllable-counting can conflict:

563

sabishisa ya

kugi ni kaketaru

kirigirisu

563

loneliness—

dangling from a nail,

a cricket

Matsuo Bashō, autumn 1691

83

kōmori mo

ideyo ukiyo no

hana ni tori

83

you too come out, bat:

all these birds amid the blossoms

of this floating world

Matsuo Bashō, date unknown

126

ran no ka ya

chō no tsubasa ni

takimono su

126

an orchid's scent—

its incense perfuming

a butterfly's wings

In poem 550, every syllable ends in a short vowel. This means that each syllable consists of one mora, and mora-counting and syllable-counting coincide.

But don't be misled. In the first line of poem 83, kōmori mo, we have a syllable that ends in a long vowel (marked by a bar above the letter). This syllable consists of two morae. Bashō takes this into account, writing a four-syllable but five-mora line:

And poem 126 begins with the word ran "orchid", which ends in a consonant. This also makes this one syllable two morae, so we have:

With this in mind, we can see how even a three-syllable phrase like Tōkyō ni "to Tokyo" is a perfectly acceptable line in haiku.

A quantitative meter: Ancient Greek dactyllic hexameter

Quantitative meter is quite similar to syllable-stress meter; each line has a fixed order in which heavy (multiple morae) and light (one mora) syllables must occur, thus fixing both the total number of syllables in a line and the order of heavy and light syllables within it.

Ancient Greek was a mora-timed language, and its founding works of literature, the Iliad and the Odyssey, are all in quantitative meter.

Quantitative meter is in fact where much of the English-language terminology for syllable-stress meter comes from. Terms like iamb (in English referring to a pattern of "one unstressed syllable-one stressed syllable") or dactyl ("one stressed syllable-two unstressed syllables") originally referred to Ancient Greek quantitative verse, where an iambos is a "one light syllable-one heavy syllable" pattern and dáktylos a "one heavy syllable-two light syllables" pattern.

The Iliad, including the following first two lines of the epic, is in dactylic hexameter. In Greek dactyllic hexameter, each line has six units. The first four are usually dactyls but may be freely replaced by a spondee (two heavy syllables). The fifth unit is almost always a dactyl, and the last unit is either a spondee or a trochee (a heavy syllable followed by a light syllable). A caesura rule states that there must be a word boundary in the third or fourth unit.

Mēnin aeide thea Pēlēiadeō Akhilēos

Oulomenēn, hē muri Akhaiois alge ethēke.

Rage—Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus's son Achilles,

Murderous, doomed, that cost the Achaeans countless losses.

Homer: The Iliad, translated by Robert Fagles, 1990.

And now for the analysis of the meter. Syllable divisions and caesuras are marked; heavy syllables are colored; units of meter are grouped with square brackets for dactyls and braces for spondees and trochees. Greek defines morae a little differently from Japanese. Most (but not all!) short-vowel syllables that end with one consonant are considered light, while syllables with diphthongs or long vowels are always heavy:

[Mē/nin   a](1)[ei/de   the](2){a   ||   Pē}(3)[lē/i/a](4)[deō   A/khi](5){lē/os}(6)

[Ou/lo/me](1){nēn,   hē}(2)   [mu/ri   ||   A](3){khai/ois}(4)   [al/ge   e](5){thē/ke.}(6)

Complicated! But the six units of each line are largely coherent.

Tone meter: Classical Chinese jueju

The majority of the world's languages use tone, though only Chinese has more than a hundred million total speakers. In these languages, poets often follow rules about which tones fall where. This is called tone meter.

No language seems to have tone meter alone. In Classical Chinese poetry, which we look at below, the basic type of meter counts syllables. But within the syllabic framework, the tone meter determines what type of syllables may be used.

The rules of Chinese tone meter are demanding, but we can speak of a few principles. Chinese has many tones (Standard Chinese has four, Cantonese has six), but Classical Chinese poetry divides them into two classes: "level" and "oblique". In Standard Chinese, the level tone forms of the syllable "ma" are "mā" and "má", and the oblique forms are "mǎ" and "mà". The ideal is that in a five-syllable line, two two-syllable blocs should share the same tone, while the remaining syllable can be either. The next line should reverse the pattern. "Oblique-Oblique-Level-Level-Oblique / Level-Level-Oblique-Oblique-Level" would be a perfectly metered couplet.

In practice, the only almost inviolable law of tone meter seems to be that the fourth syllable should belong to a different tone class from the second and sixth.

The following work is a five-syllable, four-line regulated poem with a caesura after the second syllable, a genre called jueju:

When we divide this poem into level (black) and oblique (red) tones:

Twelve hundred years later, we still see the characteristic features of Chinese tone meter: the tendency to have two adjacent syllables have the same tone class (see lines 1, 3, 4); the second and fourth syllables always belonging to different tones; the reversion of the order of tones in each couplet (in line 2, the second syllable is level and the fourth is oblique, the opposite of line 1; in line 4, the second is oblique and the fourth is level, the opposite of line 3); and the rule that rhyming words (here rán and nián) should have level tone.