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Rhythminpoetryiscreatedbythestressesoraccentsinthewordsofthepoem.Forexample,in
wordsthathavemorethanonesyllable,oneofthesyllablesisusuallypronouncedmorestronglythan
theothers.Forexample,inthewordbasketball,thefirstsyllableispronounced
morestrongly:BASketball.Wordsthatcontainonlyonesyllablemightnormally
bestressed,ortheymightnot.UsuallylittlewordslikeandandIandtheare
notstressed.Butsinglesyllableverbslikelikeorplayusuallyarestressed.The
bestwaytofigureoutwhichwordsorsyllablesinawordarestressedistoreadthe
linealoud.Inthelinebelow,thestressedsyllableshavebeencapitalized,andthe
unstressedsyllablesarelowercase.
ILIKEtoPLAYBASketball
Therhythmthatiscreatedbycombiningstressedandunstressedsyllablesinaline
ofpoetryiscalledmeter.Afootisthegroupofstressedandunstressedsyllables
thatmakeupthemeterofapoem.Nowlookatthesamplelineagain.Thistime,
verticallineshavebeenplacedinthelinebetweeneachfoot.Therearethreefeet
inthislineofpoetry.
ILIKE|toPLAY|BASketball
Poemscanhaveanynumberoffeetintheirlines,butusuallyeachlinehasthesamenumberoffeet.
EXERCISEIDENTIFYINGFEET
Drawlinesbetweenthefeetinthelinesofpoetry,likeintheexampleabove,andthenwriteonthe
blankhowmanyfeetareineachline.
1.S i l l y S a l l y a t e a p u m p k i n .
2.J o n a t h o n r o d e o n a b i c y c l e .
3.M y m o t h e r a t e a p i e c e o f p i e .
4.Askandyeshallreceive.
5.Ilikecotton,Ilikecandy.
6.Firstistheworst,lastisthebest.