Metaphysical poets, selected poems Contents
Structure and versification in Twicknam Garden
The poem consists of three 9-line stanzas rhyming ababbccdd. However, the only real couplet is the odd one, since those two lines are the only two of the same length. The lines vary between tetrameters and pentameters otherwise, though it is difficult to pick up a strong iambic or trochaic rhythm.
It is actually easier just to count the syllables, which in English poetry is normally only done for hymns. The pattern works out as 10.8.8.10.8.10.8.10.10. As usual with Donne, it is the structure of the argument or dialectic, rather than the verse structure, that convinces us of the form.
Investigating Twicknam Garden
- Read through Twicknam Garden once more
- Where do you see the real power of the poem lying?
The technical name for a verse, or a regular repeating unit of so many lines in a poem. Poetry can be stanzaic or non-stanzaic.
A rhyming 2-line unit of verse.
A line of verse consisting of four metrical feet (in modern verse) or eight feet (in classical verse).
A line containing five stressed syllables or feet.
A term used of speech rhythms in blank verse; an iambic rhythm is an unstressed, or weak, beat followed by a stressed, or strong, beat. It is a rising metre.
Use of a metric foot in a line of verse, consisting of a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed. It is thus a falling metre.
The musical effect of the repetition of stresses or beats, and the speed or tempo at which these may be read.
A religious song written for worship.
A formal argument or way of arguing a case.
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