Prescanned Shakespeare.com
presented by Acoustic Learning


A Rational Guide to Verse
or, Scansion Made Simple


Equality creates verse

A writer of verse-- a poet-- arranges words so their syllables automatically form equal groups.  (A "syllable" is any bunch of letters you pronounce as a single set.)  You don’t have to do anything but read.

"Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,"

If syllables do not group equally, they are prose.  This is the definitive difference between verse and prose:  verse is made up of equal groups, and prose isn’t.

"Mary, Mary, quite contrary." "Mary usually disagrees with us."

A group of syllables is called a foot.  Verse, therefore, can be defined as a series of equal feet.

equal feet

<< Previous section

Next section >>

 
 
   
  Order the printed book
of this online guide.
Perfect paperback, 65 pp.
   

All contents of this page are copyright ©2012 Acoustic Learning Inc.  All rights reserved.



Home