DIGGING DEEPER INTO POETIC METER - PART 2 OF 4: TROCHAIC METER

Last month I shared a few basic terms related to rhythm and meter for writing in verse. (If you missed it, you can find it here.) We also introduced the iamb–a two-syllable metrical foot commonly used in English poetry. This month, we’ll take a closer look at another two-syllable metrical foot, the trochee. 

trochee – (rhymes with “lowkey”) A trochee foot is the opposite of iamb; the first syllable is stressed and the second is unstressed. Think DUM-da. An example is the word apple. Trochaic meter is referred to as a “falling meter” because it moves from a stressed syllable to an unstressed syllable. I will diagram stressed and unstressed syllables using UPPERCASE (stressed) and lowercase (unstressed) letters.
 
I’ll share some examples of trochaic meter in children’s picture books. In Rhyme Doctor Michelle Schaub’s poetry collection, FRESH PICKED POETRY, (Illustrated by Amy Huntington) about an exciting day spent at the farmer’s market, check out her use of trochaic meter in the poem “Sally’s Sweet Corn.”
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Sally’s Sweet Corn
 
Get your roasted sweet corn here!
Can’t be beat this time of year!
Eat it fast.
Eat it slow.
Crunch in circles.
Nibble rows.
Wipe the butter off your chin.
Ear to ear, you’re sure to grin.
Quick, before it disappears!
Step right up--
the sweet corn’s here!
 
GET your ROAST-ed SWEET corn HERE!
CAN’T be BEAT this TIME of YEAR!
EAT it FAST.
EAT it SLOW.
CRUNCH in CIR-cles.
NIB-ble ROWS.
WIPE the BUT-ter OFF your CHIN.
EAR to EAR, you’re SURE to GRIN.
QUICK, be-FORE it DIS-ap-PEARS!  
STEP right UP--
the SWEET corn’s HERE!
 
There are four trochees per line in this poem, so the poetic meter is called trochaic tetrameter. (Important note: Michelle drops the final unstressed syllable in the final trochee in many lines of this poem. That is common with trochaic meter. See An Introduction to Poetry by X. J. Kennedy, Chapter 9 – Rhythm.)

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Another great example of trochaic meter is found in Rhyme Doctor Patricia Toht’s fabulous fall title, PICK A PUMPKIN.

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Pick a pumpkin from the patch--
tall and lean or short and fat.
Vivid orange,
ghostly white,
or speckled green
might be just right.
 
PICK a PUMP-kin FROM the PATCH--
TALL and LEAN or SHORT and FAT.
VI-vid OR-ange, GHOST-ly WHITE,
or SPECK-led GREEN might BE just RIGHT.
 
There are four trochees in each full line of this poem, so the poetic meter is called trochaic tetrameter. (Patty does the same thing as Michelle did in the previous example: she drops the final unstressed syllable in the final trochee in many lines of this picture book. Again, that is common with trochaic meter. Check out An Introduction to Poetry by X. J. Kennedy, Chapter 9 – Rhythm for more details about working with some of these meter patterns.)
 
Look for trochaic meter when you read children’s picture books or poems.
See if you can spot it! Next month I’ll introduce a three-syllable meter pattern. See you then.
 
Eileen Meyer, Rhyme Doctor