How to determine the size of a poem? It's all about stress!

Eugene Onegin in Pushkin's novel of the same name "could not ... distinguish iamba from chorea". Maybe it's very difficult? Hardly. Simply Pushkin's hero did not take questions about how to determine the size of the poem. And if you understand the secrets of versification, the recognition of forms of poetic rhythm will become an exciting activity and will allow you to penetrate deeper into the mystery of poetic labyrinths. By the way, the novel in verse "Eugene Onegin" is written with a four-legged iambic, thanks to which it has an energetic life-affirming intonation.

How to determine the size of a poem?

First of all, it should be said that the dimensions are monosyllabic, two-, three-, four-, five-syllable and even more. What does it depend on? In order to correctly determine the size by which the poem is written, one must understand what is in the poetry of the foot. This is the name of a group of syllables, where one of them has an accent. So, the first thing to do is to paint the verse line with stops and place the stresses. Then it is necessary to emphasize the stressed syllables.

Two-Sized Sizes

1. If the word consists of two syllables and the first one has an accent, then before us - trochee. To record the size of the scientists came up with a schematic image. For example, here is this: ∩ __, here the stressed syllable is written with the sign ∩, and the unstressed syllable by the __ symbol. Horei looks like this: ∩ __. This size is written by the famous poem of Alexander Pushkin "Winter Evening." If we write schematically the first line of this lyrical work, it will be as follows: ∩ __ / ∩ __ / ∩ __ / ∩_.
2. In the iamba, on the contrary, the stress is on the second syllable in the feet, consisting of two syllables. The record will be as follows: __ . This size says the poem of Konstantin Batyushkov's "My genius". The first line will look like this: __ ∩ / __ ∩ / __ ∩ / __ . These are the most common two-syllable dimensions. And we, unlike Onegin, can now distinguish them from each other.

Three-Sized Sizes

And how to determine the size of a poem, if it is trisyllabic? Their names, as well as the previous ones, came to us from the Greek language. They are called dactyl, amphibrachium and anapaest. Three-syllable sizes are in the feet, formed of three syllables.

1. In dactyl, stress always falls on the first syllable, followed by two unstressed ones. Here so: ∩ __ __. This size is written by Mikhail Lermontov's poem "Clouds." We write the line like this: ∩ __ __ / ∩__ __ / ∩ __ __ / ∩ __ __.
2. If in words from three syllables the stress falls on the second (middle) syllable, then we are dealing with amphibrachium. Here is the scheme: __ ∩__ (alternation of syllables: unstressed, percussion, unstressed). "Song of the Wise Oleg" (A. Pushkin) was created by amphibrachium. Schematically the first line will be written like this: __ ∩__ / __ ∩__ / __ ∩__ / __ ∩__.
3. If the poetic string consists of words in three syllables, and the stress hits the latter, you, following this logic, can easily determine the size by which the poem is written - this is an anapaest. Scheme: __ __∩. This size created a poem by Athanasius Fet "I will not tell you anything." Signed entry: __ __∩ / __ __∩ / __ __.

Special sizes

But in the world of poetic rhythms there are subtleties. For example, it happens that on the place where the size logic should be stressed, it is omitted. When two unstressed syllables are standing in a double size (iambe or chorea), we see a pyrrhic. And if such a combination is present in a three-legged size (anapaeste, amphibrachia, dactyl), then it is already a tribrachy. Neither one nor the other does not affect the form of the size, but can embarrass the beginning literary critic. What do you mean "do not influence"? This means that the iamb remains an iambic and the trochee is a trochee, but a "complicated" pyrrhic. Accordingly, trisyllabic dimensions remain themselves, but they also have omissions of stress - tribrachia. If the alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables in the foot is broken in the opposite direction - there are two accents in a row (where, logically, the unstressed syllable should be, it is replaced by a shock), we are dealing with sponge.

Here, perhaps, and all the dimensions that are used in modern versification. Is it worth mentioning the hexameter that wrote the legendary "Iliad" of Homer and which is sometimes imitated by the current poets. It consists of six trochaic feet with an arbitrary syllable. It is written as: ∩__ __ / ∩__ __ / ∩__ __ / ∩__ __ / ∩__ __ / ∩X (where X denotes an arbitrary syllable).

It also happens that we have to puzzle over how to determine the size of the poem, because in the line we find an alternation of different sizes. Dactyl alternates with a chorea, etc. This phenomenon in versification is called "logaed." Marina Tsvetaeva loved to use it. For example, in the poetic work "Table" she applies the alternation according to the iamb-anapest-iamb scheme.

Why do you need to know how to determine the poetic size?

Poems - this is not just rhyming lines. Unsurpassed samples of their lyrics make intelligently used poetic techniques, the most important of which is the rhythm. It depends on both the sound and mood of the work. If the choir creates a melodious, slightly mysterious intonation, then the iamb gives the poem a strict outline, is businesslike and energetic. Dimensions three-syllables are similar to the conversational style, recall the narrative. The hexameter gives the lines a grand solemn sound.

Possessing the ability to recognize verse sizes, we can explain what exactly is the enchanting music of the poetic masterpiece.