The meter of the first line of John Donne's "Go and Catch a Falling Star" is similar to many of the other lines, but because of the truncation of the line, the meter can be somewhat hard to discern. In order for this to make sense, it will be useful to explain the composition of the first line. The line itself has four feet, with each foot consisting of two syllables, although the final foot is truncated. There are two syllables in each of the first three feet and one in the final foot. Each foot is made up of a trochee, which is one stressed syllable followed by one unstressed syllable. The truncation of the final foot occurs on the unstressed syllable. The rules of poetry allow for this truncation while still maintaining the meter. Because there are four feet in the line (tetrameter) and two syllables—one stressed, followed by one unstressed (trochee)—per foot, the meter of the first line is trochaic tetrameter.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
What is the theme of the chapter Lead?
Primo Levi's complex probing of the Holocaust, including his survival of Auschwitz and pre- and post-war life, is organized around indiv...
-
The statement "Development policy needs to be about poor people, not just poor countries," carries a lot of baggage. Let's dis...
-
"Mistaken Identity" is an amusing anecdote recounted by the famous author Mark Twain about an experience he once had while traveli...
-
Primo Levi's complex probing of the Holocaust, including his survival of Auschwitz and pre- and post-war life, is organized around indiv...
-
De Gouges's Declaration of the Rights of Woman was enormously influential. We can see its influences on early English feminist Mary Woll...
-
As if Hamlet were not obsessed enough with death, his uncovering of the skull of Yorick, the court jester from his youth, really sets him of...
-
In both "Volar" and "A Wall of Fire Rising," the characters are impacted by their environments, and this is indeed refle...
No comments:
Post a Comment