What is Tetrameter?
A line of poetry consisting of four metrical feet.
Four Feet in Poetry? Tetrameter Has You Covered.
Tetrameter is a term used in poetry to describe a line that consists of four metrical feet. In other words, each line contains four sets of stressed and unstressed syllables, creating a consistent rhythmic pattern.
There are many different types of poetic feet that can be used to create tetrameter, including iambic (two syllables, with the first unstressed and the second stressed), trochaic (the opposite of iambic, with the first syllable stressed and the second unstressed), and anapestic (three syllables, with the first two unstressed and the third stressed). Depending on the type of foot used, the resulting tetrameter can have a different feel and cadence.
Here's an example of iambic tetrameter in action:
But soft! What light through yonder window breaks?
It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.
Now that you know what tetrameter is, you can start to look for it in your own writing or in the works of your favorite poets. Who knows, you may be surprised at how often it pops up.
One famous example of tetrameter in poetry is Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven, which is written in trochaic tetrameter and uses consistent rhyme and meter to create a haunting and melancholic effect.
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore—
Another example of tetrameter comes from Robert Frost's Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, which uses iambic tetrameter to create a lulling, meditative rhythm that mimics the rhythm of horse hooves in the snow.
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;