Question

Using the method of scansion, match each poetry excerpt to the correct rhythm and meter.

1. O could I feel as I have felt, or be what I have been (Lord Byron, "Youth and Age")
2. Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary (Edgar Allan Poe, "The Raven")
3. Just for a handful of silver he left us (Robert Browning, "The Lost Leader")
4. Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? (William Shakespeare, Sonnet 18)
A) (1) Dactylic tetrameter
(2) Trochaic octameter
(3) Iambic heptameter
(4) Iambic pentameter

B) (1) Iambic pentameter
(2) Dactylic tetrameter
(3) Iambic heptameter
(4) Trochaic octameter

C) (1) Trochaic octameter
(2) Dactylic tetrameter
(3) Iambic pentameter
(4) Iambic heptameter

D) (1) Iambic heptameter
(2) Iambic pentameter
(3) Dactylic tetrameter
(4) Trochaic octameter

Answer 1

The poetry excerpts match with the following rhythm and meter: (1) Iambic pentameter, (2) Trochaic octameter, (3) Dactylic tetrameter, (4) Iambic pentameter.

Step-by-step explanation:

The correct match between the poetry excerpts and the rhythm and meter is:

1. Iambic pentameter
2. Trochaic octameter
3. Dactylic tetrameter
4. Iambic pentameter

For example, in the first excerpt by Lord Byron, the rhythm and meter is iambic pentameter, as it has five iambs or sets of unstressed and stressed syllables. Similarly, the second excerpt by Edgar Allan Poe is trochaic octameter, as it has eight trochees or sets of stressed and unstressed syllables. The third excerpt by Robert Browning is dactylic tetrameter, as it has four dactyls or sets of stressed and unstressed syllables. Finally, the fourth excerpt by William Shakespeare is iambic pentameter, with five iambs or sets of unstressed and stressed syllables.