Question

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

A. Dactylic tetrameter
B. Iambic pentameter
C. Trochaic octameter
D. Iambic heptameter.

1. 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)

Answer 1

By using scansion to analyze the rhythm and meter of the given poetry excerpts, each line is matched with its corresponding poetic meter, based on the number of feet and the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables.

Step-by-step explanation:

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

1. Iambic pentameter: 'Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?' (William Shakespeare, Sonnet 18) This line has five feet, each consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.
2. Trochaic octameter: 'Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary' (Edgar Allan Poe, 'The Raven') This line contains eight feet with a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed one, which is characteristic of a trochaic meter.
3. Dactylic tetrameter: 'Just for a handful of silver he left us' (Robert Browning, 'The Lost Leader') This line has four feet with the pattern of one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables in a dactyl pattern.
4. Iambic pentameter: 'Could I feel as I have felt, or be what I have been' (Lord Byron, 'Youth and Age') This line also has five feet of iambs and would fall under iambic pentameter.

The matches would therefore be:

• 1. Iambic pentameter (B)
• 2. Trochaic octameter (C)
• 3. Dactylic tetrameter (A)
• 4. Iambic pentameter (B)