Final answer:
Scansion is used to analyze the rhythm and meter of poetry by marking stressed and unstressed syllables; it's essential for understanding a poem's pattern and how it contributes to its mood, tone, and meaning. Common meters include iambic, trochaic, anapestic, and dactylic, although modern poetry may employ free verse.
Step-by-step explanation:
The correct rhythm and meter of each poetry excerpt provided can be analyzed through the art of scansion, an essential aspect of poetry which involves marking stressed and unstressed syllables to define the poem's metrical pattern. In poetry, meter is the pattern of stressed (/) and unstressed (x) syllables in a line. The most common units of meter are the iamb (x/), the trochee (/x), the anapest (xx/), and the dactyl (/xx).
For example, using scansion and familiarizing ourselves with different types of meter, we can identify that Shakespeare's line 'The curfew tolls the knell of parting day' exhibits an iambic meter. Similarly, Tennyson utilizes a dactylic meter in 'The Charge of the Light Brigade' to mimic the sound of galloping horses. These are just examples, and for each poem excerpt provided by the student, one would apply scansion to determine the rhythm and meter pattern. It's important to note that in modern poetry, such as Ezra Pound's 'In a Station of the Metro,' we often find free verse, which does not adhere to a fixed meter but still relies on rythmic elements for its effect.
The rhyme scheme, meter, and rhythm all contribute to the overall mood, tone, and meaning of a poem. In poetry studies, the detailed analysis of these elements helps students understand the depth and nuance behind a poet's word choices and how those choices affect the emotional response or intellectual understanding of the reader.