Question

A poetic foot is a combination of stressed and unstressed syllables. Look at the first stanza of “The Raven” and identify the type of poetic foot being used.

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
“'Tis some visitor, “I muttered, tapping at my chamber door —
Only this, and nothing more.”

Note the type of foot. Then, in two to three sentences, explain your answer using examples from the poem.

Answer 1

The type of poetic foot used in the first stanza of “The Raven” is trochaic. A trochaic foot is made up of a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable. For example, in the following line from the poem, the first syllable, once, is spoken with more emphasis then the second syllable, up. This forms a trochaic foot. The other syllables in the line follow the same pattern:

Once up | on a | midnight | dreary, | while I | pondered, | weak and | weary

Step-by-step explanation:

Answer 2

Trochaic Octameter.

Step-by-step explanation:

Trochaic octameter is the poetic foot of a line in poetry where there are eight feet/ syllables per line. The foot of each word has two syllables where a stressed syllable is followed by an unstressed syllable.

In the given poetry of Edgar Allen Poe, the lines all contain stressed syllables followed by unstressed syllables, alternating between the two. This is evident in the first lines of the poem-

Once upon a midnight dreary,

while I pondered weak and weary,

The ones in bold signify the stressed syllables while the rest are the unstressed syllables.