Identify the most common type of metric unit referred to in poetry, the foot. The number of feet in a poem tells you how many lines are in the poem.
Break all the words down in syllables and mark the stressed and unstressed syllables.
Determine the metric feet. There are six different types of metric feet designations. They differ depending on the placement of stressed syllables. Iamb is unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.
Trochee is a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable. Anapest is two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable. Dactyl is one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables and Apondee is two successive syllables with equally strong stresses while Pyrrhic is two successive syllables with approximately equal light stresses.
Determine the metric lines by the number of feet in the line. Monometer, Dimeter, Trimeter, Tetrameter, Pentameter, Hexameter, and Octameter, are indicative of one, two, three, four, five, six, seven and eight metric feet (lines), respectively.