ShmoopTube
Where Monty Python meets your 10th grade teacher.
Search Thousands of Shmoop Videos
Literary Topics Videos 221 videos
They say that honesty is the best policy, but Jack lies about his identity and still gets the girl. Does that mean we should all lie to get what we...
Dr. Seuss was a failure to start, but he soon learned to follow his heart. He wrote books about things that he knew, and soon enough, his book sale...
Sure, Edgar Allan Poe was dark and moody and filled with teenage angst, but what else does he have in common with the Twilight series?
Scansion 101 1010 Views
Share It!
Description:
This video explains how to scan and diagram a poem or other work of literature for meter and line length and identifies the metrical description of lines from Richard III and The Song of Hiawatha. What are the different names for the patterns in language? Why should we care about scanning poetry? What’s Iambic Pentameter, anyway?
Transcript
- 00:00
Scansion 101 a'la shmoop
- 00:08
human beings like rhythm We look for it in chance [Game day appears]
- 00:10
on game day in the tapping of the rain against
- 00:13
the window and in the clicking of the indicator as
- 00:16
we wait to turn left at the light And of [Car indicator blinking]
Full Transcript
- 00:18
course we look for rhythm in the poems were forced
- 00:21
to read for our high school english class Well this
- 00:24
is where the technique known as transient comes in Scansion
- 00:27
involves scanning up home for meter or the number
- 00:31
of crinoline and rhythm or the pattern of stressed and
- 00:36
un stressed syllables in a line and then diagramming the
- 00:41
whole thing out with the help of a couple of
- 00:42
symbols Oh and when we talk about feed we're not [Man talking on stage and foot appears]
- 00:47
talking about the east smelling kind but rather the number
- 00:50
of times a pattern of two or more accented or
- 00:53
unaccented syllables occurs in a line Problem is there are
- 00:58
different kinds of feet no not different kinds of stench [Peoples feet appear]
- 01:01
but different patterns of accented or anak scented syllables in
- 01:05
poetry let's go over the common years we're likely to
- 01:09
encounter in a year old high school english class is
- 01:13
there's iambic meter in an A pest iq meter which
- 01:18
are collectively known as rising meters because the pattern moves
- 01:22
from unstrung est too stressed scylla Voice there's a tro
- 01:27
chaotic meter and dak tillich meter which are collectively known
- 01:31
as falling meters Because the pattern moves from stressed toe
- 01:35
unstrung est syllables spon dayak meter contains on ly stressed
- 01:40
syllables and pure iq meter contains on ly unstrung est
- 01:44
syllables These two meters air used to break up homes
- 01:47
rhythm rather than to created entire poem because a poem [Selection of meters appear]
- 01:50
containing only stressed or on lian stressed syllables well would
- 01:53
be really really boring Now that we've gone over common
- 01:56
poetic meters let's hit the names for line length Align
- 02:02
with one foot is called a manama eater a line
- 02:04
with two feet a demeter a line with three feet
- 02:08
Trim it er and yada yada yada And so when
- 02:10
you get the idea to get the name of a
- 02:13
poems metrical description we just come by the name of
- 02:17
the meter with the name of the line later Okay
- 02:22
now we've gone through all the vocabulary and there's a [Man speaking in class]
- 02:24
lot of years in there let's scan a couple of
- 02:25
things and see how we do one quick note it's
- 02:28
possible to use can shin on literature other than poetry
- 02:32
Take these lines from shakespeare's play richard the third for [Shakespear appears on stage]
- 02:34
example now is the winter of our discontent made glorious
- 02:39
summer by this sun of york and all the clouds
- 02:42
that lowered upon our house in the deep bosom of
- 02:46
the ocean buried art well these four lines are written
- 02:49
in iambic meter pattern where one unstrapped syllable is followed
- 02:53
by one stressed syllable There are five feet in each
- 02:56
of these lines here making them pentameter sze we combine
- 03:01
the name of the meter with the name of the
- 03:02
line length to get the metrical description iambic pentameter Let's [Meter and Line Length columns appear]
- 03:07
look at some lines from henry wadsworth longfellow's the song
- 03:11
of hiawatha should you ask me whence these stories whence
- 03:15
these legends and traditions with the odors of the forest
- 03:18
with the dew and damp of meadows Well these four
- 03:21
lines are written intro cake meter the pattern where one
- 03:24
stressed syllable is followed by one unstrung syllable There are
- 03:28
four feet in each of these lines making them te
- 03:31
transmitters We combine the name of the meter with the
- 03:34
name of the line length to get the metrical description
- 03:37
Tro cake Ted parameter Alright now that we've been through
- 03:41
the common meters and the names of the line lengths
- 03:44
and how this whole skansen thing works well let's answer
- 03:46
a big question Why Why Why should we care about
- 03:49
scanning poetry Why can't we just kick back with a
- 03:51
shirley temple Read the darn poem and enjoy well forget [Man drinking on a sun lounger]
- 03:55
for the moment that we need to know how to
- 03:56
scan a poem in order Ace high school english scan
- 03:59
shin is a tool we can use You better understand
- 04:01
poetry plays music or other rhythmic pieces of literature Not
- 04:06
only does diagramming the rhythm and meter of a poem
- 04:08
Show us how a piece should be read aloud But
- 04:11
also we get a peek into the poet's brain If [Poets head opens and brain pops out]
- 04:13
the syllables and words here she wanted to emphasize that
- 04:17
peeking into the brand thing is really cool Or it
Related Videos
Books are meant to be enjoyed. Sure, authors have different motives for their works—some may want to start a revolution while others hope to deli...
Have you ever read a sestina in a cantina or a villanelle in your holding cell? The great thing is that... not every type of poetry needs to rhyme....