Anapest

What is an anapest?
An anapest is a three-syllable metrical pattern in
poetry in which two unstressed syllables are followed
by a stressed syllable. The word "understand" is an
anapest, with the unstressed syllables of "un" and
"der" followed by the stressed syllable, “stand”: Un-
der-stand.
Additonal key details about Anapest:
 Metricalpatterns in poetry are called feet. An anapest, then, is a type
of foot. The other feet are: iambs, trochees, dactyls, and spondees.
 The opposite of an anapest is a dactyl, a metrical foot consisting of a
stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables (as in the word
"Po-e-try").
 Oddlyenough, the stress pattern of the word "anapest"—stressed
unstressed unstressed—is that of a dactyl.
 Thelight rhythm of the anapest lends itself to lighthearted, comic
poetry, such as in limericks and even many Dr. Seuss stories.

Anapests in Depth
In order to understand anapests in more depth, it’s helpful to have a strong
grasp of a few other literary terms about poetry. We cover each of these in
depth on their own respective pages, but below is a quick overview to help
make understanding anapests easier.

 Poetry: Also referred to as “verse,” poetry is a genre of literature that

consists of writing that is arranged into lines that often follow a pattern
of rhythm, rhyme, or both. The three main types of poetry are:
o Formal verse: Poetry with a strict meter (rhythmic pattern) and
rhyme scheme.
o Blank verse: Poetry with a strict meter but no rhyme scheme.
o Free verse: Poetry without any strict meter or rhyme scheme.
  Stress: In poetry, the term stress refers to the emphasis placed on certain
syllables in words. For instance, in the word “happily” the emphasis is on
the first syllable (“hap”), so “hap” is the first “stressed” syllable and the
other two syllables (“pi” and “ly”) are “unstressed.”
 Foot: In poetry, a "foot" refers to the rhythmic units that make up lines
of meter. An anapest is one type of foot.
 Meter: A pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables that defines the rhythm
of lines of poetry. Poetic meters are named for the type and number of feet
they contain. For example, anapestic pentameter is a type of meter that
contains five anapests per line (thus the prefix “penta,” which means five).

Accentual vs Quantitative Verse and Anapests

The term anapest takes on a different meaning depending on the type of
verse in which it’s used: accentual verse or quantitative verse.

 Anapests in accentual verse: Accentual verse is poetry in which the meter

derives from the stress, or emphasis, placed on certain syllables. Metered
verse in English is almost always accentual verse. Anapests in accentual
verse consist of the unstressed-unstressed-stressed metrical pattern
described so far.
 Anapests in quantitative verse: Quantitative verse is poetry in which the meter
derives from the length of syllables, not from stress. Here “length” refers
to the time it takes to pronounce each syllable. Anapests in quantitative
verse consist of three syllables in which the third is pronounced for a
longer duration than the first two. Quantitative verse occurs most often in
classical Greek and Latin poetry and is almost impossible to write in
English.

Anapest Examples
Anapestic verse has what is called a "rising rhythm" because its emphasis
occurs at the end of the foot: da-da-dum. This stress pattern gives anapestic
verse a light and nimble rhythm that evokes the galloping of a horse or the
rolling of ocean waves. In the examples below we’ve highlighted the
stressed syllables in red and the unstressed syllables in green.

Anapests in Byron's "The Destruction of

Sennacherib"
In this excerpt—the first stanza of Byron's poem "The Destruction of
Sennacherib"—you can clearly see the unstressed-unstressed-stressed
metrical pattern throughout. This poem is a famous example of anapestic
meter, because every foot is an anapest and also because it is a poem about
someone riding a galloping horse which mentions rolling waves, two things
to which the rhythm of anapests are often compared.
The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold,
And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold;
And the sheen of their spears were like stars on the sea,
When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee.

Anapests in Browning's "How They Brought the

Good News from Ghent to Aix"
Another example of a famous anapestic poem is Robert Browning's "How
They Brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix." This poem, like the
previous example, is also set on horseback. In the first stanza alone, the
word "gallop" is used five times.
I sprang to the stirrup, and Joris, and he;
I galloped, Dirck galloped, we galloped all three;
‘Good speed!'’ cried the watch, as the gate-bolts undrew;
‘Speed!’ echoed the wall to us galloping through;
Behind shut the postern, the lights sank to rest,
And into the midnight we galloped abreast.
Notice that the lines do not begin with anapests, but rather iambs (a
commonly-used metrical foot with two syllables, unstressed-stressed). This
addition of non-anapests into anapestic verse is common, and is often used
to lessen the singsongy (and sometimes tiresome) tone that using such a
regular anapestic rhythm without variation can produce.

Anapests in Masefield's "Sea Fever"

John Masefield's famous poem "Sea Fever" is a more complex example of
anapestic verse. He intersperses anapests throughout the poem at irregular
intervals, also sometimes making use of iambs (stressed-unstressed)
and spondees (stressed-stressed). Here are two lines from the poem:
I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by...
Whereas anapests are often used to create a feeling of speed and regularity,
here Masefield uses anapests irregularly to create an uneasy "seasick"
feeling throughout the poem, mirroring the motion of a ship being tossed on
the waves.

Anapests in Dr. Seuss's Horton Hears a Who!

Dr. Seuss wrote many of his children's books in anapestic tetrameter (a
metrical form in which each line has four anapestic feet). Here, the
beginning of Horton Hears a Who!gives a clear example of the form.
On the fifteenth of May, in the jungle of Nool,
In the heat of the day, in the cool of the pool,
He was splashing... enjoying the jungle's great joys...
When Horton the elephant heard a small noise.
Notice how, to add variation to the rhythm, Seuss shifted the beginning of
the fourth line so that it begins with an iamb rather than an anapest.

Anapests in Lear's "There was an Old Man with a

Beard"
The poet Edward Lear is famous for his limericks—short, humorous poems
consisting of four lines that make use of anapests to create a lighthearted,
comedic effect. Limericks usually describe an eccentric figure and give a
brief account of some misfortune that befalls them as a result of their
eccentricity. This limerick is a well-known classic that follows the formula.
There was an Old Man with a beard,
Who said, "It is just as I feared!—
Two Owls and a Hen,
Four Larks and a Wren,
Have all built their nests in my beard.

Why Do Writers Use Anapests?

The galloping rhythm of anapests give poems a naturally jaunty and buoyant
feeling that helps the words flow freely, making anapests an ideal
metrical foot for lighthearted poems like limericks, children's stories, and
jokes. In two of the most famous poems written in anapestic meter—Byron's
"The Destruction of Sennacherib" and Browning's "How They Brought the
Good News from Ghent to Aix"— the poets match the energetic rhythm of
the anapest to their subject matter: both poems tell the stories of riders on
horseback.
Compared with the heart-like beat of an iamb (da-dum da-dum), the
anapest's unstressed-unstressed-stressed pattern (da-da-dum da-da-dum)
accentuates the rhythmic quality of the foot by extending the duration
between stresses, which in turn amplifies the emphasis on those stressed
syllables. For example, the iambic line "Tobe, or not to be" has a generally
heavier, more clock-like cadence than an anapestic line like "There
was an Old Man with a beard." Further, the emphasis on the stressed "Man"
and "beard" in the anapestic line is somewhat stronger than the emphasis on
the stressed syllables of the iambic line. The result of this more pronounced
rhythmic quality is that anapestic verse has a singsongy cadence that has
been shown to help with understanding and memorization—another reason
why writers like Dr. Seuss may have gravitated to the form.
While one benefit of the anapest's singsongy rhythm is that it can help make
long, information-heavy poems or poems with complex plots much easier to
listen to, the regularity of the rhythm can begin to feel abrasive or tedious if
it isn't broken up. Writers often account for this by swapping-out an anapest
for a different kind of foot to add variety to a stanza or line—as Seuss
commonly does—or by using anapests more sparingly, as Robert Browning
does in his famous poem "Sea Fever."


 Blank Verse
Blank verse is a literary device defined as un-rhyming verse written in
iambic pentameter. In poetry and prose, it has a consistent meter with 10
syllables in each line (pentameter); where, unstressed syllables are followed
by stressed ones, five of which are stressed but do not rhyme. It is also known
as “un-rhymed iambic pentameter.”
Features of Blank Verse
 Blank verse poetry has no fixed number of lines.
 It has a conventional meter that is used for verse drama and
long narrative poems.
 It is often used in descriptive and reflective poems and dramatic
monologues — the poems in which a single character delivers his
thoughts in the form of a speech.
 Blank verse can be composed in any kind of meter, such as iamb,
trochee, spondee, and dactyl.

Types of Blank Verse Poetry

 Iamb pentameter blank verse (unstressed/stressed syllables)
 Trochee blank verse (stressed/unstressed syllables)
 Anapest blank verse (unstressed/unstressed/stressed syllables)
 Dactyl blank verse (stressed/unstressed/unstressed syllables)

Short Examples of Blank Verse

1. The dreams are clues that tell us take chances.
2. The source of faith in happiness and
3. Daylight changes, and it is time to take
4. The night frost drips silently from the roof
5. Human cadences always searching for this
6. The moon takes its bath in lovely silver dust.
7. The buds luminous in white sway happily,
and sparkling valleys darkened by angst.
8. Only if mountains might give me a push
Only if sunrise lights could converse hope.
9. Listen to your heart while using your wisdom
A valuable treasure you have is your ta
 10. Beholding red and golden sparkles of sunlight
Sweet-sparks of light glowing before the eyes.
11. Within the stars your dreams can be fulfilled,
now you can fly the unlimited starlight
12. If passports are passwords to the heaven above,
then we shall read the riddle
13. If there is a twelfth player, who does not play,
14. He only leaves the field when free.
15. Birds chirp in the orchard of the cherry and try to sing a little later.
16. Enemies reached at the inimical stage of enmity.

Examples of Blank Verse from Literature

The Earl of Surrey introduced blank verse in English literature in 1540. Milton,
Shakespeare, Marlowe, John Donne, John Keats, and many other poets and
dramatists have used this device in their works. Have a look at some
examples of blank verse:

Example #1: Mending Walls (By Robert Frost)

Something there is that doesn’t love a wall.

That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,
And spills the upper boulders in the sun;

This poem has no proper rhyme scheme. However, there is consistent meter
in 10 syllables of each line. It is following the iambic pentameter pattern with
five feet in each line. Only the first line is written in trochee pattern. All the
stressed syllables are marked in bold.

Example #2: Hamlet (By William Shakespeare)

But, woe is me, you are so sick of late,

So far from cheer and from your former state,
That I distrust you. Yet, though I distrust,
Discomfort you, my lord, it nothing must. …

Hamlet gives us a perfect example of a typical blank verse, written in iambic

pentameter. Shakespeare employed the deliberate effort to use the syllables
in a particular way. He brought variation by using caesuras (pause) in the
middle of the line, as in the third line. Shakespeare has other literary pieces
that are also good sources of blank verse examples.
Example #3: Dr. Faustus (By Christopher Marlowe)

You stars that reign’d at my nativity,

Whose influence hath allotted death and hell,
Now draw up Faustus like a foggy mist
Into entrails of yon labouring clouds, …
So that my soul may but ascend to Heaven …

Marlowe developed this potential in the late 16th century. Marlowe was the
first author who exploited the potential of blank verse for writing a powerful
speech, as given here. The pattern utilized here is iambic pentameter.

Example #4: Ulysses (By Alfred Lord Tennyson)

It little profits that an idle king,

By this still hearth, among these barren crags
Match’d with an aged wife, I mete and dole
Unequal laws unto a savage race …
That hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not me.

Just look at the above example in which the first line is written in regular
pentameter. However, there is a little variation in the stressed pattern in the
following lines that is again revived in the last two lines, and does not follow
any rhyme scheme.

Example #5: Macbeth (By William Shakespeare)

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,

Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death …

William Shakespeare wrote verses in iambic pentameter pattern, without

rhyme. Macbeth is a good example of blank verse. Many speeches in this play
are written in the form of blank verse.

Example #6: Thanatopsis (By William Cullen Bryant)

But thou, my babe! shalt wander like a breeze

By lakes and sandy shores, beneath the crags
Of ancient mountain, and beneath the clouds,
Which image in their bulk both lakes and shores.
And mountain crags: so shalt thou see and hear
The lovely shapes and sounds intelligible
Of that eternal language, which thy God…

Coleridge has used iambic pentameter – ten syllables, with five stressed
syllables in this example. Though there is no rhyme scheme, readers can feel
the rhythm of a real speech due to proper use of meter in this blank verse.

Example #7: Frost at Midnight (By Samuel Taylor Coleridge)

To him who in the love of Nature holds

Communion with her visible forms, she speaks
A various language; for his gayer hours
She has a voice of gladness, and a smile.

This blank verse does not have any rhyme scheme, but it brings a slight
rhythm and cadence that mimics a pattern readers could hear and feel like
listening to nature.

Example #8: Tintern Abbey (By William Wordsworth)

Five years have past; five summers, with the length

Of five long winters! And again I hear
These waters, rolling from their mountain-springs
With a soft inland murmur. – Once again
Do I behold these steep and lofty cliffs …
The landscape with the quiet of the sky.
The day is come when I again repose …

This example does not follow any rhyme scheme, but it is written in blank
verse with iambic pentameter patterns of unaccented and accented syllables.

Example #9: This Lime-Tree Bower My Prison (By S.T. Coleridge)

Well, they are gone, and here must I remain,

This lime-tree bower my prison! I have lost
Beauties and feelings, such as would have been
Most sweet to my remembrance even when age
had dimmed mine eyes to blindness! They, meanwhile…
The slip of smooth clear blue betwixt two Isles
Of purple shadow! Yes! they wander on
In gladness all; but thou, methinks, most glad,
My gentle-hearted Charles! for thou hast pined …

Coleridge has jotted down these lines as a spontaneous feel while sitting in
his garden. He has written it in a blank verse without any rhyme scheme, yet it
follows iambic pentameter.

Function of Blank Verse

Originating from Latin and Greek sources, blank verse is widely employed as
a vehicle in English dramatic poetry and prose, to create specific grandeur.
Blank verse has similarity to normal speech but it is written in a variety of
patterns, which bring interruptions such as pauses. Therefore, the intention is
to produce a formal rhythmical pattern that creates musical effect. Hence, it
tends to capture the attention of the readers and the listeners, which is its
primary objective.
 Alliteration
Alliteration is derived from Latin’s “Latira”. It means “letters of
alphabet”. It is a stylistic device in which a number of words, having the
same first consonant sound, occur close together in a series.

Consider the following examples:

 But a better butter makes a batter better.

 A big bully beats a baby boy.

Both sentences are alliterative because the same first letter of words (B)
occurs close together and produces alliteration in the sentence. An important
point to remember here is that alliteration does not depend on letters but on
sounds. So the phrase not knotty is alliterative, but cigarette chase is not.

Common Examples of Alliteration

In our daily life, we notice alliteration in the names of different companies. It
makes the name of a company catchy and easy to memorize. Here are
several common alliteration examples.

 Dunkin’ Donuts
 PayPal
 Best Buy
 Coca-Cola
 Life Lock
 Park Place
 American Apparel
 American Airlines
 Chuckee Cheese’s
 Bed Bath & Beyond
 Krispy Kreme
 The Scotch and Sirloin

We also find alliterations in names of people, making such names prominent

and easy to be remembered. For instance, both fictional characters and real
people may stand out prominently in your mind due to the alliterative effects of
their names. Examples are:

 Ronald Reagan
  Sammy Sosa
 Jesse Jackson
 Michael Moore
 William Wordsworth
 Mickey Mouse
 Porky Pig
 Lois Lane
 Marilyn Monroe
 Fred Flintstone
 Donald Duck
 Spongebob Squarepants
 Seattle Seahawks

Alliteration Examples in Literature

Example #1

From Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”

“The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew,

The furrow followed free;
We were the first that ever burst
Into that silent sea.”

In the above lines we see alliteration (“b”, “f” and “s”) in the phrases “breeze
blew”, “foam flew”, “furrow followed”, and “silent sea”.

Example #2

From James Joyce’s “The Dead”

“His soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow falling faintly through the
universe and faintly falling, like the descent of their last end, upon all the living
and the dead.”

We notice several instances of alliteration in the above mentioned prose work

of James Joyce. Alliterations are with “s” and “f” in the phrases “swooned
slowly” and “falling faintly”.

Example #3

From Maya Angelou’s “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”

“Up the aisle, the moans and screams merged with the sickening smell of
woolen black clothes worn in summer weather and green leaves wilting over
yellow flowers.”

Maya gives us a striking example of alliteration in the above extract with the
letters “s” and “w”. We notice that alliterative words are interrupted by other
non-alliterative words among them but the effect of alliteration remains the
same. We immediately notice alliteration in the words “screams”, “sickening
smell”, “summer”, “weather” and “wilting”.

Example #4

From William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” (prologue to Act 1)

“From forth the fatal loins of these two foes;

A pair of star-cross’d lovers take their life.”

This is an example of alliteration with the “f” and “l.” in words “forth, fatal, foes”
and “loins, lovers, and life”.

Example #5

Percy Bysshe Shelley’s (English Romantic poet) “The Witch of Atlas” is

a famous poem that is full of examples of alliterations. Just a few of them are
“wings of winds” (line 175), “sick soul to happy sleep” (line 178), “cells of
crystal silence” (line 156), “Wisdom’s wizard. . . wind. . . will” (lines 195-197),
“drained and dried” ( line 227), “lines of light” (line 245), “green and glowing”
(line 356), and crudded. . . cape of cloud” (lines 482-3).

Function of Alliteration
Alliteration has a very vital role in poetry and prose. It creates a musical effect
in the text that enhances the pleasure of reading a literary piece. It makes
reading and recitation of the poems attractive and appealing; thus, making
them easier to learn by heart. Furthermore, it renders flow and beauty to a
piece of writing.

In the marketing industry, as what we have already discussed, alliteration

makes the brand names interesting and easier to remember. This literary
device is helpful in attracting customers and enhancing sales.