What is the meter of line 37?(The River)
"To fish and contemplate"
A. stressed, unstressed, stressed, unstressed, stressed, unstressed
B. unstressed, unstressed, stressed, unstressed, unstressed, stressed,
C. unstressed, stressed, unstressed, stressed, unstressed, stressed
D. stressed, stressed, unstressed, stressed, stressed, unstressed
I'm not positive on my answer choice so please someone help.
My choice was B.
Thank you!
Stressed syllables are pronounced more loudly than unstressed syllables.
The word “agree” is unstressed, then stressed. Say it out loud. Can you hear it?
The word “mighty” is stressed, then unstressed. Can you hear that?
Now read line 37 out loud, slowly. What do you hear?
Ok so now that makes sense, is it C?
Yes, C.
To determine the meter of a line, we need to analyze the stressed (') and unstressed (˘) syllables of the words in that line. Let's break down line 37, "To fish and contemplate":
"To" has an unstressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable, making it ˘ ˘.
"fish" has a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable, making it ' ˘.
"and" has an unstressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable, making it ˘ ˘.
"con-tem-plate" has a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable, making it ' ˘.
All together, line 37, "To fish and contemplate," can be represented as the meter pattern ' ˘ ˘ ' ˘. So, the correct answer is C, "unstressed, stressed, unstressed, stressed, unstressed, stressed."