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Songwriter Forum => The Writing Process => Topic started by: Aelumag on November 22, 2017, 04:26:46 PM

Title: Figuring out Meter
Post by: Aelumag on November 22, 2017, 04:26:46 PM

Hello everyone!

I have a question regarding understanding scansion, not sure this is the right place to ask exactly, but since it concerns my writing process, here I go:


How do you tell what type of meter you have in verses where they kinda blend in and there can be a little ambiguity as to how to set the feet. Here is what I mean exactly:

Where, oh/ where have /you been /my love?


If I group the feet by two syllables then I would have

trochee/trochee/iamb/iamb


If I group the feet by three syllables as well, I would have:

Where, oh/ where have /you been my/ love?

trochee/trochee/amphibrach/spondee/ - or this cannot be because you cannot have a foot made of only one syllable?

If we separate them like this:


Where, oh/ where have you/ been my love?

We would have trochee/dactyl/cretic?



The next verse cannot be separated into 2 syllable meter, one syllable is left out, so how do we know whether it is:


It's been /so long/ since the /moon has gone/

iamb/iamb/pyrrhus/cretic

or


It's been /so long/ since the moon /has gone/

Iamb/iamb/anapest/iamb

So I guess the right question would be: what are the criteria for separating the feet? how do you tell the 3 syllabic feet from the 2 syllabic feet? How do you decide if to put the slash after 2 syllables or after 3 - when more of them are in a verse like in this example?

Thank you!

Title: Re: Figuring out Meter
Post by: cowparsleyman on January 02, 2018, 02:40:47 PM

Hi

I have the same issue, I will be interested in the responses.

I'm not short for lyrics, it's just pinning them together so it sounds plausible.

CPM

Title: Re: Figuring out Meter
Post by: adamfarr on January 02, 2018, 04:42:07 PM

Hi there - my view is that for lyric writing the main issue is the stressed syllables/notes - I think adding an additional unstressed syllable (a bit like a gracenote) or omitting an unstressed syllable is perfectly fine, as long as the stressed syllables match up. So you can analyse the line to have a mixture of all different feet sizes, but the listener doesn't detect this and just hears the stresses.

This is a pragmatic view - perhaps there is way of describing (or refuting) it theoretically...