Articles and Commentaries by Aden Lee, Skylark Press Studio Shelley's Skylark | Page 8

moving from a weak to strong stress: “alarm” and
“machine” are examples. Words conforming to a trochaic
pattern are pronounced with a falling tone, moving from a
strong to weak stress, such as “darken” and “blanket”.
Let’s analyze the metrical patterns of the first stanza. For
beginners, it helps to read the poem aloud to get a sense of
the meter. Stressed syllables are capitalized while
individual feet are separated by slashes (/) below.
Here’s how I would scan, or analyze the meter of, the first
line:
“HAIL to / THEE blithe / SPIrit” (6 syllables)

In Line 1, the strong stress on “blithe” is subdued by the
poem’s dominant trochaic rhythm. As there six syllables in
this line, there are a total of three trochees. I would thus
describe the meter of this line as “Trochaic Trimeter”.
“Trimeter” simply refers to a sequence of three identical
feet.
Line 2: “BIRD thou / NEver / WERT” (5 syllables)

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