Meter (poetry)

Meter in poetry is the basic structure of a poetic line in terms of its beat or rhythm. It depends on the sounds and stresses of the syllables of the spoken words, as opposed to the meaning of the words. It is often broken up into smaller elements called feet, and sometimes described as metrons, and the particular pattern of feet can be set to describe the meter of a line. It can be broken up with elements called caesurae. In an early epic system called dactylic hexameter by the bard Homer who wrote the Iliad and the Odyssey, there are various rules which govern the structure of a meter, and by playing the sounds of the words against the rhythms, a poet can achieve a variety of effects. The Roman poet Virgil worked within the metric system and wrote the masterpiece The Aeneid.