ABSTRACT
Poets writing in regular meters can vary their patterning of empha-sized and unemphasized syllables only within strict limits, or else the lines will cease to be metrical or will be heard as some other meter (as when five-beat lines collapse into a four-beat rhythm). In exploiting these limited possibilities, poets down the centuries have used the same short metrical sequences time and time again, and in scanning and responding to metrical poetry it's helpful to be able to recognize them and understand some of their uses. We call these mini-patterns rhythmic figures, and in this chapter we'll ask you to look at, and listen to, the most common of them. The five major figures have already been encountered in earlier chapters, though we didn't dwell on them there; now we can revisit some of those examples with a different purpose. Two of these figures involve three syllables – o b o and B O B – and the other three involve four syllables – B -o- B, -o- B ô B, and B ô B -o-.
