Question

Choose the meter and line length of the line of poetry below. To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells... dactylic hexameter trochaic trimeter anapestic tetrameter iambic pentameter

Answer 1

iambic pentameter

This line is in iambic pentameter because it has ten syllables that alternate unstressed then stressed.

 u        /       u         /         u         /         u      /      u       /
To | swell | the | gourd,| and | plump | the | ha | zel | shells
  1      2       3        4         5         6        7      8     9      10

When trying to identify meter and rhythm, start with two syllable words-this will help identify where some stresses sit in the line.