A poetic foot is a combination of stressed and unstressed syllables. Look at the first stanza of “The Raven” and identify the ty
pe of poetic foot being used. Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
“'Tis some visitor, “I muttered, tapping at my chamber door —
Only this, and nothing more.”
Note the type of foot. Then, in two to three sentences, explain your answer using examples from the poem.
Trochaic octameter is the poetic foot of a line in poetry where there are eight feet/ syllables per line. The foot of each word has two syllables where a stressed syllable is followed by an unstressed syllable.
In the given poetry of Edgar Allen Poe, the lines all contain stressed syllables followed by unstressed syllables, alternating between the two. This is evident in the first lines of the poem-
Profound and powerful forces are shaking and remaking our world, and the urgent question of our time is whether we can make Change our friend and not our enemy.
