It’s a really common misapprehension amongst beginners that words need to fit inside the foot divisions. What defines a meter is beat placement. Foot division is merely a convenience: it’s an artificial means of dividing the line into small pieces for the sake of description and analysis.
You should think of words of more than one syllable as jigsaw pieces - whose shape is defined both by their length and stress placements - that need to be placed in such a way that they align with the metrical template. This video does a great job of visually representing what I mean, as well as explaining the difference between prosodic and lexical stress:
If you find you still struggle to recognise stress, this should help (a list of word pairs that are spelt identically, and differentiated purely by stress placement, i.e. lexical stress):
Change the stress, change the meaning: 35 words that change meaning
This page shows the way in which the meaning of a word can change if you stress a different syllable . This change only happens with a few, specific words, many of which are listed here — it doesn’t apply to all words in the English language. Most of the words are two syllables long — there are just a few examples with three syllables. The examples fall into two categories: Those which keep the same general meaning, but which change from noun to verb when the stress moves from the first to the second syllable. Those which change their meaning completely — most of them change from noun to verb, but a few change to an adjective. 1. Change from noun to verb, same general meaning: addict ADD-ict Rob is a crack cocaine ADD-ict. (Rob is a person who uses crack cocaine and cannot stop doing it) add-ICT If you keep playing that game, you will get add-ICT-ed to it! (you will become an addict) conflict CON-flict The two friends were in CON-flict. (didn’t agree about something) con-FLICT Your two accounts of what happened con-FLICT. (your stories don’t agree with each other) contest CON-test He is taking part in a boxing CON-test. (a fighting competition) con-TEST I’m sorry, I have to con-TEST your figures. (I can’t agree with your figures) contrast CON-trast There’s quite a CON-trast between their political views. (a big difference) con-TRAST I will compare and con-TRAST these two poems. (show the differences between them) convert CON-vert He is a CON-vert to Buddhism. (he has changed his religion) con-VERT I’m sorry, you will never con-VERT me. (you will never persuade me to change my beliefs/opinions) decrease DE-crease There has been a DE-crease in sales recently. (we have sold less than usual) de-CREASE We need to de-CREASE the number of children in the class to make it more effective. import IM-port Coffee is an IM-port from Brazil. (coffee is brought here from Brazil) im-PORT We would like to im-PORT more coffee over the next few years. increase IN-crease There has been an IN-crease in accidents recently. (there have been more accidents) in-CREASE We need to in-CREASE our sales figures. (sell more) insult IN-sult What she said felt like an IN-sult. (she said something bad) in-SULT Please don’t in-SULT me (don’t say bad things to me) perfect PER-fect Your homework is PER-fect. (it has no mistakes in it) per-FECT We need to per-FECT our design before we can put this new product on the market. (we need to improve it) permit PER-mit Do you have a PER-mit to drive this lorry?. (document giving permission) per-MIT Will you per-MIT me to park my car in front of your house? (allow me) pervert PER-vert Niharika is a PER-vert. (she has strange sexual preferences) per-VERT The man was arrested on a charge of attempting to per-VERT the course of justice. (interfering with the proper workings of the legal process) present PRES-ent She gave me a nice PRES-ent on my birthday. (gift) pre-SENT Allow me to pres-ENT my friend, David. (introduce) produce PRO-duce They s
https://www.engvid.com/english-resource/35-words-stress-changes-meaning/
In this post, in the second half especially, I highlight the artificiality of foot divisions, and explain how rising and falling rhythms are formed by individual words and phrases within the line (iambic and anapestic meters are often described as “rising meters”, and trochaic and dactylic as “falling meters”. This is extremely misleading!):
And in this post I cover two other aspects to iambic meter which frequently trip people up:-
- offbeats can be heavy and beats can be light.
- beats can be displaced (under certain conditions, a beat can be either pulled back or pumped forward).
One further aspect of iambic pentameter that beginners struggle with is getting a handle on the rhythm (penta- means “five”, so pentameter means “a meter of five beats”. When attempting to write in iambic pentameter, beginners usually make the mistake of falling into a loose 4-beat rhythm).
In practice, the rhythms of iambic pentameter vary depending on the placement of phrasal junctures, whether any beats are destressed, and whether the lines are enjambed.
But as a default, in the abstract, the iambic pentameter line is an enlarged trimeter: an enlarged 3-beat rhythm.
di-DUM-di-dum-di-DUM-di-dum-di-DUM
As a default we tend to hear beats in pairs and in pairs of pairs, with the first beat of each pair (every *other* beat, starting with the opening beat) having primacy; so the iambic pentameter, as a default, has three primary beats, the last of which provides an emphatic close to the line.
And just like iambic trimeter, it has a natural pause at the end of each line (indicating a silent 4th beat).
It’s much easier to drum that 5-beat pattern into your head when you bear in mind that primary 3-beat rhythm.
I hope that helps, and feel free to ask any questions!
