scansion
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of scansion
1645–55; < Late Latin scānsiōn- (stem of scānsiō ), Latin: a climbing, equivalent to scāns ( us ) (past participle of scandere to climb) + -iōn- -ion
Explanation
Scansion is the process of figuring out which syllables should be stressed when you read a poem. If you practice scansion in English class, you'll learn to determine a poem's meter based on the patterns of these syllables. Scansion is a fancy literary term that simply means discovering the meter (or underlying structure) of a poem by marking where the stresses naturally fall. If you're using scansion to analyze verse, you can say you're scanning the poem. Formally, scansion involves making special marks used above both stressed and unstressed syllables, allowing you to easily see repeated patterns. Since the 1670s, scansion has meant "marking verse in metric feet," from a Latin root meaning "to climb."
Vocabulary lists containing scansion
Poetry: Structure and Meter
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Reading: Literature - Poetry - High School
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Orbiting Jupiter
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Clarity for lyricists has to refer not just to scansion and word choice, but also how their songs are communicated.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 29, 2022
While other poets might spend years studying the scansion of poetry, she said she’s not as interested in form.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2021
The poems in the collection, displaying fairly conventional scansion and suffused with mythic references from Classical tradition, ancient sagas and oral verse, typify Mr. Merwin’s early style.
From New York Times ● Mar. 15, 2019
These lyrics, also taken from the oral histories, have a Brechtian disregard for rhyme or scansion.
From Economist ● Jun. 8, 2018
I wanted to read it aloud to you and get in my practice on scansion that way.
From Beatrice Leigh at College A Story for Girls by Schwartz, Julia Augusta
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
