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metrist

metrist

9.8
A person who studies the rhythm of poems
  • noun
  • /ˈmɛtrɪst/
  • Literature
: métrico
  • A metrist analyzes the rhythm of Shakespeare's sonnets to understand their structure.
  • a generative metrist

Examples

  • But he also falls into a line of metrists and poets who have objected to the dactyl in English.

    Academic text (2016)
  • The detailed scales of "tensional" effects claimed by generative metrists and metrical phonologists for their versificational constructs have also been proved erroneous.

    Academic text (1993)
  • Many metrists believe that the use of iambic pentameter enhances the emotional impact of a poem.

  • As a metrist, she published several articles on the importance of meter in contemporary poetry.

Synonyms

scanner
vsmetrist
  • Literature
1 9.9

A person who marks the stressed and unstressed syllables in a poem

uses wider study and writing of rhythmic structure, not only syllable analysis
prosodist
vsmetrist
  • Specialized
1 9.9

A person who studies patterns of rhythm and sound in speech and poetry

focuses specifically on poetic rhythmic structure rather than broader speech patterns
metrician
vsmetrist
  • Literature
9.9

A person who studies and explains the rhythm of poems

focuses on analyzing or writing about rhythmic structure rather than composing

Surface Forms

metrist singular
metrists plural

Morphology

metrist = meter (transparent) = meter + ist

Clear specialist noun formed from "meter" plus "-ist", referring to a person concerned with poetic meter.

Etymology

Metrist comes from the old Greek metron meaning 'measure' and the ending -ist meaning 'a person who does something'. So a metrist in poetry studies the poem's meter, the pattern of beats or rhythm, and explains how it makes the lines sound.