Rhyme Scheme for the National Anthem of the USA

The Star Spangled Banner
By Francis Scott Key 1814

Stanza 1                                                                   Rhyme Scheme

Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light                                a
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?               b
Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,           a
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?          b
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,                    c
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.              c
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave                         d
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?                    d

Stanza 2

On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,                e
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,                     f
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,                    e
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?                              f
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,                     g
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:                               g
'Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave                       D
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!                      D

Stanza 3

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore                          c
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,                           h
A home and a country should leave us no more!                           c
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.             h
No refuge could save the hireling and slave                                  d
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:                      d
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave                    D
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!                     D


Stanza 4

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand                             i
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!                   h
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land          i
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.        h
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,                        j
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."                               j
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave                   D
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!                  D


Someone on this blog asked: What is the rhyme scheme of "The Star Spangled Banner"? So here it is. The capital letters in the Rhyme Scheme indicate repeated rhymes.

ab ab cc dd      ef ef gg DD      ch ch dd DD      ih ih jj DD

The Amphibrach Foot

Amphibrach

The trisyllabic metrical foot is made up of three syllables that can either be stressed or unstressed respectively as in accentual-syllabic meter or long or short as in quantitative meter. The Amphibrach is trisyllabic because it has three syllables and is identified has having its stressed syllable surrounded by two unstressed syllables as shown in the Table below:

The amphibrach is the main foot used in the writing classical limerick poems. The poems below are used as examples.

The scansion of the Limerick written by Edward Lear (1812 –1888) in quantitative meter is shown where the amphibrach foot in the poem with trimeter (3) and dimeter (2) verses in a rhyme scheme aabbA is used. The capital letter in the rhyme scheme indicates a repeated rhyme in the last verse.

The scansion on this Limerick of unknown origin shown below makes use of the amphibrach foot with tetrameter (4) and dimeter (2) verses in a rhyme scheme aabba; the raised numbers in the rhyme scheme indicate foot pattern of the verses.

What is meant by catalectic? When a verse is a metrically incomplete that is, lacking a syllable at the end or ending with an incomplete foot, such a verse is referred to as being catalectic.

Shown below is the scansion on the Limerick by a 21st Century poet. It is made up of the amphibrach exclusively. The rhyme scheme sits on aabba. The first, second and fifth verses are in Trimeter. The third and fourth verses are in Dimeter. Take a look:

The amphibrach is the main foot used in the writing classical limerick poems. The Limerick is a kind of a witty, humorous, or nonsense poem, especially one in five verse amphibrachic meter or anapestic with strict rhyme scheme aabba. The form can be found in England as of the early years of the 18th century. It was popularized by Edward Lear in the 19th century, although he never used the term limerick.

Diacritical Marks for Disyllable Foot Types

You should be aware by now that the poetic foot is classified by the number of syllables in the word. The Disyllable Foot Types are made of specific diacritical marks for each type of foot and diacritical marks in terms of vowel length in quantitative meter as well as the accentual-syllabic meter in English language poetry. The Table below summaries all the diacritical marks associated with the disyllable foot covered in previous blogs.

Just click on each of the following diacritical marks below table to review the blog entry on it, if you so desire.

ᵕ  ̷      iamb
 ̷  ̷      spondee
 ᵕ ᵕ     pyrrhic
̷   ᵕ     trochee

The Amphibrach Foot

The trisyllabic metrical foot is made up of three syllables that can be stressed or unstressed as in accentual-syllabic meter or can either be long or short as in quantitative meter. The Amphibrach is trisyllabic because it has three syllables and is identified has having its stressed syllable surrounded by two unstressed syllables as shown in the Table 6.

Here is a scan of the 1st Stanza of the poem “Ode to Poetry” with quantitative meter symbols showing the use of the amphibrach.

Since poetry is the food of the senses
Cart me heaps of heavy loads of wholesome flesh,
Beneath the skin and on the bone;
Like a flamingo, I take my time to pick,
And eat with delightful intensity,
Savory cuts of great poetry.

Scansion of Edward Lear’s poem “Calico Pie” shows his skillful use of the amphibrach. Take a look.

Calico Pie,
The little Birds fly
Down to the calico tree,
Their wings were blue,
And they sang “Tilly-loo!”
Till away they flew,
And they never came back to me!
They never came back!
They never came back!
They never came back to me!

The basic metron of classical limerick poems is the amphibrach, and the traditional limerick pattern that has somewhat emerged is shown in Table 7.

This pattern is rightly credited the funny poetry of Edward Lear who wrote such for his patron’s grand children in 1840. However, many variations to this pattern have persisted and continue to do so throughout the ages. Nevertheless, all have drawn inspiration from the classical limerick mode of Edward Lear’s funny poetry. It can truly be said that Edward Lear was a precursor to Limerick poetry, although he never used the term limerick. Here is scansion of one of his funny poems in quantitative meter showing his effective use of the amphibrach foot in “There was a young lady whose chin” as shown below:

There was a young lady whose chin, a
Resembled the point of a pin; a
So she had it made sharp, b
And purchased a harp, b
And played several tunes with her chin. A

Here is a scan of a Limerick "Wiener Souse" with quantitative meter symbols by a 21st Century poet showing all the five verses making use of the amphibrach only and rhyming aabba.

Foot in Bacchius

A trisyllable foot consisting of a short vowel followed by two long vowels in quantitative meter or an unstressed syllable followed by two stressed syllables in qualitative meter found in English verse is called the Bacchius as shown in the table below.

It is a rare metrical foot found in poetry but here are examples of its use found
in this poem:

Keats “Ode to a Nightingale” Stanza 1, verses 1-6 as scanned below:

My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains
    My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk,
Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains
    One minute past, and Lethe-wards had sunk:
'Tis not through envy of thy happy lot,
    But being too happy in thine happiness, -

Antibacchius Foot

Antibacchius is a foot of three syllables in quantitative meter consisting of two long syllables followed by short syllable. In qualitative meter it is shown as two stressed syllables followed by an unstressed syllable as shown below.

Example of the use of this Antibacchius is shown below in the scansion of the first seven verses of the first stanza of the “Ode to Black Pudding and Souse”. Those verses containing the Antibacchius foot are italicized. Take a look.

Small chattel-house where she was born and raised
In Maycock's village, her ancestral home;
Bare-footed youth on Sunday evenings did walk
Rope leashed black-belly sheep and goats to graze
Weeds and grass on dust roads with out sidewalk;
Mindful of cane-fields that grow planters' cash,
As arrowed canes swayed in breeze before cropping bash;

Look what happens when this same first stanza of the “Ode to Black Pudding and Souse” is rescanned and the Antibacchius foot in quantitative meter is replaced for some other foot type using qualitative meter. Compare and contrast the first and second scansion of the stanza and draw your own conclusions.

Small chattel-house where she was born and raised
In Maycock's village, her ancestral home;
Bare-footed youth on Sunday evenings did walk
Rope leashed black-belly sheep and goats to graze
Weeds and grass on dust roads with out sidewalk;
Mindful of cane-fields that grow planters' cash,
As arrowed canes swayed in breeze before cropping bash;

Foot in Anapest

The Anapest fits snuggly as a trisyllabic metrical foot made up of three syllables obviously. The British spelling for it is Anapaest and the American spelling is Anapest. This anapestic foot is shown in the Table above and is made up of two short syllables followed by one long syllable in quantitative meter; and in accentual-syllabic meter used in English language poetry two unstressed syllables followed by one stressed syllable . By the way “meter” is American spelling and the British spelling is “metre”. The Anapest is also known as the Antidactylus because the dactyl ( ̷ ᵕ ᵕ ) has this symbolic pattern in reversed order.

English language poetry tends to use the Anapest as the dominant foot in the writing of Limericks. In accentual-syllabic meter the Anapest because it ends with a stressed syllable easily facilitates strong end-rhymes and tends to create a very rolling, galloping feeling verse, and allows for long verses with a great deal of internal complexity. The poem used as an example is “The Destruction of Sennacherib” by the poet Lord George Gordon Bryon published in 1815. This poem describes the events that are chronicled in 2 Kings 18-19 of the Bible.

The stanzas from Bryon’s poem are scanned to show the effects of the anapest in Qualitative meter giving rise to Pentameter verses. Take a look.

Shown below is the scansion on the Limerick by a 21st Century poet where the anapest is a key component of the verses. The rhyme scheme is aabba. The first, second and fifth verses are in Tetrameter. The third and fourth verses are in Trimeter. Take a look:

But some Anapestic Limericks have this rhyme scheme aabca, shown below.

The poet Lewis Carroll is famous for his masterful use of the Anapest in Tetrameter verses rhyming abab. Here is an example of a stanza taken from his poem, “The Hunting of the Snark”. In the example the anapest is underlined for quick recognition.