Shelf SonnetPoem meter, rhyme & reading time tools

The scansion desk

Poem syllable & meter counter

Paste a poem to see the syllables in every line, which syllables carry the stress, the rhyme scheme in the margin, and whether it keeps the rules of a sonnet, haiku, limerick or villanelle. Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18 is scanned below to start you off.

One line of verse per line; leave a blank line between stanzas.

Sample: Sonnet 18 by William Shakespeare. Shakespeare's Sonnets (1609), text from Project Gutenberg eBook #1041: source.

Meter
Iambic pentameter14 of 14 lines fit · iambs: da‑DUM
Rhyme scheme
abab cdcd efef gg
Lines
14140 syllables
  1. Line 1, 10 syllables: Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?, rhyme a. Stresses: da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM.
  2. Line 2, 10 syllables: Thou art more lovely and more temperate:, rhyme b. Stresses: da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM da da.
  3. Line 3, 10 syllables: Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,, rhyme a. Stresses: da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM.
  4. Line 4, 10 syllables: And summer’s lease hath all too short a date:, rhyme b (eye rhyme). Stresses: da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM.
  5. Line 5, 10 syllables: Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,, rhyme c. Stresses: DUM da da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM.
  6. Line 6, 10 syllables: And often is his gold complexion dimm’d,, rhyme d. Stresses: da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM.
  7. Line 7, 10 syllables: And every fair from fair sometime declines,, rhyme c. Stresses: da DUM da DUM da DUM DUM DUM da DUM.
  8. Line 8, 10 syllables: By chance, or nature’s changing course untrimm’d:, rhyme d. Stresses: da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM.
  9. Line 9, 10 syllables: But thy eternal summer shall not fade,, rhyme e. Stresses: da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM.
  10. Line 10, 10 syllables: Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st,, rhyme f. Stresses: da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM.
  11. Line 11, 10 syllables: Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade,, rhyme e. Stresses: da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM.
  12. Line 12, 10 syllables: When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st,, rhyme f. Stresses: da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM.
  13. Line 13, 10 syllables: So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,, rhyme g. Stresses: da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM.
  14. Line 14, 10 syllables: So long lives this, and this gives life to thee., rhyme g. Stresses: da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM.

Shakespearean sonnetdetected from 14 lines

Fits the form

Rhyme scheme of the form: abab cdcd efef gg

  • Pass: 14 lines A Shakespearean sonnet has 14 lines: three quatrains and a closing couplet. This poem has 14.
  • Pass: Rhyme scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF GG Every line rhymes where the form needs it (7 of 7 rhyme links).
  • Note: Eye rhymes temperate / date (lines 2 and 4) counts as an eye rhyme (spelt alike, said differently today).
  • Pass: Ten syllables a line Every line has the right number of syllables.
  • Pass: Iambic pentameter All 14 lines scan this way. Iambic pentameter is five beats a line, each an unstressed then a stressed syllable (da‑DUM), allowing an extra unstressed syllable at the end or a reversed first foot.
  • Note: The couplet The closing couplet (lines 13 and 14) usually turns or sums up the argument.

More than one pronunciation: temperate (2 or 3 syllables), every (2 or 3 syllables). We used the reading that fits the line best.

Read with a spelling rule: dimm’d (dimmed, with -ed not sounded); untrimm’d (un- + trimmed, with -ed not sounded); ow’st (ow + 'st); wander’st (wander + 'st); grow’st (grow + 'st).

How the counter reads a poem

Syllables and stress come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which gives the sounds of about 126,000 English words with the stressed syllable of each marked. A stressed syllable gets an acute mark (´) above it and an unstressed one a small cup (˘); a lighter stroke is a secondary stress, as in the first syllable of “immortality”.

One-syllable words can go either way in verse, so they follow the beat of the poem. Little words such as “the”, “of”, “and” and “thou” lean unstressed and nouns and verbs lean stressed, but the meter decides. Stress in longer words is never changed: it is exactly as the dictionary gives it.

The meter is the pattern that fits the most lines: iambic (da-DUM), trochaic (DUM-da), anapestic (da-da-DUM) or dactylic (DUM-da-da), named by the number of beats in a line, from dimeter (two) to octameter (eight). Pentameter has five, so iambic pentameter is da-DUM five times. Lines may start with a reversed foot or end on an extra unstressed syllable, as they often do in real poems.

Rhyme letters in the right margin give each new rhyme sound the next letter. Full rhymes share every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end (day / May). Near rhymes (seen / been) and eye rhymes, which look alike but no longer sound alike (temperate / date), get a letter in italics.

Words the dictionary lacks, like invented words or unusual names, get an estimate from their spelling and a dotted underline. Older spellings are read with the usual rules: dimm’d has one syllable, wander’st two, and o’er one.

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Questions

How does it count syllables?

Each word is looked up in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, and every vowel sound in its pronunciation is one syllable. A word with more than one pronunciation, like “every” (two or three syllables), is read the way that fits the line. Words the dictionary does not have are estimated from their spelling and underlined with dots.

Why does my count differ from the one I made by hand?

Usually because of words like “fire”, “hour”, “heaven” or “every”, which people say with one syllable more or less. The dictionary follows American pronunciation, so British or older readings can differ too. The notes under the result list every word that could be read more than one way.

Why is a one-syllable word marked stressed in one line and not in another?

In English verse a one-syllable word takes its stress from the rhythm around it: “I” is unstressed in “Shall I compare” but can be stressed elsewhere. The counter lets these words follow the poem’s meter, and never moves the stress of a longer word.

What is iambic pentameter?

A line of five iambs, each an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one: da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM, ten syllables in all. It is the usual line of the English sonnet and of Shakespeare’s plays. Poets vary it, often with an extra unstressed syllable at the end or a stressed syllable first.

Is my poem sent anywhere?

No. Your browser downloads the dictionary from this site once, and everything else happens on your device; the poem you paste is never uploaded or stored.