Barbara Frietchie

The poem is written in rhyming couplets. This means that Line 1 rhymes with Line 2, Line 3 with Line 4, and so on. The rhymes are known as perfect rhymes, with both the last vowel and consonant sounds rhyming: “corn” and “morn” (Lines 1 and 2), “sweep” and “deep” (Lines 5 and 6), “fall” and “wall” (Lines 9 and 10). On one occasion, the poet employs poetic license, using what is called an eye-rhyme, when the vowels are the same but are pronounced differently. This is “tost” and “host” (Lines 45-46). In many eye-rhymes, the two words were once pronounced in a way that rhymed, but pronunciation has shifted over time.

For the meter, the poet makes use of a combination of iambic and trochaic tetrameter. Tetrameter means that there are four poetic feet in each line. An iambic foot is comprised of an unstressed (or unaccented) syllable followed by a stressed (or accented) syllable. A trochaic foot consists of the reverse: a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable. Examples of iambic tetrameter include: “The clustered spires of Frederick stand” (Line 3) (the word “Frederick” scans as two syllables, not three) and “‘But spare your country’s flag,’ she said” (Line 36).