--- title: "Poem Syllable, Meter & Rhyme Scheme Counter | Shelf Sonnet" description: "Paste a poem to count syllables per line, mark the stressed syllables, letter the rhyme scheme and check sonnets, haiku, limericks and villanelles." url: https://shelfsonnet.me/ --- 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. ## 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. ## Sources - [The CMU Pronouncing Dictionary](https://github.com/cmusphinx/cmudict), Carnegie Mellon University: every pronunciation, syllable count and stress. Licence and copyright notice on the [About page](https://shelfsonnet.me/about/). - Academy of American Poets, poets.org glossary: [sonnet](https://poets.org/glossary/sonnet) (Petrarchan and Shakespearean rhyme schemes, the volta), [haiku](https://poets.org/glossary/haiku), [limerick](https://poets.org/glossary/limerick) and [villanelle](https://poets.org/glossary/villanelle). - Poetry Foundation glossary: [ballad](https://www.poetryfoundation.org/education/glossary/ballad) and [common measure](https://www.poetryfoundation.org/education/glossary/common-measure) (alternating four- and three-stress lines). - Sample poems, all in the public domain: William Shakespeare, Sonnet 18 ([Project Gutenberg #1041](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1041)); John Keats, “On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer” ([poets.org](https://poets.org/poem/first-looking-chapmans-homer)); Edwin Arlington Robinson, “The House on the Hill” ([Project Gutenberg #313](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/313)); Edward Lear, from *A Book of Nonsense* ([Project Gutenberg #982](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/982)); Emily Dickinson, “Because I could not stop for Death” ([Project Gutenberg #12242](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12242)); Matsuo Bashō, translated by William George Aston ([poets.org](https://poets.org/poem/ancient-pond)). ## More from the shelf Every tool runs in your browser. - [Rhyme finder](https://shelfsonnet.me/rhyme-finder/): Perfect and near rhymes from the dictionary, grouped by syllables and stress, everyday words first. - [Poetry forms](https://shelfsonnet.me/poetry-forms/): Sonnets, villanelle, haiku, limerick, sestina, pantoum, ghazal and ballad stanza, with examples and blank scaffolds. - [Reading time calculator](https://shelfsonnet.me/reading-time-calculator/): How long a book takes at your speed, plus a timed test to measure your words per minute. - [Reading goal planner](https://shelfsonnet.me/reading-goal-planner/): Books a year or one book by a date, turned into pages and minutes a day, with progress kept on your device. - [Bookshelf calculator](https://shelfsonnet.me/bookshelf-calculator/): Books per shelf and shelves needed for your collection, from a few measured spines. ## Recommended Two free services for reading and writing online. 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[Try WebTraceCheck](https://webtracecheck.com/) ## 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.