1. the analysis of verse to show its meter and rhythmic structure
Usage: literary analysis; poetry

Examples

• The professor taught us scansion to help identify iambic pentameter in Shakespeare’s sonnets.
• Students practiced scansion by marking stressed and unstressed syllables in the poem.
• Through careful scansion, we discovered the irregular meter in the final stanza.
• The scansion revealed that the poet had deliberately broken the established rhythm.
• Learning scansion helps readers appreciate the musical qualities of verse.
• Her scansion of the ballad showed its traditional four-beat pattern.