Scansion Definition

skănshən
noun
Analysis of verse into metrical patterns.
American Heritage
The act of scanning, or analyzing, poetry in terms of its rhythmic components.
Webster's New World
The graphic representation, indicated by marked accents, feet, etc., of the rhythm of a line or lines of verse.
Webster's New World

Other Word Forms of Scansion

Noun

Singular:
scansion
Plural:
scansions

Origin of Scansion

  • Late Latin scānsiō scānsiōn- from Latin act of climbing from scānsus past participle of scandere to climb skand- in Indo-European roots

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • From Late Latin scanscionem, accusative singular of scansiō (“the act of climbing"), from scandō (“I climb").

    From Wiktionary

Scansion Sentence Examples

  • It takes no account of the quantity of syllables; the scansion depends on accent, and there is always an accent on the last syllable but one.

  • Rhyme is nice in a riddle-poem, but strong rhythm (what poets call good scansion) is better.

  • Thinking Classics Essays on classical subjects; film reviews course on Greek scansion and metrics; commentary on intersections of antiquity and modernity.

  • Free verse is an easier form of poetry because it is unconstrained by things like scansion, meter, or rhyming schemes.

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Words Starting With

SSCSCA

Words Ending With

NONION

Unscrambles

scansion

Words Starting With S and Ending With N

Starts With S & Ends With NStarts With SC & Ends With NStarts With S & Ends With ON

Word Length

8 Letter Words8 Letter Words Starting With S8 Letter Words Ending With N