Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird: Meter

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Stevens wrote “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird” in free verse, which means the poem doesn’t have a regular meter. Instead, each line has a different number of syllables, which are arranged in unique stress patterns. As an example, consider the configuration of stressed and unstressed syllables in the opening stanza (lines 1–3):

Note that each of these three lines has a different number of syllables (8, 6, and 7, respectively). Also note that each line has a different pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables, which creates a dynamic sense of rhythm. Whereas the first line consists mainly of metrical feet known as trochees (stressed–unstressed), the second line reverses the pattern of stress with a series of three iambs (unstressed–stressed). The third line then takes on a galloping rhythm created through two anapests (unstressed–unstressed–stressed), which are followed by an extra unstressed syllable.

Despite the use of technical terminology in the above analysis, traditional methods of scansion only get us so far in understanding how meter functions in Stevens’s poem. Arguably, there are two metrical elements that are more important than the syllabic patterns of stress in each line. The first element is overall line length. The lines in the poem range in length between three and ten syllables, though most fall in the range of four to seven syllables. The relatively short length of the lines creates a sense of poetic compression, which allows the speaker to conjure complex images and sensations in a very small space. This kind of compression is reminiscent of Imagist poetry as well as the Japanese poetic form known as the haiku. The second key metrical element in the poem is the use of hard breaks between stanzas, marked by the inclusion of Roman numerals. The individual numbering of the stanzas indicates that each stanza is self-contained and hence not continuous with the previous one. This discontinuity creates a greater sense of space that, when read aloud, translates to longer pauses between stanzas. These pauses create a punctuated and even disjunctive sense of rhythm in the overall poem.