Prometheus

“Prometheus” mainly follows strict iambic tetrameter, meaning the lines typically consist of an unstressed/stressed pattern and four metrical feet, usually eight or nine syllables per line. A perfect example of the poem’s typical meter is in the fourth line: “Were not / as things / that Gods / despise.” Most of the lines in the poem follow this perfect iambic meter.

However, the poem does make some exceptions to the iambic tetrameter pattern. For one, the first line of the poem opens with a trochee instead of an iamb: “Titan!” This opening is significant because it both places the focus on Prometheus and opens with a rejection of the poem’s typical meter. This is an example of form matching content as Prometheus’s crime was rebellion, and here, even his introduction rebels against the rest of the poem’s meter.

While the poem contains many rhymes, there is no repetitive rhyme pattern. Byron utilizes a number of patterns, including ABBA, AABB, and ABAB. There are also some lines that do not end rhyme but contain internal rhymes like “die/thine” in lines 23 and 25. Some lines do not have any rhymes, including the final line, though this is often supplemented with alliteration: “Triumphant where it dares defy / And making Death a Victory” (Lines 58-59).