What is the purpose of meter in a poem?
Often meter is required for artistic or literary purpose. Shakespeare’s plays are written in iambic pentameter, a poetic verse scheme that most closely parallels natural English speech, so it is aptly suited for dialogue in his plays. Verse and meter are used by Shakespeare and other poets when the situation or intent requires heightened language, imagery and emotion which could not otherwise be conveyed without a visual medium. “Meter” is the “special effects” of literature; used to heighten the dramatic and poetic quality of prose and add grandeur, emotion and mystery to the most commonplace of events: “I saw a fork in a road” has little evocative effect, and could be misinterpreted as being too literal (was there really a “fork” in the road?). But with the meters of poetry and verse added,a commonplce event becomes mysterious and evocative: “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could T
