Scansion is an analysis of verse to show its meter. A stanza of a verse contains some lines and each line contains different metrical patterns. Some lines may have iambic or some have a Napes-tic or Trochaic or Dectyle.
Some of the syllables are stressed and, some remain unstressed. To discover the law of meter applied by a poet in a particular passage by analyzing the line or lines according to certain rules is called scansion. To scan a line means breaking it into well- defined parts.
For example: –
/U /U / U /
Ti-ger! Ti-ger! Bur-ning bright,
/ U / U / U /
In, the for-ests of the night;
/ U / U / U /
What im-mor-tal hand or eye,
/ U / U / U / U /
Could frame thy fear-ful sym- me-try?
