On the Subject of Meter
“A poet can survive anything but a misprint” -Oscar Wilde
This module has two display screens and two buttons.
The buttons are a Macron for stressed syllable: “
” and a Breve for unstressed syllable: “
”
Each Display will output a phrase with a uniform meter of repeated poetic feet.
A Meter is a sequence of poetic feet that make up a line
A Poetic Foot is a pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables
The Meter of every possible display phrase will be comprised of a single poetic foot repeated for the length of the phrase.
Solving the module requires inputting the correct Key Meter sequence using the two buttons. If you strike, your inputs will be reset.
Step One: Foot Modifier
- Using the NATO Phonetic Alphabet and Table 1.3 identify the poetic feet of the first and second letters of the Serial Number.
- Using Table 1.1 identify the numeric value of those poetic feet. Letters that are a single syllable have an automatic value of 1
- Add those two values and the last number in the bomb’s Serial number together to find your Foot Modifier. If the result is greater than 12, keep subtracting 12 until it is less than or equal to 12.
Step Two: Key Meter
- Using Table 1.2 identify the poetic foot repeated in the meter of the phrase on the Top display.
- Using Table 1.1 and starting on the row for the poetic foot of the Top display, move down the number of rows equal to your Foot Modifier.
- Record the poetic foot found on the resulting row. This is the first half of your Key Meter
- Using Table 1.2 identify the poetic foot repeated in the meter of the phrase on the Bottom display.
- Using Table 1.1 and starting on the row for the poetic foot of the Bottom display, move down the number of rows equal to your Foot Modifier.
- Record the poetic foot found on the resulting row. This is the Second half of your Key Meter
- Using Table 1.2 identify the sequence of Macrons and Breves for your Key Meter. The poetic foot from the top display will always come first, followed by the foot of the bottom display.