Does this technique that deals with syllable meters have a name?

Question

On the poem extract below I noticed the following technique and it sounded really familiar, reminding me of punk rock songs and some strong man speeches (I know this is super vague, if I remember any examples I'll link them in the comments). This technique consists of a metric progression of long verses to short verses culminating with a one or two syllable verse, this happens from verses 1 to 5 below, then this is followed by same metric length verses with Anaphoras, in this case it's an anaphora with "the". Does anyone know if this has a name?

1 Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.

2 I’m not cute or built to suit a fashion model’s size

3 But when I start to tell them,

4 They think I’m telling lies.

5 I say,

6 It’s in the reach of my arms,

7 The span of my hips,

8 The stride of my step,
-Phenomenal Woman, by: Maya Angelou

Answer 1

There is no single descriptor for what you're asking. Instead, writers might indicate repetition of short lines that create a turn or pivot in the stanza.

The most prominent pattern is repetition (source) at the level of utterance:

• "I say" performing a turn or pivot or contrast in each stanza from what others say and what the speaker says
• "I’m a woman / Phenomenally. / Phenomenal woman, / That’s me." ending the self-directed speech and the stanza.

As for the changes in line length, especially with "I say," one could describe the break of pattern (turn/pivot/contrast) as a short line (if the other lines are normally longer) or a long line (if the other lines are usually short). This vocabulary filters into descriptions of line length:

The short, irregular lines of John Burnside's 'De Humanis Corporis Fabrica' mirror the slow accumulation of various bodily details in the poem. (https://www.poetryarchive.org/glossary/line)

Long lines are oceanic. They wash over you like waves, one after another, each of them full of shells and sand and fish and surfboards, sometimes pieces of wrecks and the bodies of sailors. The long line is more conclusive and inclusive than the partial, subdivided short line. If short lines are like quick pants, long lines resemble great, deep breathes. (https://poets.org/text/whitmans-long-lines)

And an example from the Victoria and Albert Museum describing a similarly-structured poem, "Things Men Have Made" by D.H. Lawrence:

The most obvious device here is the repetition, with variation: 'men have made', 'men who made'. These phrases occur at the beginning and end of the poem, with a single syllable before the first occurrence and after the second. They balance each other, emphasising a balance between the first two lines and the last two, between the first sentence or proposition of Lawrence's statement and the second, which echoes it and develops it further. The whole poem pivots around the very short line in the middle, 'for long years'.

Answer 2

According to the link I provided below:

"There is a varied meter (metre in UK) in this poem, a mix of trochee and iamb with anapaest. The underlying beat in some lines is iambic, the well known da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM beat, the most common in English poetry."

https://owlcation.com/humanities/Analysis-Of-Poem-Phenomenal-Woman-by-Maya-Angelou]

Answer 3

I dont know about punk rock songs and some strong man speeches but I have found two links although with varied answers though with reasonable explanations.

SRC 1 : Wikibookpage - This page was last edited on 16 September 2019, at 14:36.

Let’s start with the form of the poem.

• The poem is like a ballad, it is a free verse narrative. There are no conventional rhymes, just some sporadically important ones.

• The persona speaks directly in a personal voice(first person
  singular). The poem seems to have a refrain – four last lines in every stanza are the same. It is something that is very often used in poems and songs. Angelou could have been inspired by her background in dance as the poem seems to have some musical aspect (there is a set rhyme scheme and the refrain).

SRC 2 : Owlcation (As mentioned by A Student in the first answer) Updated on August 21, 2019

There is a varied meter (metre in UK) in this poem, a mix of trochee and iamb with anapaest. The underlying beat in some lines is iambic, the well known da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM beat, the most common in English poetry. For example:

• But when I start to tell them/They think I'm telling lies.
  And others have trochaic followed by iambic:
• When you see me passing,/It ought to make you proud. Still, others are iambic preceding anapaestic:
• The bend of my hair,/the palm of my hand,/The need for my care.

This variable rhythm, together with contrasting short and long vowels, make this a particularly interesting poem to read out loud and to listen to.

Also, It would be helpful if you take into consideration the fact that poems are an expression of the thought-process of the poet. It is the presentation of that his/her's view of the muse of that particular poem expressed in pithy words. So, even poems with a well-defined overall metric pattern often have a few lines that violate that pattern.

SRC : Metre Variations, Wiki

I think the above fact is not done intentionally rather its the best way to express with minimum violations of the rhythm metre system. Similarly, with the above poem, I think the poet's thoughts were best enunciated using the above set of rhythm meters - a beautiful mix of trochee and iamb along with semblances of anapaest.

Answer 4

Anthem.

Angelou repeats a pattern, which helps to reinforce a message, similar to lyrics of a song.

"I say" connects the first part of each stanza with the second and focuses on the speaker. Immediately following is a repeated mantra-like list. The final lines drive home that the woman is special, becoming an anthem for the personal "me".