These 'beats' have various stresses and accents. One of the most commonly used meters in formal poetry is called 'Iambic pentameter'. The individual beats consist of a short and a strong pulse. You can hear this beat in words such as 'arrest, domain, forsooth'. The accent is on the second syllable.
Accent is on the first syllable of a two-beat foot.
Much like a waltz beat. HAMburger, CELLular, MONitor. Thus endeth the sermon on formal poetry. The sad reality is that most formal styles of poetry have fallen out of favor with modern audiences, so the main focus of this mini-lesson will be on free verse poetry. The best formal poems are the ones that followed these rules precisely.