Turning Prose into
Poetry
RHYTHM AND METER
It’s not just us that say this . . .
Rhythm in poetry
Rhythm
Rhythm (in poetry) means that you have a flow and a beat to your
words. There is a pattern to your language. An example is free verse.
Although free verse has no rhyme or meter, it should still have rhythm.
Meter
Meter is a specific rhythmic structure to a poem. For instance, if a
poem tells you how many syllables you can have, or iambs, then you are
attempting to have meter. There is a pattern to the syllables or iambs
that you are trying to follow.
Strategies
Authors can create rhythm a number of ways, including:
Word choice
Playing with the length of lines
Repetition and patterns (of words, of line structure, etc.)
Figurative language
Look at Mrs. Donohue’s
example
The example on your paper is about a symbolic object from Mrs.
Donohue’s youth.
It is currently written as prose.
It is perfectly ok, and sometimes encouraged, to start your poem as a
piece of prose and then convert it into poetry. In that case, you need to
pay attention not only to line breaks, but also to rhythm.
The first step is to add line breaks and to take our information that
might be unnecessary in a poem.
Example
One thing that stands out to me when I think about the room
that my sister and I shared is our bunk bed set. / I don’t know when
exactly we got them, but I do remember that my sister wasn’t five, /
because I read out loud / the directions that said a child under 5
/shouldn’t sleep on the top bunk, / and she instantly / and irrevocably
claimed the bottom. / We shared that bunk set for the next, I don’t know,
seven years, / and she never slept on the top bunk EVER.
Example
That bunk bed set was so many things when we were growing
up. We used to use it as a fishing boat, / with the stuffed animals
beneath and us perched on top. / We made my brother stay below / and
“hook” the animals onto our “fishing rods.” / When my sister had woken
up in the morning first, / she used to use her feet to push my mattress up
and then let fall back down (that was awesome). / I used to read books to
her / and then slide the book through the slats so she could still see the
pictures./ However, I could never tell when she had fallen asleep, / so
sometimes I would read for 20 or 30 minutes / and the next night, / she
would always make me start over / to the exact page where she had
drifted off.
Based on the examples. . . .
We can conclude:
◦ The 2nd paragraph has more substance to it – more of the imagery that can
create poetry.
◦ There is a lack of figurative language, but there is meaning to the author.
◦ The beds are a powerful symbol to the author.
Now it looks like this . . . .
My sister and I shared a bunk bed set.
I do remember that my sister wasn’t 5
Because I read out loud
The directions that said a child under 5
Shouldn’t sleep on the top bunk
And she instantly and irrevocably
Claimed the bottom
We shared that bunk set
For the next seven years
And she never once slept on the top bunk
EVER
We’re not done!
Although all of those changes are helpful, they don’t create rhythm yet.
Mrs. Donohue isn’t interested in working with meter, so instead, we
need to use our strategies to create more rhythm.
In Memoriam: Bunk Beds
My parents bought my sister and I
Bunk beds.
As if sharing a room was not enough,
We were now sharing a bed.
My sister made me read the directions
Out loud
And when I said that no child
Under the age of 5
Was allowed to sleep on the top bunk
We both rushed out to my mother,
Weeding in the front lawn,
Pulling large stalks out by the roots