RHYTHM AND METER *RHYME SCHEME a pattern or sequence where the rhyme occurs (“Two Tramps in Mud Time” : abab cdcd) LABEL RHYME SCHEME: A A B C C D LABEL RHYME SCHEME *RHYTHM The pattern or musical quality produced by the repetition of stressed and unstressed syllables. Rhythm occurs in all forms of language, both written and spoken, but is particularly important in poetry In poetry Rhythm in writing is like the beat in music. In poetry, rhythm implies that certain words are produced more force- fully than others, and may be held for longer duration. The repetition of a pattern of such emphasis is what produces a "rhythmic effect." The word rhythm comes from the Greek, meaning "measured motion." RHYTHM: In speech, we use rhythm without consciously creating recognizable patterns. For example, think about the phone— Almost every telephone conversation ends rhythmically, with the conversants understanding as much by rhythm as by the meaning of the words, that it is time to hang up. Frequently such conversations end with Conversant A uttering a five- or six-syllable line, followed by Conversant B's five to six syllables, followed by A's two- to four-syllable line, followed by B's two to four syllables, and so on until the receivers are cradled. Don’t believe me? Welp I gotta go now. Allright, c-ya later. Yup nice chattin’ See ya. Take care. Till tomorrow Bubye IN POEMS, AS IN SONGS, A RHYTHM MAY BE OBVIOUS OR MUTED. Vachel Lindsay's "The Congo" consciously recreates the rhythms of a tribal dance: Fat black bucks in a wine-barrel room Barrel-housekings, with feet unstable, Sagged and reeled and pounded on the table, Pounded on the table, Beat an empty barrel with the handle of a broom, Hard as they were able Boom, boom, BOOM, With a silk umbrella and the handle of a broom, Boomlay, boomlay, boomlay, BOOM. WHEN ASKED THE QUESTION- WHAT’S THE RHYTHM? YOU MIGHT ANSWER REGARDING— RHYME SCHEME, METER (BOTH TYPE AND PATTERN) METER *Meter: Pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables established in a line Stressed syllable (‘) is the accented or long syllable Unstressed (u) is unaccented or short syllable Meter signifies both TYPE of pattern and NUMBER OF PATTERN RHYTHM RHYTHM: *POETIC FOOT the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line. unit of meter (two or three syllables) METER: the number and pattern of feet in a line. *SCANSION Describing the rhythms of poetry by dividing the lines into feet, marking the locations of stressed and unstressed syllables, and counting the syllables. Thus, when we describe the rhythm of a poem, we “scan” the poem and mark the stresses (/) and absences of stress (^) and count the number of feet. *Iambic- two syllable foot with stress on second syllable Below; delight; a muse A/ book /of /over/ seas/ un/ der/ neath /the/ bough A /jug / of /wine/ a /loaf/ of /bread /–and /though/ *Trochee- a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable Dou/ ble, / dou / ble/ toil /and/ trou/ble Fire/ burn/ and /caul /dron /bub/ble REVIEW/ PREQUEL iamb (^/) /^/^/^/^ Double, double toil and trouble *anapest (^^/) ^/^/^/^/^/^/^/ The falling out of faithful friends, renewing is of love *trochee (/^) In English, the major feet are: ^^/^^/^^/ I am monarch of all I survey *dactyl (/ ^^) *Anapest- three syllables with the stress on the last syllable Cav a lier In ter twine With the sheep their stalls in the fold and the cows in *Dactyl: foot contains three syllables with the stress on the first syllable hap pi ness, mer ri ly, mur mur ing Love a gain Iambic and anapestic meters are called rising meters because their movement rises from unstressed syllable to stressed; trochaic and dactylic meters are called falling. The scansion of this quatrain from Shakespeare’s Sonnet 73 shows the following accents and divisions into feet (note the following words were split: behold, yellow, upon, against, ruin'd): A frequently heard metrical description is iambic pentameter: a line of five iambs. This is a meter especially familiar because it occurs in all blank verse (such as Shakespeare’s plays), heroic couplets, and sonnets. Pentameter is one name for the number of feet in a line. The commonly used names for line lengths are: *Monometer *Dimeter *Trimeter *Tetrameter *Pentameter *Hexameter *Heptameter *Octameter one foot two feet three feet four feet five feet six feet seven feet eight feet THE WHY BEHIND THIS SEEMINGLY INTIMIDATING STUFF: Yes, that’s all very lovely, but why do we study rhythm? People have a basic need for rhythm, or for the effect produced by it, as laboratory experiments in psychology have demonstrated, and as you can see by watching a crew of workers digging or hammering, or by listening to chants and work songs, rhythm gives pleasure and a more emotional response to the listener or reader because it establishes a pattern of expectations, and rewards the listener or reader with the pleasure that comes from having those expectations fulfilled, or the noted change in a rhythm. (see Dark Knight’s postulate: if everything is according to the plan, everybody feels An argument might be raised against scanning: isn’t it too simple to expect that all language can be divided into neat stressed and unstressed syllables? Of course it is. There are infinite levels of stress, from the loudest scream to the faintest whisper. But, the idea in scanning a poem is not to reproduce the sound of a human voice. To scan a poem is to make a diagram of the stresses and absence of stress we find in it. Studying rhythms, “scanning,” is not just a way of pointing to syllables; it is also a matter of listening to a poem and making sense of it. To scan a poem is one way to indicate how to read it aloud; in order to see where stresses fall, you have to see the places where the poet wishes to put emphasis. That is why when scanning a poem you may find yourself suddenly understanding it. In everyday life, nobody speaks or writes in perfect iambic rhythm, except at moments: “a HAM on RYE and HIT the MUStard HARD!” Poets don’t even write in iambic very long, although when they do, they have chosen iambic because it is the rhythm that most closely resemble everyday speech.
