An Exploration in Understanding the Meter and Rhyme in Poetry

The

Rhythm of

Poetry

An Exploration in Understanding the Meter and Rhyme in Poetry

Literary Arts Explore with Jeri Swatosh

Spring 2015

Portfolio Requirements:

Show your exploration and play on the space provided for each poetry form.

Write one poem for each of the styles presented in this poetry packet (for sonnet, write a minimum of 4 lines). This can be handwritten and you just need to create a convention showing which poem is your best (e.g., highlight, frame, etc.)

Complete the reflection of each poetry form as well as a reflection on the class so far

Please note that you will read one poem aloud to the class on the day portfolios are due. This date will be determined by us as a class as we go through the packet and experience poetry! 

Glossary

Etheree

Haiku

Seussian meter

Limericks

Clerihew

Sonnets

Free verse

Reflection

Extra paper

Glossary of Poetry Terms

Line Length

Poetry is generally measured in feet or meters or measures. The lengths are:

Monometer = one foot (these are rare)

Dimeter = two feet

Trimeter = three feet

Tetrameter = four feet

Pentameter = five feet

Hexameter = six feet

Heptameter = seven feet

Octameter – eight feet (as in Poe’s The Raven)

Although, take note of…

Syllabic Meter: A poem written with a predetermined number of syllables per line

Syllable-Stress Rhythms

It is important to know how to notate the rhythm of poetry. Unaccented syllables are notated using a , and accented syllables use a . The following definitions will use both notation and lower case/upper case to help you find their rhythms.

Trochee = (TUM ta) Once upon a midnight dreary…(Longfellow)

Iamb = (ta TUM) To be or not to be that is the question (Shakespeare)

Dactyl = (TUM ta ta) Mournfully

Anapest = (ta ta TUM) There was a young lad from Vancouver (limerick)

From Western Wind: an introduction to poetry by John Frederick Nims:

Haiku

Haiku in Japanese is written in a single vertical line with seventeen sound units or mora (not strictly the same as syllables) in a rhythm of five, seven, and five. In English (a stressed language), the ideas are usually expressed in three separate lines: The first line contains five syllables, the second contains seven syllables, and the third contains five syllables.

Many haiku seem to focus on nature, but what they are really focusing on is a seasonal reference. Japanese poets use a "saijiki" or season word almanac to check the seasonal association for key words that they might use in a haiku (thus the haiku is a seasonal poem, and thus often about nature, but does not have to be about nature if the seasonal reference is about a human activity). The season is important for coming up with words to use in a haiku. Because the poem has so few words, simple phrases such as "cherry blossoms" or "falling leaves" can create lush scenes, yet still reflect the feeling of the verse. Think about each season and those ideas and activities you associate with it. You can also consider symbolism that is associated with seasons. In addition, think about colors, textures, and temperatures with each season.

Reading most haiku, you'll notice they either present one idea for the first two lines and then switch quickly to something else or do the same with the first line and last two. A Japanese haiku achieves this shift with what is called a "kireji" or cutting word, which cuts the poem into two parts. In English, it is essential for nearly every haiku to have this two-part juxtapositional structure. The idea is to create a leap between the two parts, and to create an intuitive realization from what has been called an "internal comparison." Creating this two-part structure effectively can be the hardest part of writing a haiku, because it can be very difficult to avoid too obvious a connection between the two parts, yet also avoid too great a distance between them that becomes obscure and unclear.

Haiku are based on the five senses anduse primarily objective sensory descriptions. They are about things you can experience, not your interpretation or analysis of those things. To do this effectively, it is good to rely on sensory description, and to use mostly objective rather than subjective words.

Examples:

As the wind does blow Select a season and write down

Across the trees, I see the ideas that you associate with it:

Buds blooming in May

Falling to the ground,

I watch a leaf settle down

In a bed of brown.

It’s cold—and I wait

For someone to shelter me

And take me from here.

I hear crackling

Crunch, of today’s new found day

And know it won’t last

Use this space to create some haiku of your own:

Limerick

A limerick is a short, often humorous and ribald poem developed to a very specific structure. The first line often ends with a person's name or a location (geographical limericks), and rhymes are often intentionally tortured.

Edward Lear popularized this form in his nonsense verse. Unfortunately, Lear's limericks begin to sound the same after a while. In addition, while he popularized the form, he popularized a degenerative form. Lear's more than 200 limericks were "aimed more at nonsense than toward a punch line or twist in the final line." Many are also not "true" limericks, as the last line is, often, simply a variant on the first. This has led some people to retroactively rename Lear's work as Learics.

There was an Old Man with a beard,
Who said, "It is just as I feared!
Two Owls and a Hen,
Four Larks and a Wren,
Have all built their nests in my beard!'

Fortunately, limericks do not have to be silly, nonsensical, or repetitive.

I favor the limerick form,
For serious work not the norm;
A new way to capture,
A feeling of rapture,
Or visions of wild thunderstorm.

-Excerpt from Poetry of the Heart by Joel D. Ash

Poetic Form

The limerick is ... constructed of five lines with an anapestic beat (see below) and an AABBA rhyme scheme.

The anapest contains three syllables, the first two of which are unaccented and the last of which is accented (examples: comprehend or intervene.

Limerick Pattern

--/ --/ --/ A (da da DUM da da DUM da da DUM)

--/ --/ B (da da DUM da da DUM)

--/ --/ --/ A (da da DUM da da DUM da da DUM)

Examples:

This one is from Gilbert and Sullivan (1877)

My name is John Wellington Wells.
I'm a dealer in magic and spells.
In blessings and curses
And ever-filled purses
In prophecies, witches and knells.

The following is a "typical" modern limerick:

The limerick packs laughs anatomical
Into space that is quite economical.
But the good ones I've seen
So seldom are clean
And the clean ones so seldom are comical.

Use any free space on this page to begin brainstorming rhymes so you can write a limerick of your own.

Tetrameter

Tetrameter means “four measures” and is a format rather than a kind of poetry. Verse written in tetrameter has four measures, which are also called feet. In English, the most common foot or measure is the iamb, which is a pair of syllables that follow this pattern: ta TUM. Iambic tetrameter has four such feet, for a total of eight syllables. A line of poetry is in iambic tetrameter if it follows this pattern:

ta TUM ta TUM ta TUM ta TUM.

Some variation is allowed. An extra or missing syllable may be tolerated, and an occasional reversal of the ta TUM pattern (to TA tum) is common, even desirable as a way to avoid monotony. An example of four lines of tetrameter is the first stanza of the introduction to Milton, by William Blake:

And did those feet in ancient time
Walk upon England's mountains green?
And was the holy Lamb of God
On England's pleasant pastures seen?

The tetrameter pattern can be demonstrated by overdoing the rhythm and pronouncing the stanza like this:

And DID those FEET in ANcient TIME
WALK upon ENgland'sMOUNtains GREEN?
And WAS the HOly LAMB of GOD
On ENgland'sPLEASantPAStures SEEN?

Many famous writers wrote in tetrameter and much of it is serious and contemplative in tone. Theodore Geisel—a.k.a. Dr. Seuss—used anapestic (ta ta TUM) tetrameter in many of his books and brought humor and whimsy to his books generally written for children. The following is from Yertle the Turtle:

And today the Great Yertle, the marvelous he

Is King of the Mud. That is all he can see.

Another light-hearted example of anapestic tetrameter is A Visit from St. Nick:

‘Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.

Play with the form of tetrameter and write a poem of at least four lines. First, reference the glossary to choose a kind of rhythm within each foot (e.g., iamb, trochee, anapest). Next choose a rhyme scheme. An alternating rhyme scheme is common (A B A B), but Dr. Suess and Moore here use a repeating pattern (AAAA, etc.). Sometime writing a list of rhyming words will help you to get started. 

The English (or Shakespearian) Sonnet

As forms go, iambic pentameter is the most famous poetic form used. Iamb (ta TUM) are considered to be similar to a heart beat and also a natural speech rhythm. Leonard Berstein believed that iambic pentameter was in on the birth of the blues. William Shakespeare used it in the dialogue of his characters of nobility as well as in the poetry form known as the the English sonnet. It is often named after him, not because he invented it, but because he is considered the most famous practitioner. It has the simplest and most flexible pattern of all sonnets, consisting of 3 quatrains (four lines) of alternating rhyme and a couplet:

a b a b
cd c d
e f e f (the third quatrain offers a change—or volta—in the direction of the sonnet)
g g (the final couplet often summarized the sonnet)

There are a variety of sonnet forms, and you are welcome to explore them. In the Spenserian sonnet, each quatrain develops a specific idea, but one closely related to the ideas in the other quatrains. The rhyme scheme is a little different:

a b a b
bc b c
c d c d
e e

Not only is the English sonnet the easiest in terms of its rhyme scheme, calling for only pairs of rhyming words rather than groups of 4, and is considered the most flexible in terms of the placement of the volta. Notice is here on line 9:

“Sonnet XXIX” by William Shakespeare

When in disgrace with Fortune and men’s eyes,

I all alone beweep my outcast state,

And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,

And look upon myself and curse my fate,

Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,

Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,

Desiring this man’s art and that man’s scope,

With what I most enjoy contented least,

Yet in these thoughts my self almost despising,

Haply I think on thee, and then my state,

(Like to the lark at break of day arising

From sullen earth) sings hymns at heaven’s gate,

For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings,

That then I scorn to change my state with kings.

Equally, Shakespeare can delay the volta to the final couplet, as in this sonnet where each quatrain develops a metaphor describing the aging of the speaker, while the couplet then states the consequence—“You better love me now because soon I won’t be here”:

“Sonnet LXXIII” by William Shakespeare

That time of year thou mayst in me behold,

When yellow leaves, or none, or few do hang

Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,

Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.

In me thou seest the twilight of such day,

As after sunset fadeth in the west,

Which by and by black night doth take away,

Death’s second self that seals up all in rest.

In me thou seest the glowing of such fire,

That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,

As the deathbed, whereon it must expire,

Consumed by that which it was nourished by.

This thou perceivest, which makes thy love more strong,

To love that well, which thou must leave ere long.

This is a form that is a bit more complex to tacklet. We will write a Shakespearean sonnet together as a class to help you more completely grasp the form and content. Use this space here to write our class sonnet and to write any ideas you have for your own sonnet:

Free Verse, Free Rhythms

Early in the 20th century, Ezra Pound and his contemporaries are credited with beginning to write and theorize about free verse. One of the principles they agreed on, according to Pound, was “to compose in the sequence of the musical phrase, not in sequence of a metronome…” The idea is to let your emotion find its own rhythm rather than let a preordained meter dictate it.

AN IMMORALITY

Sing we for love and idleness,

Naught else is worth the having.

Though I have been in many a land,

There is naught else in living.

And I would rather have my sweet,

Though rose-leaves die of grieving,

Than do high deeds in Hungary

To pass all men's believing.

Ezra Pound

Song of Myself
by
Walt Whitman

I celebrate myself, and sing myself,
And what I assume you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.
I loaf and invite my soul,
I lean and loaf at my ease observing a spear of summer grass.

I deliberately waited until the last form of this packet to explore free verse. Sometimes it can be considered anything and that isn’t true. I wanted you to be aware of the rhythm of poetry, both in different forms, and in experiencing different music as a result of those forms. In short, know the rules before you break them. Now play in creating a free verse poem with a least eight lines.

Rhythm of Poetry Name______

Literary Arts Explore with Jeri  Spring 2015

Reflect…

What did you enjoy about each poetry form? What was challenging?

Etheree

Haiku

Anapestic Tetrameter (Seussian)

Limerick

Clerihew

Sonnet

Free Verse / Blank Verse

What poetry style/poem are you submitting for Lit Mag? Why did you choose it?

Attach this to all of your poetry worksheets. Turn in your Lit Mag submission unattached.

How is this class working for you so far and why? What could work better and why? Consider the curriculum, my teaching style, and what you bring to the class on a daily basis. Please use the back to answer this question if you would like. 