Poetry Support

eWriting > Poetry Support > Explanation

• Features
• Components
• Statement & Voice
• Self-Test
• Rhythm
• Rap
• Self-Test
• Explanation
• Metre
• Self-Test
• Rhyme
• Self-Test
• Sound devices
• Alliteration
• Assonance
• Consonance
• Variation
• Self-Test
• Verbal devices
• Imagery
• Metaphor
• Simile
• Personification
• Synecdoche
• Metonymy
• Hyperbole
• Symbolism
• Diction
• Self-Test
• Affective Levels
• Tone
• Atmosphere
• Mood
• Self-Test

Explanations - Rhythm

1. There are five factors that influence rhythm in poetry and they arise out of the rules we have created, in the first place, in our spoken language for stress in single and double syllabled words as well as in the polysyllabic. Word order can also create/preserve a rhythm so it may not always coincide with the exact rules of syntax used in prose. Then the use of single and double off-beats employed in the spoken language and in the written text help to cancel a sense of monotony and this is certainly the case in poetry
2. The single syllable words that do not take a stress are conjunctions and prepositions. They are words designed to relate words/phrases/clauses to one another and have a linking effect but of themselves are not important. Even some conjunctions, such as "and", may take a stress depending on the context. There is the family of relating verbs, such as, the verb to be and the verb to have, which do/do not take a stress depending on the context. See the following example, "What is the matter with Mary Jane?" The operative word in this line of poetry is the word, "is", so the "is" is stressed. Look at the next example and note how the poet, Robert Frost, has combined the use of a single syllable stressed verb, "are"(verb to be) in line one with a single syllable unstressed verb, "is" (verb to be) in line two:

   Whose wood these are I think I know.
   His house is in the village, though;

3. The three/four syllable word in a line of poetry as in the spoken word has a variable stress pattern which lends itself well to the creation of a rhythmic pattern in a line of poetry.
4. The accepted stress patterns are very important to the poet. They are a reliable source with which and around which the poet can work.
5. Timing in the spoken word and timing in poetry help to create an impact and supports/stresses meaning.
6. Both kinds of beats are useful to the poet who can use either depending on what he/she is wanting to achieve, quick, light movement or perhaps, a shorter sharper focus.
7. Just as is the case in the spoken word and prose, the presence of punctuation dictates movement of thought, emphasis or the truncating of ideas, or the addition of ideas, so punctuation in poetry does likewise, allowing the poet to arrest the flow of thought or cause it to pause and so underline meaning.

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