Thirty Things about Me

Rhythm and Rhyme

Rhythm and Rhyme (submission to Poetry Pub, Wattpad)

© May '17, Olan L. Smith

I am asked to write about rhyme and meter and how it has an effect on specific poems, but I will start with how rhythm and rhyme affect the soul of the reader. Since we are born our mother's sing or read to us nursery rhymes with the "beat," that penetrates our sub consciousness, and rouses our psyche so we perk up when we here a familiar rhythm, rhyme or beat; it builds up and constantly runs at an unconscious level, much like our heart's beat. I hear people say, "I don't like poems or poetry" but I see them yell and dance at a concert, and I know they are lying, not only to me but to themselves, because the words they yell to, and rhythm they dance to is poetry; a song is a poem put to music. A poem read aloud can do the same thing to the spine as an orchestra will, but it can send an ascending chill up from the tailbone to the crown and make you stand and applaud. That is what rhythm and rhyming does to specific styles of poetry, because it makes a connection to the unconscious mind, to the heart, and it causes us to jump for joy. Listen to great speakers; they are masters of rhythm that touch the soul of the listeners. If you master rhythm and rhyme, you will have followers waiting to read your next publication, because they know in some way you will connect with their own beating heart; lub-DUB, lub-DUB.

Trochaic meter (syllable beat) is DUB-dub, DUB-dub and is the opposite rhythm of the iamb(ic). We will start with trochaic, or DUB-dub, or stressed-unstressed used in most nursery rhymes. A trochaic foot (monometer) consists of DUB-dub). Two trochee feet (diameter) would then be: DUB-dub, DUB-dud; three trochee feet (trochaic trimeter) would have three feet of DUB-dub, DUB-dub, DUB-dub, tetrameter is four metric feet, pentameter is five metric feet, hexameter is six metric feet, and so on. This metric enumeration of mono, dia, tri, tetra, penta, hexa, heptameter, etc, applies to all the types of stressed syllabic schemes mentioned below:

Iamb (dub-DUB),

Trochee (DUB-dub),

Spondee (DUB-DUB),

Pyrrhic (dub-dub)

Dactyl (DUB-dub-dub),

Anapest (dub-dub-DUB),

Amphibrach (dub-DUB-dub)

To me, the rhythm is the heart of the poem, the pulse and the core of the poem that causes us to connect to it both on a conscious level and the unconscious at the same time. Remember, these are just terms, but put to use in your poetry, because they evoke the beat. The terms seem confusing because of the specialized language, and it is confusing if you say otherwise, you are lying to yourself. Does it get easier and less daunting? Yes, and with practice you will not have to look at these terms, but I keep my poetry sources close to me, as well as keep my rhyming dictionary and thesaurus nearby. Someone will say, I don't want something boxing me in, and I will stay with free verse, but writing constraint poems will make you a better free verse poet. Free verse gives freedom to the poet to add rhythm if you want, and to place rhymes where you want; after all it is unconstrained poetry, but it doesn't have to be chaotic verses, after all you want your free verse poetry to flow smoothly, and you will want to apply the vast tools of poetry to your free verse poem but don't become a syllable counter, it is not important to keep the count strictly, mix it up. Even Shakespeare would mix it up in a sonnet, so you can too.