Poetry Rythm

[Emily D]

Hi All!

So, I was wondering if any of you had any tips on RYTHM. More specifically in poems that don’t rhyme. Big step for me writing non-rhyming poems as I am a rhyme-lover. But I have heard that change must start some time, some place, and what better place to start than Kingdom Pen? So, I hope that some of you will give me some tips to help with my big leap of, uh, non-rhyming poetry rythm. Any tips much appreciated.

Thanks.

I tell my story. Not so that I get glory, but so that others may know Hope.

[Daeus]

Hi @emily-d!

Rhythm (aka meter) is a great thing to use even if you also use rhyme. The first thing to do is to learn the basic patterns of meter. You can easily learn about those online. I also recommend the book The Roar On The Other Side to learn poetry.

Five rounds of confetti if you can pick it up in a heartbeat. For me, it was a more gradual process. It’s one thing to understand meter and another to pick it out. I think I understand it well innately, but when I try to be technical about it, it messes my mind up. Now though, after I’ve written quite a few poems, I’m able to pick out better. Just practice a lot. It will really help.

🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢

[Widdrim]

@emily-d Congrats and cupcakes for trying something new!! I’m not very good at meter and don’t have much help there, but iambic pentameter is the most common and was the easiest for me to pick up. If you’re interested in the “rhythm” of line breaks, punctuation, parataxis, and the like, you can do a lot to control the pacing and emphasis of a poem if you want to experiment even more. Either way can be get crazy technical and nitpicky, so don’t get too frustrated in your first forays 🙂

To echo Daeus, the best way to learn it is to read a bunch good examples and then make a lot of bad examples yourself. Most traditional poetry (i.e., Tennyson and Shakespeare) is metered, so there’s a plethora of masters to learn from.

[Emily D]

@Widdrim Wow thanks for that! I’ll definitely check all that out. What’s your favourite of Shakespeare’s and/or Tennyson’s works? I love Shakespeare’s

“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players, they have their exits and their entrances, and one man in his time plays many parts…”
–As You Like It, Act II, Scene VII

I guess that I never recognised the rhythm in this. Or in Tennyson’s The Eagle, another personal favourite. Do you like these poems?

I tell my story. Not so that I get glory, but so that others may know Hope.

[Widdrim]

Hmm. It’s not exactly a poem, but I really like Shakespeare’s Richard III or Henry V. As You Like It is pretty good! The Eagle is really well-written, but I think Charge of the Light Brigade is my favorite. (Do I detect a trend?)

[Emily D]

@widdrim Yes, but it has great rhythm. I love Charge of the Light Brigade! But my favourite Tennyson poem would have to be The Lady of Shallot. Do you like it?

I tell my story. Not so that I get glory, but so that others may know Hope.

[Widdrim]

It’s really good! Unfortunately, I can’t disassociate it from Anne of Green Gables, so I snicker every time I read it.

[Emily D]

@widdrim So sorry that I haven’t replied sooner. LOL, Anne of Green Gables-it’s hard to forget. I do like it though. I’ve seen the first two, and I used to like the second better, but I watched it soooo many times that now I like the first one better. Did you enjoy it (sorry I couldn’t gather the answer from your comment :()

I tell my story. Not so that I get glory, but so that others may know Hope.

[Author]

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