The Sound Effects of Poetry 6: Rhythm In Poetry

Everybody loves music with a good beat and a strong bass line. You can do the same in poetry! This post is all about using metre to add rhythm to your words.

The Sound Effects of Poetry 6 – Rhythm In Poetry

What’s a rock song without a strong beat? Rather boring, right? Music needs rhythm. So does language! Every word has its natural rhythm. In English, rhythm comes from the fact that some syllables in a word are stressed, others are not. Follow me into the world of feet and metre.

This is a seven-part series on the sound effects of poetry. Please read the posts in their numerical order:

The Sound Effects Of Poetry 1 – The Basics

The Sound Effects Of Poetry 2 – Sound Creates Meaning

The Sound Effects Of Poetry 3 – How To Run Your Rhymes

The Sound Effects Of Poetry 4 – How To Make Rhyme Patterns Work

The Sound Effects Of Poetry 5 – How To Create Harmony Without Rhymes

What’s A Foot? What’s Metre?

Just like in music, rhythm sets the atmosphere of the poem. It can drive the poem forward or slow it down. It creates emphasis on certain words. It can be cheerful like a waltz, sinister, or even sound like a heartbeat.

In English, the syllable is the basic rhythmic unit; it can be either stressed or unstressed. Let’s go back to music. We all know what a waltz is, right? It has three beats to the bar, and the first beat is accentuated, while the other two are not. That’s why a waltz has this ‘Dum-Da-Da’ rhythm to it.

In poetry, this ‘Dum-Da-Da’ is called a dactyl. The ‘Dum-Da-Da’ (or a stressed syllable followed by two unstressed ones) is a rhythmic unit that poets call a foot.

‘Dum’ and ‘Da’ can create many combinations (here’s Wikipedia’s long list).

The Most Common Metres In English Literature

Let’s look at some of the most common metres in English literature and what sound effects they create.

Iamb

The iamb consists of two syllables, an unstressed one followed by a stressed syllable (‘Da-Dum’). When iambs come in groups of five, then they’re called iambic pentameters (or blank verse). It’s the most common metre in English literature. It’s the classic metre of Shakespeare’s plays and poetry.

Very often lines written in this metre sound like everyday conversation. Some say iambic pentameter reminds them of the human heartbeat. Either way, it’s a sound pattern that’s extremely familiar.

Lord Byron used this metre in his poem She Walks In Beauty (I have bolded the syllables to show the stresses):

She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that’s best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes
Thus mellow’d to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies. […]

Trochee

Trochees are the reverse of the iambs. They consist of two syllables, a stress followed by an unstressed syllable (‘Dum-Da’).

Trochees, musically speaking, are the rhythmic pattern of marches. It’s a bit as if someone is walking at a steady pace. Maybe that’s why they are used so often in nursery rhymes. Here’s an example:

Peter, Peter pumpkin-eater
Had a wife and couldn’t keep her.

Spondee

Spondees have two stressed syllables (‘Dum-Dum’). This makes each syllable very heavy, and the rhythm is choppy.

Because the spondee emphasises each syllable equally, it sounds like someone is chiding you. A whole poem of spondees will sound like a dressing-down. But in moderation, spondees can be used effectively to slow down the pace of a poem written in a different metre.

Here’s an excerpt of the poem Break, Break, Break by Alfred Lord Tennyson. See if you can sense the aggressive energy of the spondees. I have bolded them so you can spot them right away.

Break, break, break,
On thy cold gray stones, O Sea!
And I would that my tongue could utter
The thoughts that arise in me. […]

Break, break, break
At the foot of thy crags, O Sea!
But the tender grace of a day that is dead
Will never come back to me.

Dactyl

The dactyl is a foot with three syllables. It starts with a stress, followed by two unstressed syllables (‘Dum-Da-Da’).

Dactyls are interesting because they can create two very different moods. They were often used in Greek and Roman classical elegies. When English poets adapted this poetic form to their language, they used the same metre to write about death.

However, dactyls also correspond to the sound pattern of a waltz. They provide a driving force that propels the poem onward with cheerful elegance.

You can see this forward motion, together with the spirit of the elegy, in this example from Robert Browning’s Lost Leader

Robert Browning, The Lost Leader

Just for a handful of silver he left us,
Just for a riband to stick in his coat—
Found the one gift of which fortune bereft us,
Lost all the others she lets us devote;
They, with the gold to give, doled him out silver,
So much was theirs who so little allowed:
How all our copper had gone for his service!
[…]

Note that in some lines the dactyl is not complete. When that happens, the waltzy rhythm is slowed down, only to pick up speed again with the next dactyl.

Anapaest

The anapaest is also called the antidactylus. Two unstressed syllables come first and are completed by a stressed one (‘Da-Da-Dum’).

The anapaest has a similar effect as the dactyl. It has a lot of energy; it moves your poem forward. But because it ends with a stress, it can be used to emphasise end-line rhymes. Anapaests keep the verses rolling, even when they’re very long.

This makes it a great metre to tell complex stories, as you can see in this excerpt from Clement Clarke Moore’s A Visit From St. Nicholas:

‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,

In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;

[…]

These anapaests aren’t executed perfectly. Especially lines 3 and 4 show a few iambs. But because Moore made sure it’s always an anapaest at the end of each line, the rhythm is continued, and we get that rolling sensation throughout the poem.

How Do Poets Use Metre?

If you want a certain sound effect or atmosphere, choose the metre first. Learn from rock bands. They often let the drums and the bass choose a rhythm and then layer the harmonies on top.

Sometimes, though, you might not have that acoustic vision yet. Then, write the text first. Does a rhythmic pattern evolve? Then choose it as your bass line. You might need to use synonyms for some words to make them fit your rhythm.

Metre is a sound effect as powerful as rhyme yet much more subtle. No need to restrict yourself to only one metre. Use metre as a pacing tool. It can accelerate, or slow down. Choosing a laid-back metre and then adding a few spondees for emphasis can make your poem exciting!

Writing in metre means you need an ear for the natural rhythm of each word. Why not use iambs first? It is said to be closest to our spoken language.

The Last Word

Not everybody wants to go ‘Dum-Da-Da’ when writing their poem. Lots of modern poets don’t write in metre. But songwriters do! No wonder, right? It’s part of their profession.

You can’t escape metre anyway. Every word has its natural rhythm. All you need to do is find more words with the same rhythm.

If you still struggle with this, please consult the online tools further down.

Enjoy the rhythms you create!

Further Reading

https://www.howmanysyllables.com/syllable_counter/

(This gives you the number of syllables, and even states which syllable is stressed!)

https://www.rhymezone.com/

(This is an online rhyming dictionary. It also gives you synonyms. If you set it to advanced search, you will get the syllables, as well as the stressed and unstressed bits of each word.)

By Susanne Bennett. Susanne is a German-American writer who is a journalist by trade and a writer by heart. After years of working at German public radio and an online news portal, she has decided to accept challenges by Deadlines for Writers. Currently she is writing her first novel with them. She is known for overweight purses and carrying a novel everywhere. Follow her on Facebook.

The Sound Effects of Poetry 6: Rhythm In Poetry