POETRY

Poetry is the most musical of all literary forms.

Rhythm Rhythm is the musical pattern or sound created by the arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables. Rhythm occurs in all language, written and spoken, but is particularly important in poetry.

As you read the following excerpt from “The Pied Piper of Hamelin” by Robert Browning, listen to the rhythm of the poem. “Great rats, small rats, lean rats, brawny rats, Brown rats, black rats, gray rats,tawny rats, Grave old plodders, brave young friskers, Fathers, mothers, uncles, cousins, Cocking tails and prickling whiskers”

FORM – the structure of a poem Most poems have regular groups of lines called STANZAS

DON’T JUDGE Don't judge people you hardly know. You don't know what their days have been like. You don't know what their lives have been like. Don't judge.

Don't judge someone who seems As if she's overreacting. You don't know if she's lost someone She loved dearly Or if her parents are getting a divorce Or fighting over nothing. Don't judge.

Don't judge someone who's different. He's probably one of the nicest people you'll know. Or the funniest. Or the smartest. Take the time to get to know people. Walk with them. Run with them. Share their triumphs and their sorrows. Maybe they don't dance through life As you thought. Don't judge. by Lealia Xiong

Other poems are formed with strict syllable counts like the ancient Japanese haiku with its pattern. HAIKU by Basho An old silent pond… A frog jumps into the pond, Splash! Silence again

RHYME The repetition of accented vowel sounds and all sounds flowing from them Trouble and bubble are rhymes, as are clown and noun. Rhymes in poetry help create rhythm and lend a songlike quality to a poem. They also emphasize ideas, provide humor, and aid memory.

END RHYMES are rhymes at the end of a line. INTERNAL RHYMES are rhymes within lines. “In days of old when knights caught cold They were not quickly cured. No aspirin pill would check the ill Which had to be endured.” - David Daiches

RHYME SCHEME - the pattern of rhyming sounds at the end lines in a poem. Hickory, dickory dock.a The mouse ran up the clock.a The clock struck one.b The mouse ran down.c Hickory, dickory docka

The Yogurt Flies Straight from My Brother (My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean) The yogurt flies straight from my brother. The peaches zoom toward me from sis. When she gets home, I bet my mother Says we shouldn’t food fight like this! Food fight! There’s food on the counters and chairs! Food fight! There’s tons of meat loaf in my hair!

Cranky Poodle (Yankee Doodle) Cranky Poodle in my home Clawing, scratching, howling, Scaring people, scaring cats, Unrolling paper toweling. Cranky Poodle drives me nuts Most days I can’t bear it. Wish my folks would trade her for A hamster or a parrot.

FREE VERSE – poetry that is “free” of rhyme scheme. Poets writing in free verse try to capture the rhythms of ordinary speech. The following poem is written as free verse: The City If flowers want to grow Right out of the concrete sidewalk cracks, I’m going to bend down and smell them. -David Ignatow