Rhythm in Writing
What is rhythm? The way stressed and unstressed syllables are arranged in poetry or prose Measured in feet - a unit of one heavily stressed and one less stressed syllable (sometimes there are three syllables) The beat or pulse Used widely in poetry and music
What does rhythm do? Produce a musical quality through the use of: – Repetition – Line length – Meter Goes hand in hand with rhythm the length of a line in syllables – Pauses in lines
What does rhythm create? A steady beat A pattern of sounds Expectations from the reader and listener
Rhythm and meter Iambs – two syllable feet; unstressed/stressed Trochees – two syllable feet; stressed/unstressed Spondees – two syllable feet; stressed/stressed Anapests – three syllable feet; unstressed/unstressed/stressed Dactyls – three syllable feet; stressed/unstressed/unstressed
Identifying the rhythm The stressed syllables are marked with / and the unstressed syllables with ^. This example is iambic because it has a metrical foot of one short or unstressed syllable followed by one long or stressed syllable. from Richard Edwardes’s “Amantium Irae” ^/ ^/^ /^ / ^/^/ Thefallingoutoffaithfulfriends, renewing isoflove
Identifying the rhythm This is an example of iambic pentameter or five beats in each line. That time | of year |thou mayst | in me |be hold | Whenyel | low leaves, | ornone, | or few, | do hang | from Shakespeare’s Sonnet 73
Sources help/48906-rhythm-in-poetry/