How It Works

Poetry is with us from our earliest days – from infancy and first utterances Only as we grow do we make connections between objects and those around us and then confer ‘meaning’ In early word-play the main features of poetry are already present – syllable stress in ‘da-da’ or ‘ma-ma’

Also the use of phonic or sound systems – the repetition of a single syllable The developing child soon learns more increasingly sophisticated phonic patterns, even if it might seem nonsensical ‘ma-bada-ba-na-ba’ These are the main principles of English speech rhythms and sound patterns

‘monkey’ and ‘hit it’ are examples the earliest word games based on two syllable rhythms A stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable Duplets are the norm in English poetry Singlets and triplets are also used, of course: ‘John’ ‘government’ ‘call for it’

Even a child observes that at any time, one of these units may take the place of another: Higgledy piggledy, my black hen (triplet) (triplet) (duplet) (singlet) She lays her eggs for gentle men Where is the boy who looks after the sheep? (triplet) (triplet) (triplet) (singlet)

Under the haystack fast a – sleep (triplet) (duplet) (duplet) (singlet) Remember that reading to people was the norm for centuries – when a book was as valuable as an i-mac. Early readers read aloud and the ability to read silently was viewed as miraculous

The lasting brilliance of Shakespeare and Milton is partly due to the quality of the sound of the language – written at the time to be spoken Nowadays most of us are literate and we place much less emphasis on the connection between meaning and sound, and more emphasis on the printed word and meaning.

However, the speed reader is doomed in poetry – as the sound dictates its own pace Spoken English is a stressed based language; and English poetry is a stressed based product of speech and sound, not of the printed word. The regularity of speech rhythms is the first clue that we are listening to poetry We will concentrate on diction/semantic content, historical background, biographical material, artistic philosophy but we must look for meaning in sound and phonic patterns.

Nuances of voice and characterisation, vivid imagery, striking metaphor, word order matter in poetry as they do in prose – but they are all matters for the eye not the ear. The sound of language that fascinated a child grows dim as we age and we may forget that poetry is based on the delight of using speech sounds creatively.

Maybe new technology will liberate poetry as more audio becomes readily available. Anyway, be patient when reading poetry and say it aloud before you even consider the meaning in any depth or detail.

The heart of English rythmns and the basis of metre is stress – emphasis given to certain syllables ‘Two and two are four’ – 1 st, 3 rd, 5 th syllables are stressed Stress is an oral matter Differentiation – weak and strong syllables

We show stress by raising the pitch of the vowel part of the syllable. We pronounce the stressed syllable more loudly or prolong it (Usually- see ‘moment’) Stress is like accent in music In spoken English – a stressed syllable is usually followed by one or two (sometimes three) weak syllables, e.g. ‘wouldn’t it?’

The whole pattern may be repeated “wouldn’t it? Couldn’t it? – this pattern of stress is what we call rhythm. ‘Polly, put the kettle on’ /u / u /u / (duplet rhythm, mainly) The duplet is the most basic rhythm in English poetry

Most creative rhythmic effects in English poetry involve little more than a substitution of other rhythms, usually triplets or singlets, where duplets are expected. The number of times a dominating rhythm occurs in atypical line of a poem is also significant. This is what we call metre.

‘Polly put the kettle on’ has four measures of mainly duplet rhythm, - metre is four-duplet This does mean overlooking the final singlet However, metre is an abstraction, a statement of the most common pattern set up by the rhythms of the poem, taken as a whole Poets, though, try to keep some balance between regularity and variety of rhythm.

Only sometimes will two lines contain exactly the same rhythmic patterns, even though their metre may be nominally the same: Come and kiss me, then we’ll breakfast / u / u / u / u Sell the furniture, pawn your necklace / u / u u / u / u

Come and get all of it, take our treasures / u u / u u / u / u Here two triplets are substituted for the expected duplets, which occur twice at the end If the poem continued in this way we might say that the dominant metre is four-triplet not four-duplet

Metre is only a generalization about what is most typical in the whole piece. Triplets can easily gallop away with a poem : they are used mainly to show rapidity and excitement, or for comic effect.