Friday, 8 September 2023

Poetic devices 8: Rhythm and Tempo

If you're asked about tempo or rhythm in poetry it's likely you'll think about Rap. Appropriate really, because RAP stands for Rhythm And Poetry. Dig down into the history of Rap and you'll see it has its roots in the nightclub scene of 1970s New York City. MCs - or DJs - would talk rhythmically in between songs against a beat backdrop. From this, the idea of creating rhythmic spoken word came into being. 

Arguably, Rap goes back even further... and certainly there is a long history of the spoken word set to a beat. Listen for example to the political poetry of Gil Scott-Heron in the 60s, and try to tell me it didn't have an influence on Rap. 

Here's an example...it's from 1969 and it's called Whitey on the Moon

Rhythm in poetry is not limited to Rap, of course. In a previous post I argued that certain poetic devices can create a rhythm in a poem because of the sounds they produce, either when spoken out loud, or via internal self-vocalisation when reading the text. It's all about the beat, and the pace of the poem. For example, in the written word there are stressed syllables (long sounding) and unstressed syllables (short sounding). An iamb such as Today is a two syllable word where the first is unstressed (short) followed by the second stressed syllable (long): toDAY

Sonnets derive their rhythm from iambic pentameter (an iamb is a two syllable phrase) - words that are stressed and unstressed in pentameter - five beats or steps per line. Shakespeare knew how to do this:

[shall I] [comPARE] [thee TO] [a SUM][mer's DAY]

You get the idea how it works. Change the stress of the syllables - and the beat and pace of the poem changes. 

Have a go at creating different rhythms in your poetry by using different steps within your stanzas and lines. You can read up more about rhythm and metre in poetry at this link.

Steve Wheeler

Other posts in the Poetic Devices Series:

1. Simile

6 comments:

  1. This article should really resonate with many of our readers as it bridges the gap between music and poetry… the stressed and unstressed syllables can really make a poem bounce when applied with unique precision… I’m excited to draw a lesson from this article Steve! Readers that are checking this out are sure to pick up some tasty morsels of shine and most useful information, as well as the other killer blogs in this series! Write on!!! 🚀

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  2. Thank you for this helpful, informative and rhythmic blog Steve. I very much enjoyed it.

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  3. Gerard Manley Hopkins was a master at varying the rhythm, with his so-called "Sprung Rhythm", eg in "God's Grandeur" = The world is charged with the Grandeur of God/It will flame out like shining from shook foil.

    I think the sprung rhythm is difficult to do, unless you copy it exactly. Below is a poem I wrote in 1994, as a direct parody of "The Windhover"

    GM and the Bus
    (after Gerard Manley Hopkins)
    I caught this morning, morning’s mindless bus-
    ride of reckless roving, (ruddy red dread transport) and went riding
    Over sagging tarmac underneath it; lurching up and striding
    Onwards; how it slammed across the jam of the traffic’s fuss
    With its energy! then on, on, hurling ús
    As a scraped wheel shrieked shrill on the curved kerb: the jerked and sliding
    Bus scuffed the road’s stuff. The engine, idling
    Whirred and was heard with its grumbling, its juddering thus to cuss.
    Blown smoke and squalor and B.O., air, fuel, fumes here
    Mingle! AND how fine the ride in thee then, an hundred–
    fold times comfier, less nauseous, O my Cavalier!
    The journey ended, stópped, shóck quakes poise ploughed, plundered;
    Saw the flung, flopped travellers feeling freer
    Fall, sprawl around, as crash-crunched things thundered.

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  4. “Ezra Pound, contemplating the stale iambics of late Victorian verse, urged that poetry be ‘composed in the sequence of the musical phrase, not in the sequence of the metronome.’ Well, musical phrases can show infinite variety and still be supported by a regular structure of bars, 4/4 can turn to 3/8 or 9/16 or 2/4 and turn back again. These are called time-signatures – what’s poetic meter but time-signature?” (Glyn Maxwell, On Poetry, Oberon Books Ltd 2012)

    My proposal about the rhythm of a poem is that the ‘music’ of a poem is the stage on which the poem is born and together with the words and the structure brings the poem to life.
    As you read a poem, the rhythm of the poem is the scaffolding on which the poem is built. As Steve pointed out lines and stanzas in a poem that are short or long influence not only how the poem sounds but how it feels. Where the line breaks are, where the punctuation is placed, and even what words are capitalized can add or take away from the music of the poem.
    I would say that the one true test of whether a poem has a good rhythm is to put the poem to the kangaroo court of the voice, that is, read the poem out loud.
    Geoff Edwards

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  5. This is the basis for my poetry, I love to perform my poems and I usually won’t write it if it doesn’t have some type of performance flow and rhythm. That is the stuff I love about poetry the very lyrical nature of it all. Many song writers are also poets just a juicy detail for all you aspiring artists to think about for a moment.
    Thank you 🙏🏻 for your time and energy lifting the poetry world

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  6. Honestly I haven't read this till now and the one I did was without knowing. I enjoyed doing it because I could hear how it sounded. I struggle with rap and read anything aloud. I would love to but my poetry into songs but I am not musical and lack the confidence. Wheelsong is helping build the confidence in me to read allowed and record myself. Who knows maybe one day I'll rap a poem out.

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