've received several questions about meter and rhyme. And although flattered, I do feel a little like Helen Keller trying to explain the nuances of Impressionistic Art. But, I shall try to explain what they are to me.

Rhyming verse may seem passe, yet I still find it to be most challenging and rewarding style of poetry. This of course, is a personal choice, but is based upon the need to express the writer's (or his poet's) thought in a prescribed number of beats that adhere to a particular pattern of flow and rhyme. For me this takes effort and thus becomes a labor of love. But enough of the mushy stuff. What is meter and rhyme? I will share some of my thoughts for those of you who wish to dabble in this style. Rhyme

I'll tackle this first since it is the easiest to explain. I mean after all, we all know what words rhyme don't we? Well, apparently not. Here are some bad examples I have run across: Mine & Mind: Although they sound and look similar, they do not rhyme. A song writer can get away with using them because the singer can vary the way they are sung and has the music in the background. In fact, if you want to explore terrible rhyming schemes check out almost any current hit. Ecstasy & Literally: Ouch! Although they both end with the long E sound, they do not make for good rhyme. However, Ecstasy could go with Embassy (good luck for getting those two words in the same verse). Get a good rhyming dictionary and carry it with you wherever you go. The other important part of rhyming is to provide the reader with a pattern for each stanza. For example: a,b,a,b or a,b,c,b. There are any number of patterns that can be used depending upon the length of the piece. What is particularly frustrating (perhaps only to me) is a pattern that skips around and rhymes verses at random. To make this work, you must understand that each word has a very limited number of possible rhymes. Ahhhh, herein lies the challenge and beauty of the effort. Once you know what you want to get across, write it down and then sculpt it into rhyme. Your line may end with the word "dog" but you can't rhyme it. So try changing dog to: mutt, hound, canine etc and try again. This will lead you in new directions at times. Poetry, at least the old fashioned kind, lets you change word order to get feeling and rhyme. Example:

I walked upon the well-worn path 8 beats
Upon the path I walked with care 8 beats
The well-worn path, my steps did know 8 beats
Upon the path, so worn, I walked 8 beats
That path so worn, was walked by me 8 beats 

All five of these lines get a similar thought across, all have the same number of beats and would fit within my typical 8 beat style, yet each line offers a different word to rhyme. However, as you can see the emphasis in each line varies. I have to make up my mind what is the most important aspect of line... is it me... is it what I am doing... or is the thing that receives my actions. The bottom line: Don't' be lazy and don't accept sloppy rhyme. To keep from doing this you will HAVE to modify your original choice of words and your thoughts. If you insist on using a particular word or group of words, there is almost a certainty that you will ruin the meter. (Wow! How was that for a transition to the next topic?)

Meter

Meter is the soul of poetry. You can have poetry without rhyme, but take away the meter and you will be very hard-pressed to keep your words as poem. I have not been trained in poetry so I will describe meter as I see it to be. If my terms are not the accepted ones, perhaps they should be (lol). Meter has two parts beats and flow. Beats can simply be thought of as the number of syllables in a line. (If you've got fingers to count on, there is very little excuse to screw up the number of beats) Flow is more challenging it comes from the way words sound and how the move together in response to the cadence (beats) of the piece. Alliteration is an excellent example of words placed together to dictate flow.

Beats:

For my examples, I will use iambic verse. It is probably the one most people expect in a poem written in English. We can thank The Bard for that. It is has a very simple beat 1,2,1,2,1,2. I suppose it can be strung together in a near infinite number of pairings. Did I say infinite? Well to be more precise, it is infinite divided by two. If you attempt to write iambic verse and end up with an odd number of syllables, that's ok for the draft. If you finish a poem and it has an odd number of syllables in ANY line, then all I can say is, "Shame on you."

Example:

She came into the village square, 8 beats
Like light into a room. 6 beats
Her presence swept away the calm, 8 beats
Like she was a broom. 5 beats.... 

Fixed by> As if she was a broom. of beats. While this isn't meant as great poetry, it is an excellent example of beats.

Now before anyone gets riled, you can write verse that contains an odd number of syllables per line. But, it won't be iambic... and it won't have good meter unless there is pattern to the number of syllables. (All this primarily refers to structured verse that is laid down in stanzas or couplets. The style that Steve uses is not dependent upon a set number of syllables in a line, but there is still flow!) Wow! Another great transition.

Flow:

This is where I may get in well over my head. It is much more touchy-feely. I think of it like a flowing brook. The words have to move along with a set rhythm. That can be a idle stream or take on the tempo of white-water rapids, but carelessly mixing the two can cause even the best boaters to capsize. With iambic verse it must go up down, up down, up down. This can be a huge challenge when you have words that have three or more syllables. But heck, nobody said it was easy. One thing to remember is to look for harsh and soft sounds. I'll give some examples that may help:

Examples

The sunlight faded like desire
The sunshine faded like desire (sunshine is a bit harsher to the tongue and pairs the "s" with the "sh")
The path so worn, was walked by me
The path so worn, was traipsed by me ( means about the same but the harsh "tr" sound breaks the flow"
She came into the village square,
Like light into a room.
Her presence swept away the calm,
Like a briskly swung broom. (Ouch)

The last line has the right number of beats and the right rhyme but it lacks flow. The rhythm of the first three lines does not lead the reader to expect the harsh "br" sounds separated by the soft "sw." The line has become almost impossible to read without tripping over the words. Now that I think about it, bad flow is a lot like pornography. I'm better at recognizing it than explaining it. I guess my poet said it best, when she said the words in a line should dance. The proof is in the hearing... if it flows along you have meter. If you have to artificially stretch out words or clip them short... or if you have to take awkward pauses, to make it sound right...you probably have a potential top ten hit, but not much of a poem.

© TK