Meeting # 6 Lesson
Dead Poet's Society Lesson from #6 Minutes
Date (November 17 2005)
Present: Cindy, Caroline, Noah, Todd, Sarah (guest), Megs, Erin
Lesson: Rythm vs Meter
When we speak in English, we place stress on every word. The value of the stress (stressed or unstressed) corresponds roughly with the loudness with which those words are spoken. Every word containing more than one syllable has a dictionary-defined way of 'stressing' the word. The word 'marble' (referring to the small round object used in games) is only pronounced correctly when the stress falls on the first syllable (ie. MAR-ble rather than mar-BLE).
Rythm in poetry is the natural way the speaker pronouces the piece.
Example
The dog attacks the man,
and runs out of the land.
When you say this utterly horrible couplet (please don't write like this :) ) you are forced to pronounce 'attacks' by laying the stress on the second syllable. However, you can decide (to some extent without sounding silly) what one-syllable words you are going to stress in the poem. Nouns and Verbs tend to be stressed, while conjunctions (and) and prepositions (of) tend to be unstressed. In the above example, the syllables I have chosen to emphasize are in bold, and I think it accurately represents how you would read it, if you spoke normally. This is rythm. Some people might choose to emphasize the word 'the', which would change the meaning slightly. When we read poetry we should always look at how we emphasize the words, and perhaps emphasize different words for another perspective.
As a comparison to rythm, I will briefly consider meter. (i know. You are all like, ya right... brief) Meter is to a large extent objective. That is to say that it is determined by the writer, not the reader. Meter in a particular piece of poetry will always be the same, because it is the underlying 'beat' of the poem (for you musical folk), or the type of canvas you use to paint (for the artistically inclined) Just as some beats change within a song, and some visual art changes media, so it is possible for the meter in a piece to change. However it does not change nearly as easily, and some poets would argue that there is always an underlying meter, and everything else is a diversion from that. So what is it then?
Example
The dog attacks the man,
and runs out of the land.
Meter is the underlying stress in a poem. There are many different types of arrangements, but the most common is called iambic. Iambic basically means (unstressed, stressed) and is seen in the above example. The stress falls on the blue syllables. Poets design their poetry using meter, but they rarely speak the meter. It would sound odd to our ears to hear the word 'of' pronounced so strongly. To a certain extent even free verse (as seen in example 2) follows meter, but in lines 2 and three the meter breaks down (if we were going to call it iambic). You get the idea.
Example 2
Hello I said to her,
with a voice deeper than all the oceans
could conceal.
Meter and Rythm are important because the interaction of the two says alot about the meaning of the poem. If the meter and rythm go together, a sense of harmony could be intended. If they are drastically different, the poet might be creating tension. Take these things into consideration when you write your poetry. I know most of the group writes in the ever-so-popular free verse, and I love to do so myself, but I would encourage you all to work at developing your meter, and then playing off the meter and the rythm. It will give a lot of depth to your poetry.
Please comment if you have questions about using meter and rythm, or if there are problems or queries of my analysis of rythm. I will post the rest of the minutes later, I have class, and this was a bigger post than I originally intended. Good ol' longwindedness.
-the bard.
Date (November 17 2005)
Present: Cindy, Caroline, Noah, Todd, Sarah (guest), Megs, Erin
Lesson: Rythm vs Meter
When we speak in English, we place stress on every word. The value of the stress (stressed or unstressed) corresponds roughly with the loudness with which those words are spoken. Every word containing more than one syllable has a dictionary-defined way of 'stressing' the word. The word 'marble' (referring to the small round object used in games) is only pronounced correctly when the stress falls on the first syllable (ie. MAR-ble rather than mar-BLE).
Rythm in poetry is the natural way the speaker pronouces the piece.
Example
The dog attacks the man,
and runs out of the land.
When you say this utterly horrible couplet (please don't write like this :) ) you are forced to pronounce 'attacks' by laying the stress on the second syllable. However, you can decide (to some extent without sounding silly) what one-syllable words you are going to stress in the poem. Nouns and Verbs tend to be stressed, while conjunctions (and) and prepositions (of) tend to be unstressed. In the above example, the syllables I have chosen to emphasize are in bold, and I think it accurately represents how you would read it, if you spoke normally. This is rythm. Some people might choose to emphasize the word 'the', which would change the meaning slightly. When we read poetry we should always look at how we emphasize the words, and perhaps emphasize different words for another perspective.
As a comparison to rythm, I will briefly consider meter. (i know. You are all like, ya right... brief) Meter is to a large extent objective. That is to say that it is determined by the writer, not the reader. Meter in a particular piece of poetry will always be the same, because it is the underlying 'beat' of the poem (for you musical folk), or the type of canvas you use to paint (for the artistically inclined) Just as some beats change within a song, and some visual art changes media, so it is possible for the meter in a piece to change. However it does not change nearly as easily, and some poets would argue that there is always an underlying meter, and everything else is a diversion from that. So what is it then?
Example
The dog attacks the man,
and runs out of the land.
Meter is the underlying stress in a poem. There are many different types of arrangements, but the most common is called iambic. Iambic basically means (unstressed, stressed) and is seen in the above example. The stress falls on the blue syllables. Poets design their poetry using meter, but they rarely speak the meter. It would sound odd to our ears to hear the word 'of' pronounced so strongly. To a certain extent even free verse (as seen in example 2) follows meter, but in lines 2 and three the meter breaks down (if we were going to call it iambic). You get the idea.
Example 2
Hello I said to her,
with a voice deeper than all the oceans
could conceal.
Meter and Rythm are important because the interaction of the two says alot about the meaning of the poem. If the meter and rythm go together, a sense of harmony could be intended. If they are drastically different, the poet might be creating tension. Take these things into consideration when you write your poetry. I know most of the group writes in the ever-so-popular free verse, and I love to do so myself, but I would encourage you all to work at developing your meter, and then playing off the meter and the rythm. It will give a lot of depth to your poetry.
Please comment if you have questions about using meter and rythm, or if there are problems or queries of my analysis of rythm. I will post the rest of the minutes later, I have class, and this was a bigger post than I originally intended. Good ol' longwindedness.
-the bard.
posted by Todd at 3:58 PM
1 Comments:
Sorry I missed it guys... I'll be honest, even the soft tender caress of poetry in the morning wasn't motivation enough to drag myself out of bed at 8am this week. Much love.
Post a Comment
<< Home