The Second Thing You Must Do.
Written by R.M. Hamilton
To make your poem fun and easy to read, you must give it a good foundational beat.
Creating this beat is simple. You must have a consistent number of syllables in each line of the poem.
A syllable is one vowel sound. Some English words have only one vowel sound. Like these words.
Cat.
Dog.
Man.
There are words in English that have two syllables. Like these words.
Happy.
Apple.
Parrot.
Coffee.
There are words in English that have three syllables. Here are some examples.
Banana.
Coconut.
Apricot.
Investment.
Misconduct.
You can even get nine syllable words in English, but they’re usually medical and not very helpful for a children’s book.
The point is, all words in English are created from vowel sounds, called syllables.
When we construct a rhyming poem in English, we count vowel sounds, not words. Let’s go back to the poem, St George and the Dragon, by Alfred Noyes.
The lovely, strong beat is created by the right number of syllables in each line. Here is the first verse. Read it through and see if you can identify the mathematical pattern in the poem.
St George he slew the dragon,
But he didn't shout hurray.
He dumped it in the wagon
Just to clear the mess away.
Did you get this?
7
7
7
7
You are correct! Now let’s break down how this works!
I am going to write each word of the poem with the number of syllables in the word beside it.
St (1) George (1) he (1) slew (1) the (1) dragon (2)
1+1+1+1+1+2=7
But (1) he (1) didn't (2) shout (1) hurray.(2)
1+1+2+1+2 =7
He(1) dumped(1) it(1) in(1) the (1)wagon(2).
1+1+1+1+1+2=7 (this is British English and ‘dumped is pronounced with a very light second syllable which means although this is written as a two-syllable word, it is spoken as a one syllable word.)
Just(1) to(1) clear(1) the(1) mess(1) away.(2)
1+1+1+1+1+2= 7
Notice how the paring of syllables might jump around, but it doesn’t matter? This is because this is the foundational structure of your poem and as long as the syllables in each line add up to a consistent number, your poem will have a good beat to it.
Did you notice line three? That was a tricky line. Technically, it contains two 2 syllable words, ‘dumped’ and ‘wagon’. But we know from the consistency of the rest of the poem that Alfred Noyes wants this poem read with a seven beat per line tempo. That means that one of these 2 syllable words must be shortened.
In English, we call this an elision. This is where we drop sounds from words.
Which word contains the elision? Is it ‘wagon’ or ‘dumped’?
It is easy to find out.
Say the words out loud, dropping the syllables.
“WA-gon” Nope. We need the ‘gon’ part of that word to understand it. Try it the other way around. ‘wa-GON’. Even worse. ‘Wagon’ needs both syllables.
Now we must find out which bit of ‘dumped’ is unimportant. ‘DUMPed’ sounds fine, ‘dumpED’, sounds weird.
The elision falls on the end of ‘dumped’, which gives us 7 beats per line.
In some rhyming poems, all the lines of the poem will have exactly the same number of syllables.
But in other poems, the number of beats will alternate. This doesn’t mean there is no maths involved. It would look something like this.
9
11
9
11
A good example of this pattern is Annabel Lee By Edgar Allan Poe. See if you can count out the beat of this poem. Remember, this poem alternates the beat between lines.
It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabel Lee;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.
This poem falls within the range of the pattern:
11
8
11
8
11
8.
I say ‘within the range, because the short lines of the poem move between 7 and 8 beats. This becomes more apparent when you read the whole piece. You can move up or down one beat and still create a good rhythm.
Also, Poe is an American poet. I’m a New Zealander and I find it much easier to work out the beat of a poem written by an English poet. Accent does play a small role in writing poetry. Different accents will leave out and stress different syllables. So aim for a consistent beat that doesn’t deviate more than one beat from the pattern you choose.
Now it’s time for you to construct a rhythm for your poem!
I suggest starting with something that has 7 beats in every line. This is a popular formular in English and it will be a nice easy start to writing your poem.
We’re going to return to the dragon poem.
St George he slew the dragon,
But he didn't shout hurray.
He dumped it in the wagon
Just to clear the mess away.
We are going to keep all the rhymes (we’ll learn about choosing rhymes later) but we are going to add our own words to the rest of the poem. This will train our ear to hear the beat.
Try something like this:
I think I saw a dragon.
And I didn’t say hurray.
I leapt into my wagon.
Then I bravely ran away!
Of course, your poem won’t be very original at this point. And that is just fine. We are only learning how to construct the beat at this point.
In the next lesson we will talk about how to choose rhymes. Until then, continue to read poems and count out the beat. Remember not all poets construct their poems with the same level of structure.
That is OK.
After all, poetry is art. Art is creative.
It is alright to break rules to be creative. But it is also important to know what the rules are, so our creation will be good.
Until next time, happy writing!
The essay belongs to Ruth Hamilton and may not be reproduced without written consent. The The poem, St George and the Dragon is written by Alfred Noyes. Annabell Lee is written by Alexander Poe. The photo of the open journal is graciously provided by Pixabay.