It is essential to have a grasp of rhythm when writing poetry, otherwise you work may sound like prose when it is read aloud. Regular rhythm can help to project a message or theme, and traditional forms such as the ballad, or the sonnet, use 'set' patterns of rhythm.
In poetry, some syllables receive more force, or stress, than other syllables. They are pronounced more fully. An example of stressed and unstressed syllables can be seen in the word jagged. In poetry rhythm is created by the arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables at regular intervals in a line; so that 'heavy' and 'light' sounds develop a regular beat. Poetry has a deliberately controlled rhythm to create meaningful and pleasurable effects.
The most widely used rhythm is iambic pentameter which closely approximates the rhythm of English speech. It consists of one unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one and this pattern is repeated. When pronouncing the English language, the stresses often fall naturally into single iambs or units of iambic metre. Five iambs (iambic feet) make a line of iambic pentameter. As each iamb has two syllables, there are ten syllables in the line, alternately stressed and unstressed. The stresses fall on the syllables which are most important in meaning.
The ballad has a strong rhythm and contains a narrative. A ballad tells a story, often a melodramatic story of tragedy and love, murder or haunting. They are always strongly rhythmic and lyrical. A traditional ballad is made up of four line verses. These are called quatrains. Quatrains lines are lines of alternate metre, with four iambs, four stressed syllables, in lines 1 and 3, and three iambs and thus three stressed syllables in lines 2 and 4, and with the second and fourth lines rhyming.
Rhyme is intrinsic to the musicality of poetry and to the creation of particular effects. It can support mood and meaning, give emphasis and aid in fixing the poem to memory. Ballads use full rhyme as it sets up an expectancy of an echo. Full rhyme is also used in limericks to create humour.
Half rhyme is created when two rhyming word have different vowel sounds but identical final consonant. This creates a subtle sound and it gives a writer much more flexibility than full rhyme.
Internal rhyme can be placed within the line or lines of a poem creating an echo or chime. It enhances the musicality of a poem, amplifies the tone and emphasise the meaning.
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