How to write poetry: line stress and syllables
Hi there, I hope you enjoyed the exercises in previous blog posts. If you haven’t checked them out, go back and start from the beginning. In this session, we’ll talk about how to look at patterns in rhyming poetry.
I’ll give you two stanzas of a poem I wrote called ‘The Platypus’ from my book ‘The scent of eucalyptus’ and we can analyse it together:
The Platypus
He glides along the river bed … line 1
And shakes his head about. … line 2
The clouds of silt like puffs of steam, … line 3
He’s hungry, there’s no doubt. … line 4
His bubbles blown are silk balloons, … line 5
They billow beautifully. … line 6
His aqua home, complex biome, … line 7
Debris infused like tea. … line 8
If you read this poem out loud, you can figure out how many syllables there are in each line.
Line 1: 8 syllables a
Line 2: 6 syllables b
Line 3: 8 syllables a
Line 4: 6 syllables b
If you look at lines 5-8, you’ll see the same pattern:
Line 5: 8 syllables a
Line 6: 6 syllables b
Line 7: 8 syllables a
Line 8: 6 syllables b
This pattern of 8,6 (a, b respectively) carries on throughout the poem and gives it a rhythmical, soothing beat.
I’ll now go ahead and highlight the words that stand out in each line (those that sound a bit louder as you read them) which also forms a pattern of sorts. If you clap on the stressed sound as you read the poem out loud, you’ll find that it becomes like a chant.
The Platypus
He glides along the river bed … line 1
And shakes his head about. … line 2
The clouds of silt like puffs of steam, … line 3
He’s hungry, there’s no doubt. … line 4
His bubbles blown are silk balloons, … line 5
They billow beautifully. … line 6
His aqua home, complex biome, … line 7
Debris infused like tea. … line 8
Please note that sometimes, line stress (especially in a poem) differs from how you’d say the word out loud in a different context. For example, the word complex is normally said with a stress on the first syllable:
complex Oo
However, when I read the poem out loud, I usually stress the second syllable of the word complex just to keep the chanting pattern going. You could probably call this ‘poetic licence’ or attribute it to the notion that the whole is worth more than the sum of its parts! In other words, the overall effect of the poem is more important than adhering 100% to the natural stress of each word.
If you’d like to read this poem in its entirety, please find my book ‘The Scent of Eucalyptus’ by Sophie Chenoweth on Amazon, Kobo and iTunes/iBooks.
