Class Notes: 10/11-10/22

Chapter 12: Rhythm and Meter

• Rhythm: refers to any wavelike recurrence of motion or sound
• In speech, the natural rise and fall of language
• accented or stressed syllables

In prose, accents occur haphazardly; In verse, poet arranges accents to occur at regular intervals

Different rhythms produce different intended meanings...

Ex:  "I don't believe YOU."  vs "I don't believe you" vs "I don't beLIEVE you."

• Caesura: pause that occurs within a line (examples in Walt Whitman's "A Noiseless Patient Spider")
• Free Verse: poetic line is the basic rhythmic unit
• Except for line arrangement, there are no necessary differences between rhythms of free verse and rhythms of prose**
• Prose Poem: contains only ordinary prose rhythms
• Categorized as poetry because of its use of other poetic elements (connotation, imagery, figurative language, etc.)
• Meter: identifying characteristic of rhythmic language where accents occur at equal intervals
• Foot: one basic unity of meter
• consists of one accented syllable plus one or two unaccented syllables

Chapter 13: Sound and Meaning

The rhythm of poetry contributes to the overall music of the poem.  This poetic music can serve two purposes:

1. Pure pleasure in the sounds
2. Reinforce meaning and intensify poetic communication

• Onomatopoeia: words whose sound in some degree suggests their meaning
• Ex. hiss, snap, bang

• Phonetic Intensives: words whose sound to some degree connects with their meaning
• Ex. flame, flare, flash, flicker (an initial fl- sound is often associated with the idea of moving light)
• Euphonious: smooth and pleasant-sounding effect
• Cacophonous: rough and harsh-sounding effect

Chapter 14: Pattern

• Structure: arrangement of ideas, images, thoughts, and sentences
• Form: external pattern or shape
• Continuous Form
• Stanzaic Form
• Fixed Form
• Limerick
• Sonnet
• Villanelle