Warren Pryor
Look for rhythmic structure – iambic is a good place to start
When ev / ery “’ry” pen / cil meant / a sac / ri fice - iambic five feet
iambic pentameter – just like Shakespeare
his par / ents boar / ded him / at school / in town,
slav ing / to free / him from / the sto / ny fields,
the mea / gre a / cre age / that bore / them down.
These are the bones of the rhythm, the skeleton that holds the poem up.
They blushed / with pride /when, at / his grad/ u a tion, Not perfect rhythm
blushed pride at grad
they with when his graduation
they watched / him pick / ing up / the slen / der scroll,
watched pick up slender scroll
they him ing the der
his pass / port from / the years /of brut / al toil
and lone / ly pa / tience in / a bar / ren hole.
stress comes like a heartbeat -
When he went in the Bank their cups ran over.
They marvelled how he wore a milk-white shirt
work days and jeans on Sundays. He was saved
from their thistle-strewn farm and its red dirt.
And he said nothing. Hard and serious
like a young bear inside his teller`s cage,
his axe-hewn hands upon the paper bills
aching with empty strength and throttled rage.
By Alden Nowlan
A good poet will use the rhythm to make the poem better
unstressed and stresses syllables
stressed syllable will convey more energy than unstressed
stressed syllables should be a more meaningful words
his par / ents board / ed him / at school / in town,
parents board him school town has meaning
his parents ed at in – almost no meaning
The poet has placed the important words in the stressed position.
slav ing / to free / him from / the sto / ny fields,
the mea / gre a / cre age / that bore / them down.
Come live / with me /and be /my love,
live me be love – has meaning
come with and my – almost no meaning
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