Teachers can use rhythmic poetry to spice up lessons

18 September, 2012

According to the editor of the book titled 'The teachers and Writers Handbook of Poetic Forms', rhythmic poetry is a language art which has a musical quality produced by the repetition of stressed and unstressed syllables. The word rhythm comes from the Greek language, meaning 'measured motion' and its use in communication can be a value addition to make interaction captivating.

THE BOOK further says that the most obvious king of rhythm is the regular repetition of stressed and un-stressed syllables found in some poetry. And, creation and rendering of such poetry can enhance students’ musical intelligence if it is done across the curriculum, I think.

The book, as a compilation of articles and papers of various contributors, informs that the writers create rhythm by repeating words and phrases or even by repeating whole lines and sentences. It cites the following example from the rhythmic poem titled "Song of Myself” by Walt Whitman.

Furthermore, a combination of two words is often used to describe regular rhythm or meter. For example, the first word (iambic) refers to the beat pattern, like, unaccented syllable followed by an accented syllable. The second refers to the length of the line. In the case of pentameter we mean five feet (or ten syllables long).

The book gives some tips in the form of some commonly used words to describe the meter of regular poetry as given below.

- The most common units ("feet") of rhythm in English are:

- The iamb, consisting of two syllables, only the second accented (as in "good-bye")

- The trochee, two syllables, only the first accented (as in "awful")

- The anapest, three syllables, with only the third stressed (as in "Halloween")

- The dactyl, one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed (as in "wonderful")

- The spondee, two consecutive syllables that are both stressed (as in "big deal")

To me it appears that poetry using everyday language and subject matter should be done in an iambic pattern. In other words, the poetry in academic should have a lot of iambic rhythm.

Published by Holt-Rinehart, the book further adds that rhythm (or "measure") in writing is like the beat in music. In poetry, rhythm implies that certain words are produced more force- fully than others, and may be held for longer duration. The repetition of a pattern of such emphasis is what produces a rhythmic effect.

The book is useful for teachers and educational researchers who wish to develop musical intelligence of their students along with teaching their subjects.