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As we celebrate the Equinox, a time of balance, harmony of day and night, consider also the shift it portends – to longer nights in the north and longer days in the south. A rhythmic dance of harvest and planting; a symphony of sounds and sights and colors in concert with the heartbeat of Mother Earth and the Heavens; to incite the Muse Creative.
How like poetry is this changing of seasons; the patterns known, replaying a dance familiar yet ever unique. Just as no two rose petals are exactly alike, no two birds with an equal number of feathers, no two humans (even twins) completely alike, there are no two poems that sound precisely the same. Each is an individual, proving that there are no ‘rules’ in nature. Likewise, I hold that there are no ‘rules’ in poetry.
But as in nature, there are patterns to our lyric poetic expression, which we mortals, in our desire to convey common understanding, cite to as ‘rules.’ I’m thinking of metered poetry, which is based upon rhythmic expression, be it a line dance or waltz of words to convey what the poet sees, hears, imagines, or dreams, in a way that invites others to participate, reading aloud and feeling the rhythm, joining in the dance.
Although a poem may be founded on a pattern of iambs, or dactyls, as the vehicle driving expression of the Muse Poetic, the focus of the snapshot of words, is brought to the fore, there’s an occasional surprise in its expression, to convey the poet’s own epiphany or vision and engage the listener likewise.
The form itself evolves into a child of itself, i.e., consider the evolution of rhyming quatrains (four line-stanzas) from aabb to abab to abba ... (each of which patterbn is the basis for a sonnet – a form that has itself evolved over centuries, each still a sonnet, albeit different in its mode of rhyming expression), rhythmic beat is made unique by the styling of the poet.
Metered poetry finds its unique voice in the poet’s manipulation of the meter, to convey his/her own vision in his/her own unique voice, adding a riff to a chorus; a dip at the end of a waltz. To engage the listener in the dance, the poet may begin tapping out a familiar beat, using a pattern of feet per line (rhythmic forms, based on recognized beat patterns) to engage the listener’s senses):
1 foot = monometer
2 feet = dimeter
3 feet = trimeter
4 feet = tetrameter
5 feet = pentameter
6 feet = hexameter
7 feet = heptameter
8 feet = octameter
Okay, I threw in the geometry or Latin refresher , but isn’t it sometimes fun as wordsmiths to consider the formation or essence of the names as well. And while a poem may start with one rhythmic pattern, the poet's vision may evoke a shift for focus or resolution to another pattern.
Consider the following example from “Hamlet,” where Shakespeare uses a spondee (single hard stressed syllable) and an anapest to focus attention to the message being conveyed in the subsequent iambic pentameter followed by a stop (:). No ‘rule’ keeps him from expressing his vision in his own style.
This above all: to thine own self be true
And it must follow, as the night the day
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
This shift appears as well in free verse, which often begins with no set meter, often no rhyme, holding the listener’s ear with assonance or the mind with alliteration then, perhaps ends with a trochaic couplet to fix the thought. See, no ‘rule’ that says there’s no meter allowed.
Whether you agree with me or not, I invite you to write with your poet’s eye what you see, hear and imagine in verse rhythmic, embracing the sound of words that convey the image you create to share with your listeners.
I hope you’ve noted my constant reference to your listener (not reader). This is my exception to prove the rule that there are no ‘rules’ in poetry. The one absolute rule in poetry is that a poem must be read aloud. As the reader - and writer - becomes a listener, not only partiicpates in the experience poetic, but a fun way to prove my postulate
Thank you for your welcome, and I leave you to the chorus of expression of some of our members; may you hear their voices sound out with crystal-cracking resonance. 
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Words harvested by the Muse Poetic in our Community - to be read aloud to embrace the rhythm as seen through the Poet's Eye and I hope you share your comments
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How about this rhyme and syllable pattern refresher to start your own dance - or jump right in
And check out the following challenges where the rhythm flows in a variety of patterns
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May your harvest of words be a delight to your Muse Poetic and your listeners.
Until we next meet,
With a Poet's Eye,
Keep Writing!
Kate
Kate - Writing & Reading
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Poetry: September 24, 2008 Issue [#2629]
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