POETRY NOTES

Rhythm and Steady Beat

When you read a piece of music, there are many notes to be played with several different
rhythms. If these notes are not played using the correct rhythms and with a steady beat, it
will sound like a mess.
A perfect example of this is rap. The rapper says their rhyme using a steady beat and with
repetition. If the rapper doesn't speak the rap using an appropriate rhythm, it will not sound
put together and will have no fluidity.

A rhyme scheme dictates the tempo, flow and and accentuates the key points of poetry. It
achieves this by reinforcing sounds and key terms through repetition.

A rhyme scheme is the pattern of sounds that repeats at the end of a line or stanza. Rhyme
schemes can change line by line, stanza by stanza, or can continue throughout a poem.
Poems with rhyme schemes are generally written in formal verse, which has a strict meter: a
repeating pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables.

Rhyme scheme patterns are formatted in different ways. The patterns are encoded by
letters of the alphabet. Lines designated with the same letter rhyme with each other. For
example, the rhyme scheme ABAB means the first and third lines of a stanza, or the “A”s,
rhyme with each other, and the second line rhymes with the fourth line, or the “B”s rhyme
together.

 Each letter represents a single line of poetry.

 When the letters vary it determines a change in rhyming pattern at any point which
could be an internal rhyme or end rhyme.
 When the final word in a line of poetry rhymes with the last word in another line,
this is called an end rhyme. Many common poetry forms use end rhymes.
 When words in the middle of a line of poetry rhyme with each other, this is called an
internal rhyme, and is less common.

BASIC POETRY KEY TERMS

 Cadence - The patterning of rhythm in natural speech, or in poetry without a distinct meter.
 Meter - The rhythmical pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in verse.
 Refrain - A phrase or line repeated at intervals within a poem, especially at the end of a
stanza.
 Rhyme - The repetition of syllables, typically at the end of a verse line. Rhymed words
conventionally share all sounds following the word’s last stressed syllable.
 Stanza - a group of lines forming the basic recurring metrical unit in a poem; a verse
 Tone - The poet’s attitude toward the poem’s speaker, reader, and subject matter, as
interpreted by the reader.
writing arranged with a metrical rhythm, typically having a rhyme
 Verse - writing arranged with a metrical rhythm, typically having a rhyme
 Couplet - has two successive rhyming lines in a verse, and has the same meter to form a
complete thought. It is marked by a usual rhythm, rhyme scheme, and incorporation of
 specific utterances. Ie. Macbeth - Double, double, toil and trouble; Fire burn and cauldron
bubble.
 Enjambment - running lines of poetry from one to the next without using any kind of
punctuation to indicate a stop (full stops, commas). It is a running on of a thought from one
line to another without final punctuation. It is used in poetry to trick a reader. Poets lead
their readers to think of an idea, then move on the next line, giving an idea that conflicts
with it. Poets can achieve a fast pace or rhythm by using enjambment.

The Traditional Rhyming Scheme Poem

Rhyme scheme patterns are formatted in different ways. The patterns are encoded by
letters of the alphabet. Lines designated with the same letter rhyme with each other. For
example, the rhyme scheme ABAB means the first and third lines of a stanza, or the “A”s,
rhyme with each other, and the second line rhymes with the fourth line, or the “B”s rhyme
together.
OTHER FORMS OF POETRY
Free Verse poetry

Example of 'Free verse' poetry by an Australian artist:

Spoken word poetry

Example of 'Spoken word' poetry by an Australian artist:

Abe Nouk / The stigma of having lived as a refugee

Haiku
Example of 'Haiku' poetry by an Australian artist:

Sonnet
Example of 'Sonnet' by an Australian artist:

sonnet that used to be second-hand but is now brand new by Richard Allen

Blank verse poetry