1. Creative Writing Mr. Way
Meter and Rhythm
Creative Writing
Mr. Way

2. Overview
Rhythm/Meter
iamb
Beat

3. Definitions
Rhythm/Meter: the arrangement of words into a more or less regular sequence of stressed and unstressed or long and short syllables
iamb: two syllables, one short and one long.
Beat: The rhythmic space of one iamb

4. Rhythm/meter
When using strict meter, count syllables to make sure that there are exactly the same number in each line.
If you have to, spell words creatively to make them fit the way you want.

5. Sonnet #29, Shakespeare When in disgrace with Fortune and men’s eyes
I all alone beweep my outcast state
And trouble deaf heav’n with my bootless cries
And look upon myself, and curse my fate
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope
Featured like him, like him with friends possessed
Desiring this man’s art, and that man’s scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least;
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply, I think on thee, and then my state
Like to the lark at the break of day arising
From sullen Earth, sings hymns at heaven’s gate
For they sweet love, rememb’red such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings

6. iamb: One short syllable and one long syllable
I want to show you what I mean when I say “stressed,” “unstressed.”

7. Importance of iambs
iambs are included naturally in the flow of the English language.
Some syllables are long and some are short
We tend to alternate between long and short, and do so intentionally when writing poems.

8. Sonnet #29, Shakespeare When in disgrace with Fortune and men’s eyes
I all alone beweep my outcast state
And trouble deaf heav’n with my bootless cries
And look upon myself, and curse my fate
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope
Featured like him, like him with friends possessed
Desiring this man’s art, and that man’s scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least;
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despis’ng,
Haply, I think on thee, and then my state
Like to the lark at break of day aris’ng
From sullen Earth, sings hymns at heaven’s gate
For they sweet love, remember’d such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings

9. Meter/Rhythm Sometimes, however, the rhythm is not so strict.
Just make sure the lines are approximately the same length, and that they have the same number of beats.

10. Beats The number of beats is the number of stressed syllables.
A normal beat is two syllables (one iamb)
However, sometimes you can squeeze three or more syllables into one beat
(two unstressed, one stressed)
Alternately, you could put just one syllable where two could fit.
Just the stressed one and a slight pause.

11. The Road Less Traveled
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth; Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim Because it was grassy and wanted wear, Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same, - Robert Frost
And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way I doubted if I should ever come back. I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.

12. The Road Less Traveled
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth; Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim Because it was grassy and wanted wear, Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same, - Robert Frost
And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way I doubted if I should ever come back. I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.