1. Getting Started
Let’s explore what “beats” are and how they are used in contemporary poetry.
By the end of this module, you should be able to:
- write a poem using intentional beats
- identify beats in a given word or phrase
2. Video: Introducing Rhythm
Access a transcript of this video.
3. Approaches to Rhythm
Beats are stressed syllables. In the word “butter,” for example, the first syllable is naturally stressed when spoken out loud (BUT-ter). If you pronounced the word “butter” with a stress on the second syllable (but-TER), it would sound very strange. Feel free to try it out loud. You’ll hear the difference.
Scansion (the analysis of patterns in stressed and unstressed syllables) is an enormous, complex subject with many approaches. But understanding “beats” is simpler. It allows us to think about the poem’s heartbeat in a basic, approachable way.
Click through the image reel below to learn some basic rules for scanning beats.
Access a transcript of this image reel.
4. Knowledge Check
In the sentences below, click the circle above the words that should contain at least one beat.
Pro-tip: Don’t forget that contractions contain verbs.
Correct! This is a single-syllable word, and it’s a verb, so it gets a beat.
Correct! This is a single-syllable word, and it’s a verb, so it gets a beat.
Incorrect. This is a single-syllable word, but it’s not important enough to get a beat.
Incorrect. This is a single-syllable word, but it’s not important enough to get a beat.
Correct! This word has more than one syllable, so we know there’s a beat in it somewhere. We could use a dictionary to find out which syllable is stressed.
Correct! This word has more than one syllable, so we know there’s a beat in it somewhere. We could use a dictionary to find out which syllable is stressed.
Correct! This word has more than one syllable, so we know there’s a beat in it somewhere. We could use a dictionary to find out which syllable is stressed.
Incorrect. This is a single-syllable word, but it’s not important enough to get a beat.
Incorrect. This is a single-syllable word, but it’s not important enough to get a beat.
Incorrect. This is a single-syllable word, but it’s not important enough to get a beat.
Incorrect. This is a single-syllable word, but remember our key: red dog run. If the word isn’t an adjective (like red), a noun (like dog), or a verb (like run), it usually doesn’t get a beat.
Correct! This is a single-syllable word, and it’s a verb, so it gets a beat.
Correct! This is a single-syllable word, and it’s a verb, so it gets a beat.
Correct! This is a single-syllable word, and it’s a verb, so it gets a beat.
Correct! This is a single-syllable word, and it’s a noun, so it gets a beat.
Correct! This word has more than one syllable, so we know there’s a beat in it somewhere. We could use a dictionary to find out which syllable is stressed.
Correct! This is a single-syllable word, and it’s an adjective, so it gets a beat.
Correct! This is a single-syllable word, and it’s an adjective, so it gets a beat.
5. Reading for Rhythm
All poems employ rhythm, even if it is varied and subtle. That rhythm, whether we are aware of it or not, affects how we experience the poem. We respond to rhythms naturally, without even thinking or trying, which makes sense because our bodies are directed by rhythm: breath, pulse, footsteps, sleeping and waking. Human intelligence is, at a basic level, all about pattern recognition, which is really the conscious experience of rhythm. But in order to control the effects of rhythm in our own poems, we have to be able to identify rhythms in the poems we read.
Click on the image on the left to read “Lust” by Yusef Komunyakaa. Use the following questions to guide your reading:
- About how many beats per line does this poem employ, on average?
- Where does the number of beats-per-line change in this poem?
- Which lines seem to break rhythmic patterns set up in previous lines?
- Which lines have more stressed than unstressed syllables? How do these lines feel?
- Which lines have more unstressed than stressed syllables? How do these lines feel?
- How might this poem feel different with a more predictable, repetitious rhythmic structure?
- How might this poem feel with a different range of beats-per-line?
9. Prompt: Controlling Beats
Write a poem that does one of the following:
- Option 1: Uses a regimented number of beats per line. 3-5 is typical, so choose either 1-2 beats per line or 6-8 beats per line.
- Option 2: Uses alternating beats per line. Alternate lines with few beats (around 1-2) and lines with more beats (around 6-8).
Share the resulting poem with some fellow writers whose opinions you trust, either informally or in a workshop setting. Ask them (and yourself) the following:
- Do the poem’s beats feel effective? Why or why not?
- Would this poem be more effective with more or fewer beats per line?
- How does the poem’s rhythm affect the way it reads?
- Is the poem’s rhythm consistent enough to feel intentional?
10. Quiz: Understanding Rhythm
Want to test your knowledge? Try the following quiz. For each quotation below, identify the correct number of beats.
#1. “to the core”
#2. “broken thorn sweet blackberry”
#3. “the mountains straight reply”
#4. “the corners of my mouth”
Results
Before You Go
Check out the following resources on rhythm and prosody:
- Neary, Lynn. (2016). “How Rhythm Carries a Poem, from Head to Heart.” National Public Radio. https://www.npr.org/2014/06/20/323329319/how-rhythm-carries-a-poem-from-head-to-heart
- Oliver, Mary. (1994). “The Line.” A Poetry Handbook: A Prose Guide to Understanding and Writing Poetry. Harcourt.
- Turco, Lewis Putnam. (2012). “Accentual Prosody.” The Book of Forms: A Handbook of Poetics, Including Odd and Invented Forms. Dartmouth College Press.
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