Rhythm and Words

4.8

There is rhythm in verses even without music. Rhythm is a part of poetry. Maybe that is because the first poems were songs. In ancient Greece poets made up words and tunes at the same time. In the Middle Ages troubadours sang their poems. Now poets usually make up only words. But behind the words of good poems there is always rhythm. These lines by William Blake have a fine rhythm:

Tiger! Tiger! Burning bright

In the forest of the night!

Stories and novels have their rhythms, too.

The rhythms of stories and poems help you to understand and remember them. That is why

To make words sing

Is a wonderful thing —

Because in a song

Words last so long.

Many of the rhythms which men put into music and poetry may be found in nature: the drumming of the rain, the beating of the waves on the beach, the song of the canary—all these rhythms and many others helped people to form their own rhythms and make their first music.