FOR Grades 4 and beyond:

       SAMPLE RHYTHMIC TEXT. . .From MABLE FRANCIS FUNGUS

On Monday, Mable Francis Fungus felt a little twitch.
And then her bony knees began to shake, and knock and itch.
She felt a  little buzzing in her  bouncy, bobbing  head,
She ran to tell her grandma Ann, who stared at her and said:
 

 

“Whatever did you eat, dear Mable, earlier today
“I’ll bet you gobbled lettuce leaves with ketchup on some hay!”
"Along with saucy spider juice with lots of orange spice."    "Perhaps you munched some porcupine, piled high on yellow rice."

 

Answering this question is not  so easy.

But, I will try!

 

Writing a poem or song with ‘good rhythm’ is difficult.

If you are a beginner, just starting to write poetry, I advise that you not be too concerned about the rhythm.

That ability may come in time.

Most poets and songwriters have some problems with rhythm.

So, please do not worry about it.

Rhythm in a poem is the “beat” of the sounds in each sentence.

      The sentence in a poem or song is often called "a line."

A poem or song written with good  rhythm has the same “beat” pattern in every  line .

If the rhythm is done well, then you should be able to clap your hands to the beat of the lines.

The 8 lines in the short rhyme about Mable Francis Fungus, above, is written with a rhythmic pattern in which every other syllable is stressed. 

A stressed syllable has a STRONG BEAT.

An unstressed syllable has a LIGHT BEAT.

      A syllable can be the whole word or part of a word.

 

 Give it a try:

 Read the line below and clap your hands.

 Only clap on the stressed syllables, in brown.

      On Monday Mable Francis Fungus felt a little twitch.

 In this line, every other syllable is stressed.

 Can you hear that the brown syllables are stronger?

Some lines have a stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables.

These pattern is followed throughout the story,

            "Mable Francis  Fungus."

      And then her bony knees began to shake , and knock and itch.

She felt a  little buzzing in her  bouncy, bobbing  head,

        She ran to tell her grandma Ann, who stared at her and said. .

    “Whatever did you eat dear Mable earlier today?”

My main concern in the  rhythm of  a poem, as always is

 HOW IT SOUNDS -

Other authors might insist on a a particular number of syllables.

I am not concerned about being exact, so long as it sounds okay.

 

WHY IS IT HARD TO WRITE IN RHYTHM?

      In some ways, however, it is a difficult language.

There are sometimes two or even more ways to say an English sentence correctly.

      When writing a poem, some lines can be read in different ways too.

However, one way of reading the line will be correct for the rhythm of the poem.  

Another way of reading the line will not be correct for the rhythm of the poem.

      I CALL THIS TYPE OF SENTENCE / line

Here is an example of a TROUBLE LINE.

Originally, the first line in the second paragraph of "Mable Francis Fungus was:

    “Now, Mable Francis Fungus, dear, what did you eat today?”

     This can be read in two ways:

     A. “Now, Mable Francis Fungus,  dear, what did you eat  today?”

      B. “Now, Mable Francis Fungus, dear,  what did you eat today?”

Both of these sentences are correct in the English language.

      Sentence ‘A’ is correct for the rhythm of the poem.

      Sentence ‘B’  is not  correct for the rhythm of the poem.

More people tend to use the rhythm pattern in sentence 'B' in  every day speech.

Because this is a trouble line, it was changed to:

     “Whatever did you eat dear Mable earlier today?”

Whether or not a  line should be changed depends upon the level of  trouble in the line.

     AGAIN, FOR ME, THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IS :

     The line,

is an example of a  moderate trouble line. It is not mild, but it is not so terrible either.

Below is an example of a very bad trouble line.

    “Now Mable Francis Fungus, dear,  what happened on Monday?”

 

What makes this a very bad trouble line in this poem is the need to mispronounce the word  “Monday” in order to be correct for the rhythm of the entire story.

      In order to keep the rhythm, you would have to read the line:

A. “Now Mable Francis Fungus, dear, what happened on Monday?”

     Monday ALWAYS has the stress on Mon and not on day.

       If the line  read :

    “Now Mable Francis Fungus, dear, what happened on that day?”

          It would be a better sentence. It is only a mild trouble line.

    It can be read as:

    B.“Now Mable Francis Fungus, dear, what happened on that day?”

    C. “Now Mable Francis Fungus, dear, what happened on that  
         day?”

1.                If you are just starting to write short rhyming poems, or longer rhyming stories, pay more attention to the  rhyming and not  to the rhythm.  

As you can see, rhythm is the most difficult part of a rhyming poem, story or song.

This recommendation is the same, if you are writing for an older child, a younger child or even an adult .

     You need to take one step at a time.

2. If you decide to pay attention to the rhythm, first write the poem, without being concerned about the rhythm, as a start.

How to go about writing a first draft will be discussed in the next section of the "Time to Rhyme " link.

3.   Once the first draft is written, work out a rhyming pattern that is comfortable for you.

There are a variety of rhyming patterns and styles.

You might get an idea about this by reading  published poems written  by other authors.

There are also books written on the subject of poetry patterns.

These books will give many well-known and popular rhythmic sequences.

4. Read each line in the poem, keeping the rhythm you have chosen, in mind.     

     Change the wording when necessary.

5. Have someone else read the poem out loud.

You might be too “close” to the poem to be able to judge whether a line is off rhythm.

Some of these recommendations will be repeated in the next section of this link.

 I know that I have been heavily influenced by Dr. Seuss’ rhyming stories.

 Dr. Seuss, in my opinion, was a children’s story genius.

 I do not think that he will ever be equaled.

 His sense of rhyme and rhythm was brilliant.

 His stories are incredibly wonderful.

 I often use his rhythm pattern as my model.

 PATTERN A:  THE TWO LINE PATTERN

 I try to use 11 syllables for each line.

 Sometimes I stress every other syllable.

 Sometimes I stress every third syllable.

Sometimes I might use 10 or 12 syllables in each line .

The last word in one line rhymes with the last word in the next line.

Here is an example of PATTERN  A  from TATTLE-TALE TILLIE

In this rhyming story, the stress is on every third syllable, starting with    the second syllable.

Tillie McMatmat, a bothersome pest—   10 syllables- mild  trouble line

Annoying her schoolmates is what she liked best.       11 syllables 

At lunch she would cackle some animal noise.            11 syllables

She’d make ugly faces, especially at boys.                   11 syllables

But mostly loved tattling, she  made children sad.      11 syllables

When Tillie told  teachers....

The first sentence is a mild trouble line because the first syllable is stressed.

That is the reason the line has only 10 syllables.

PATTERN B:

I use another rhyme/rhythm pattern, though not as often.

This is a more difficult one.

This pattern has 4 lines.

In lines 1 and 3, there is internal rhyming.

That means that the last word in the first part of the line, rhymes with the last word in the second part of the line.

The last words in lines 2 and 4 rhyme with each other.

Here is an example from a rhyming story called:

Bertha Barta went to sleep,

          she started counting wooly sheep             15 syllables.

When Berty Barta stormed into her room.            10 syllables

“Mama,” Berty Barta said,    
            there's something crawly 'neath my bed    15 syllables

“You’ve got to come and shoo it with a broom.”     10  syllables

In this rhyming pattern, every other syllable is stressed.

The most commonly used rhyming/rhythm pattern has four lines, with lines 2  and 4 rhyming at the end.

Sometimes, in this pattern, the last words of lines 1 and 3 rhyme as well.

Here is an example from:

 DOES DREAMING REALLY COUNT?

I’ve dreamed that I’m a circus star,    8 syllables

I’d balance on a wire.                            6  syllables

Or train the tigers in their cage,           8 syllables

To jump through hoops of fire.             6 syllables

In this rhyming/rhythm pattern, every other syllable is stressed.

BEST OF LUCK WITH YOUR STORIES!