RHYTHM AND METER: The word rhythm comes from the Greek word rhein, which means to flow.

RHYTHM in poetry means the flow of sound produced by language. The pattern of rhythm in a poem is called meter.

METER gives form to what we hear in a poem by telling us what to expect the flow of language to do from line to line. However, the actual rhythm of any line may not follow the meter exactly. The poet's decision to follow or vary from the meter depends on the effects he/she wants to relay to the readers or listeners. Some poetry has no meter at all. Meter varies according to the sounds of language in which a poem is written. For example, Cheyenne, [an American Indian language], has whispered and spoken syllables. Ancient Greeks based their meters on the long and short vowels of their words.

In poetry written in English, meters are based on syllables and on stress [the vocal emphasis given to a syllable]. Poets who work in English use 3 main types of meters: [1] syllabic, [2] strees, and [3] foot-verse.

SYLLABIC meters are based on the number of syllables in a line. The most common syllabic meters are continuous syllabics and stanzaic syllabics.

In continuous syllabics, each line of the poem has the same number of syllables. In stanzaic syllabics, the number of syllables in each line of the first stanza is repeated in the corresponding lines of all other stanzas.

STRESS meters are based on the number of stressed syllables in a line. The stressed meters most used in the tradition of poetry in English are the Folk Meters. One widely used Folk Meter is Long Measure, which has a pattern of four beats per line. Another Folk Meter, Common Measure, alternates four-beat and three-beat lines. It is used in ballads, hymns, lyric poems and nursery rhyms.

FOOT-VERSE meters involve both the number of syllables and the position of the stressed syllables. These combinations form feet. The most widely used foot-verse meter is iambic pentameter [a line with 5 iambs]. An iamb is a two-syllable foot in which the second syllable receives more stress than the first syllable [e.g., the words indeed, between and mistake form iambs.] 

SOUNDS: Poets often use the sounds of words to create effects in their poems. The most common method is to use words that rhyme. If the words at the ends of two or more lines of a poem rhyme, then the poem has a rhyme scheme.

IMAGERY refers to the sensations that laguage creates in the mind. Imagery is created by using words that appeal to our sense of sight, taste, smell, touch and hearing.

FORMS: Poest give form to their verse in various ways, but the most common means of creating poetic form is rhyme. A standard verse form is the sonnet. The Italian sonnet also called Petrarchan sonnet, has an octave [an eight-line stanza] followed by a sestet [a six-line stanza]. The rhyme scheme of the octave is abbaabbaa. The rhyme scheme of the sestet varies but often is cdecde or cdcdcd. The English sonnet, also called Shakespearean sonnet, has a rhyme scheme of abab cdcd efef gg.

A poem's meter also may determine its form. For example, blank verse consists of unrhymed lines of iambic pentameter. The English poet, John Milton, wrote the great epic, Paradise Lost [1667] in blank verse. Free verse poetry is without rhyme scheme and without meter.