Rhyme = Correspondence of sound between words or the endings of words, especially when these are used at the ends of verse lines in poems.
Rhythm (or Metrum) = A returning pattern of long, short, stressed, and unstressed syllables in a text.
Rhyme scheme = the pattern of end rhymes in a stanza, with each rhyme encoded by a letter of the alphabet. Example: ABBA BCCB.
Format vs Content
Format and Content are two different dimensions of the same idea.
The message of a slogan or a dialogue is Content. "bla BLA bla bla BLA bla bla BLA bla." is the Format of the first line of a Limerick, without Content.
Rhythm and Rhyme need a matching combination of Format and Content. When Rhythm and Rhyme dance together, they create music, songs, art and beauty, dance and laughter, love and romance, emotions that no other format of text is capable of. That makes poetry such a delight to write, as you can work on it from two sides at the same time; when you hear the music and feel the emotion while you understand the message, you know it's okay.
Captains of Industry are white, male, tall, confident, and wear expensive suits. Witches are old, female, wrinkled, ugly, unreliable and dress in rags. I know a tall, white, confident male who poisoned the world with his racist ideas after election day, and I know an old, wrinkled female who received the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize for her outstanding work in the slums of Calcutta. Both people prove that Content might make a difference, while Format (image) is just presentation. We don't care if the one who helps us is a man or a woman, gay or straight, black or white or green, dressed in pink underwear or in a white T-shirt; it's the help that matters. We love others for what they do, not for what they look like.
Format (outside) and Content (character) are two different things. We learn to look-and-judge in split seconds, as we have no time to learn all the unique elements of our modern times. Format, image, gets all the attention, while Content loses the battle.
Art is different. «Guernica» is an idea. Its Content is: «remember the horror that human stupidity did to the village Guernica and its inhabitants on the 26th of April 1937, and learn from it so it won't happen again.» The Format is a painting in black and white by Pablo Picasso. The Format of «Goodbye Saigon», by Billy Joel, is a song, with words, but also with a video, images. Its Content is: «remember the horror that human stupidity did to the country Vietnam and its inhabitants between the 1st of November 1955 and the 30th of April 1975, and learn from it so it won't happen again.» Both are works of art; they had a tremendous impact after their nativity, and still impress thousands of people every new day. Would that impact be the same if singer Billy Joel would have painted the war, or if painter Picasso would have sung about it? In art, Format and Content are like Yin and Yang: each half is nothing without the other.
In art, Format and Content are like husband and wife: if they love each other, 1 + 1 = 3, but if they don't communicate, the entire relationship is pointless. An example will clarify this:
Look at that book.
It's thick as a brick.
The work of a dork.
It makes me feel sick.
The rhythm is perfect, it has end rhyme, inner rhyme (look - book), alliteration (makes - me), repetition (2x It) and several other stylistic devices. Beautiful and artistic, from a Format point of view, but... What is it about? Is it a warning from the writer to read only thin books? Is reading bad for our health? Are writers of tomes disguised witches who poison the world with their magic spells? Will anyone remember this poem in the year 2525?
YOU ARE READING
Precious Poetry
PoetryFrom PROBLEM to POEM in 7 steps the Why, Where, When, What, Who, How & Wow of writing poetry Ai Ni and Ronaldo made this book to help poor people in Haiti, to build a school and teach them the art of a happy life. A warning upfront from the editor:...
