Is there another level of rhythm in the line? If there is, see if you can mark the second level of rhythm and, again, make sure that they agree on how this should be marked. Note the way that the stress (and in some cases, even the emphasis) interacts with the beat of the song. Again, ask how they would like to mark the stress (an “S”?). Then, together, come to a consensus on the stressed syllables above. Ask how they would like to mark beat (a “B”? An “X”? It’s up to them). For the rap lyrics on the board, ask the students if they can agree on the song’s beat, and put the beat of the song below the lyric. In rap songs, the temporal structure of the verse is often hurried or slowed. ![]() American poems, or any older poems where historical sound shifts may change our ability to read the poem’s sonic effects with only contemporary knowledge. It’s good to remind students that it is linked to pronunciation, especially in a class where you may be reading poems in dialect, British vs. Here, you might tell students about the history of the word “prosody,” that it means both pronunciation and versification, and that versification is often considered to encompass how we talk about all of these features. “How ARE you?” or “How are YOU?” Talk about the difference between stress and emphasis, thinking about the subtle ways that performance influences meaning. Begin talking students through emphasis and performance, using the easy example of “How are you?” Ask what it means when you say those three words as “HOW are YOU?” vs. When you have generated a handful of sonic terms, slowly start shifting into a discussion of meter: how we might begin to measure the ways these sonic effects add up to a structure one might be able to measure. ![]() As they begin to notice things like assonance, alliteration, repetition, internal rhyme, slant rhyme, or other sounds and patterns in the song lyric or jingle, keep expanding your list of basic poetic vocabulary on the board. ![]() Ask them what they hear first in the song: Are they vowels? Are they consonants? Define appropriate poetic terms as you go and underline any vowels or consonants students comment upon. ![]() Put four or five of these lines up on the board (or ask the students to do so) and start an open discussion about why they think they have memorized these particular snippets.Īs students present their theories, list on the board each sonic concept that, directly or indirectly, enters the conversation. You need not select poems for discussion in advance indeed, the success of this introductory exercise depends largely upon letting students provide their own examples.īegin class with a general conversation: ask students what lines they happen to have memorized-anything from hip-hop songs to advertising jingles. Its purpose is to teach students classical meter (foot based scansion) as well as poetry’s sonic properties: rhyme, assonance, alliteration, consonance, and repetition. This exercise teaches the fundamentals of versification to students by first invoking the lyrics of songs and advertisements they already know. Reprinted and adapted from The Pocket Instructor: 101 Exercises for the College Classroom (Princeton: Princeton UP, 2016). An introduction to versification that melds the classic and the contemporary.
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