Take a moment to focus on your breathing. Breathe in slowly, then out slowly. This pattern repeats within each of us, just like our heartbeat. We are naturally drawn to rhythm and repetition. It’s a big part of our daily lives: the rhythm of a song, the beat of a drum, or even the rows of trees in an orchard. Patterns can be enjoyable, and in language, rhythm and repetition are key elements of poetry.
In poetry, rhythm is created by the way syllables are emphasized in words. For example, in the line “So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,” the rhythm comes from the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables. Repetition also plays a big role in poetry. It can be the repetition of letters, sounds, or words, like in “So long lives this and this gives life to thee.” Repetition is a flexible tool for poets. It can make a line feel more powerful or soothing, and it can help connect different ideas.
However, too much repetition can become boring. Imagine writing the same sentence over and over on a blackboard, or a child repeatedly calling for their mom’s attention. That’s not exactly poetic. So, what makes poetic repetition work? One familiar form is rhyme, where similar sounds repeat at the end of lines. This creates an expectation, and when we hear the rhyme, it feels satisfying.
Rhyme doesn’t only happen at the end of lines. Take the line “So long lives this and this gives life to thee,” where the “i” sound repeats. This is called assonance, the repetition of vowel sounds. You can hear it in songs like Eminem’s “Lose Yourself,” where the “e” and “o” sounds repeat: “Oh, there goes gravity, oh, there goes rabbit, he choked, he’s so mad but he won’t give up that easy, no, he won’t have it, he knows his whole back’s to these ropes.” This creates its own rhythm and invites us to join in.
Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds, like the “l” and “th” in “So long lives this and this gives life to thee.” When this repetition happens at the start of words, it’s called alliteration or front rhyme. Tongue twisters are great examples: “Betty bought some butter but the butter was bitter, so Betty bought some better butter to make the bitter butter better.” The fun comes from the repeated sounds both within and at the start of words.
While tongue twisters are fun, they show the need for variety in poetic repetition. If a poem focuses too much on the same sounds, it can feel more like a gimmick than art. Poets must find a balance between repeating sounds and introducing new ones, between meeting expectations and surprising the reader. In this balance, we find the beauty of poetry, much like the rhythm of our breath and heartbeat that we carry with us every day.
Explore the rhythm in poetry by clapping out the syllables of a poem. Choose a short poem and read it aloud. As you read, clap your hands on the stressed syllables. Notice how the rhythm changes with different poems. Try creating your own short poem and experiment with different rhythms by changing which syllables you emphasize.
Create a list of words that rhyme and use them to write a four-line poem. Focus on using repetition to enhance the poem’s rhythm. Share your poem with a partner and discuss how the repetition of sounds affects the poem’s mood and flow. Consider how changing the rhyming words alters the poem’s impact.
Read a poem or song lyrics and highlight examples of assonance and consonance. Identify the repeated vowel and consonant sounds. Discuss with your classmates how these sound patterns contribute to the overall feel of the poem or song. Try writing a few lines of your own using assonance and consonance to create a specific mood.
Create a tongue twister using alliteration. Choose a consonant sound and write a sentence where most words start with that sound. Share your tongue twister with the class and see who can say it the fastest without stumbling. Discuss how alliteration can make language playful and memorable.
Write a short poem that balances repetition with variety. Use repetition to create rhythm but introduce new sounds or ideas to keep it interesting. Share your poem with a partner and discuss how you achieved balance. Reflect on how this balance mirrors the natural rhythms in life, like breathing or a heartbeat.
Sure! Here’s a sanitized version of the transcript:
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Just for a moment, focus on your breath. In slowly. Out slowly. In slowly. Out. The same pattern repeats within every one of us, and consider your pulse. The beat is built into the very fabric of our being. Simply put, we’re creatures of rhythm and repetition. It’s central to our experience: rhythm and repetition, rhythm and repetition. In, and out.
We delight in these aspects every day—in the rhythm of a song, the beat of a drum, the nod of your head, or in the repetition of soup cans, the rows of an orchard, the artistry of petals. Pattern can be pleasure. In language, rhythm and repetition are often used as the building blocks for poetry. There’s the rhythm of language, created by syllables and their emphasis, such as, “So long as men can breathe or eyes can see.”
And there’s the repetition of language at multiple levels: the repetition of letters, “So long lives this and this gives life to thee,” of sounds, “breathe,” “see,” “thee,” and of words. With so many uses, repetition is one of the poet’s most malleable and reliable tools. It can lift or lull the listener, amplify or diminish the line, unify or diversify ideas. In fact, even rhythm itself, a repeated pattern of stressed syllables, is a form of repetition.
Yet for all its varied uses, too much repetition can backfire. Imagine writing the same sentence on the blackboard twenty times, or a young child clamoring for her mother’s attention, “Mom, mom, mommy, mom, mom.” Not exactly what we might call poetry.
So what is poetic repetition, and why does it work? Possibly most familiar is rhyme, the repetition of like sounds in word endings. As with Shakespeare’s example, we often encounter rhyme at the ends of lines. Repetition in this way creates an expectation. We begin to listen for the repetition of those similar sounds. When we hear them, the found pattern is pleasurable.
Yet, rhyme need not surface solely at a line’s end. Notice the strong “i” sound in, “So long lives this and this gives life to thee.” This repetition of vowel sounds is called assonance and can also be heard in Eminem’s “Lose Yourself.” Notice how the “e” and “o” sounds repeat both within and at the end of each line: “Oh, there goes gravity, oh, there goes rabbit, he choked, he’s so mad but he won’t give up that easy, no, he won’t have it, he knows his whole back’s to these ropes.” The alternating assonance creates its own rhythm and invites us to try our own voices in echoing it.
Similarly, consonance is the repetition of like consonant sounds, such as the “l” and “th” in, “So long lives this and this gives life to thee.” In fact, this type of specific consonance, which occurs at the beginning of words, may be familiar to you already. It’s called alliteration, or front rhyme. Great examples include tongue twisters: “Betty bought some butter but the butter was bitter, so Betty bought some better butter to make the bitter butter better.” Here, the pleasure in pattern is apparent as we trip over the consonance both within words and at their start.
Yet tongue twisters also reflect the need for variation in poetic repetition. While challenging to say, they are seen by some as lesser imitations of poetry, or gimmicky because they hammer so heavily on the same sounds, closer to that blackboard-style of repetition. Ultimately, this is the poet’s balancing act—learning when to repeat and when to riff, when to satisfy expectations and when to thwart them. In that balance, it may be enough to remember we all live in a world of wild variation and carry with us our own breath and beat, our own repetition wherever we go.
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This version maintains the essence of the original content while ensuring clarity and coherence.
Poetry – A form of literature that uses aesthetic and rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meanings and emotions. – Emily Dickinson’s poetry often explores themes of nature and immortality.
Rhythm – The pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry or prose. – The rhythm of the poem made it feel like a song.
Repetition – The use of the same word or phrase multiple times to emphasize an idea or theme. – The repetition of the phrase “nevermore” in Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven” creates a haunting effect.
Sounds – The auditory elements of language, including phonetics, that contribute to the musical quality of poetry. – The poet uses sounds like alliteration and onomatopoeia to enhance the imagery.
Assonance – The repetition of vowel sounds in nearby words to create internal rhyming within phrases or sentences. – The assonance in the line “The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain” adds to its musical quality.
Consonance – The repetition of consonant sounds, typically at the end of words, in close proximity. – The consonance in “blank and think” gives the poem a subtle harmony.
Rhyme – The correspondence of sounds between words or the endings of words, especially when used at the ends of lines of poetry. – The rhyme scheme of the sonnet gave it a pleasing and predictable structure.
Balance – The harmonious arrangement of elements in a literary work, creating a sense of equilibrium and proportion. – The balance between dialogue and description in the novel kept the story engaging.
Language – The method of human communication, either spoken or written, consisting of the use of words in a structured and conventional way. – Shakespeare’s use of language in “Romeo and Juliet” captures the intensity of young love.
Patterns – Repeated or regular arrangements of elements in a literary work, such as themes, motifs, or structures. – The patterns of imagery in the poem highlight the theme of transformation.
