what is rhythm in creative writing

How to use rhythm in writing

By BBC Maestro

• Share on Facebook
• Share via email

When you think of rhythm in writing, it’s probably poetry that springs to mind first. After all, the rhythm of a poem – its beat and flow – is one of the things that sets this type of writing apart from other forms of literature. 

However, using rhythm in your writing can make it more impactful, whatever your preferred genre. Whether you want to start writing poetry, have a great idea for a suspenseful thriller, dream of writing the next  The Gruffalo , or are keen to write film and TV scripts, rhythm can help to draw your readers (or viewers) in, and keep them engaged. 

Let’s take a look at some rhythm in writing examples, as well as tips for making your poetry, prose and scripts pop.  

What do we mean by rhythm? 

• Why is rhythmic writing important? 
• How to write with rhythm

How to write rhythm in poetry

Using rhythm when writing children’s books , rhythmic writing in thrillers , how to use rhythm in tv drama and action scenes, creating rhythmic writing .

Rhythm in writing is the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables that create the beat of a sentence. When we speak, we naturally stress some syllables and others are unstressed. Take the word ‘apple’ as an example. Say it aloud. Which syllable do you stress? It’s the first one: we pronounce it like ‘AH-pul’.  

Every word has stressed and unstressed syllables like this, and so in any sentence, this creates a pattern which acts like a beat. In poetry, this is called metre – but it can also be used to great effect in prose. Rhythm can be created by using a mixture of long and short words in a sentence. You can also make it by using a blend of long and short sentences on the page. 

But punctuation plays its role in creating rhythm too. You can use punctuation to create stops and starts in writing. A sentence that uses lots of commas creates a different feel than one which utilises full stops.   Essentially, rhythm in writing is all about how a writer uses sentence length and sentence structure to pace their writing, and how they place the words and sentences on a page to help their writing flow.  

Why is rhythmic writing important?

It’s not necessarily something we think about as readers, but the rhythm of a piece of writing can really elevate it. When sentences are all the same length, it becomes quite boring for the reader. Think about if someone is speaking to you in a monotone voice – everything they say sounds the same and it’s easier for you to lose interest. It’s the same for writing. We need to create rhythm in our writing, whether prose or poetry, to keep the reader’s attention and ensure they turn the page. 

You can also use rhythm in your writing to build excitement or slow the pace. Short sentences, one after the other, give a clear sense that something big is about to happen – they mimic the quickening of a heartbeat. Long sentences, on the other hand, slow the pace right down. It’s good to have a mixture of both in your writing as you take your reader on a journey through your fictional world. 

Rhythm in dialogue is a great way to convey the sense of different characters too. Some people might speak in short, sharp, one-word answers, which helps to build the idea of them as a brusque character – as someone who’s busy, or even plain rude. Alternatively, someone who always speaks in long, drawn-out sentences or uses florid descriptions for everything could be seen as a dreamer or a bit pompous. 

How to write with rhythm  

So, how do you go about discovering this sense of rhythm and utilising it in your own writing?  

In general, writers should read widely. Not only will that help to spark your imagination, but it’ll also develop your sense of rhythm, and give you a feel for what will work in the type of writing you want to do.

 You should also take time to learn about different literary techniques and understand what their effect can be on readers. As Alan Moore explains in his  BBC Maestro course on Storytelling , “there is a multiplicity of rhythmic devices that you can employ in your prose. Know what you’re using and know its effect, and your writing will be immeasurably enriched.” 

But there are other ways that you can learn how to use rhythm, and you should look to sources outside of literature for inspiration. Alan Moore is a fan of studying comedians to get a sense of timing. After all, comic timing is the key factor in whether a joke lands or falls flat. So, by watching comedy shows and stand-up routines, you’ll start to build a sense of what good rhythm, timing and pacing means – and that’s something you can use in your own writing. He says, “eventually, you will start to get a sense of how you can bring this element of timing to your stories and make them a beautiful ride for the reader, or an excursion at breakneck pace if you feel like it.” You may also want to employ different techniques to create rhythm, depending on what type of writing you’re doing. Let’s look at some different methods you can use, broken down by genre. 

Poetry is, of course, the literary form that’s most closely associated with rhythm. That’s because lots of poems make use of metre to create a beat. The metre also helps to build a specific mood or tone to the poem. 

Rhyme schemes in poetry can also help to create a rhythm, helping to make a poem more musical. As Carol Ann Duffy explains in her  BBC Maestro course, Writing Poetry : “From a very early age, we are used to hearing nursery rhymes and playground rhymes, the things our mothers chant to us. We still remember those little poems by heart because they often have rhyme or rhythm or metre. In a sense, the best poetry is always memorable and closely related to song. We learn the words of hymns, chants and Christmas carols because they are easily remembered and often repeated.” 

She explains that much poetry has rhythm because metre tends to mimic natural speech. Iambic pentameter is one of the most common types of metre and is most famous for being used in Shakespeare’s sonnets. 

An iamb is a metrical foot that’s made up of one unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one. It read as ‘da-DUM’. ‘Penta’ means five, so an iambic pentameter is made up of five ‘da-DUMs’. As Carol Ann Duffy says: 

“We also speak in that kind of rhythm, ‘I think it’s time we had a cup of tea’ has the same metre as ‘shall I compare thee to a summer’s day’. There is a music built into the ordinary language that we speak and the natural language of English tends towards the iambic pentameter.” 

However, not all poems use metre and rhyme – and you can write a memorable poem without using a rhyme scheme. Free verse is a type of poetry that doesn’t use metre or rhyme but there are still ways that you can create rhythm within a free verse poem.  

One way you can do so is by using literary techniques like alliteration and assonance, which will help to create a musical feel in a less overt way. Carol Ann Duffy explains:  “Assonance is important in poetry. This is the half-rhyme, where you change the vowel sound in a word, as in weed/wood, or the consonants, as in weed /scream/receive. Assonance gives the words a musical chime.”  Techniques like this can be used to great effect, helping to create not only rhythm but a mood and atmosphere, whether you’re  writing love poetry , nature poems, or something completely different. 

So, if you want to create rhythm in your poetry, you can: 

• Write in metre
• Use rhyme to create a more musical piece of writing
• Use literary techniques like assonance, even if you’re writing a poem that doesn’t stick to strict rules of form.

Children’s books are written to be read aloud, and they naturally need to capture the attention and imagination of young readers. As Julia Donaldson explains in her  BBC Maestro course, Writing Children’s Picture Books : 

“Relish the sound of every word. Your picture book is going to be read aloud, so sound is really important. And because it’s so short, every word has to count.” 

Julia Donaldson writes in rhyme, which automatically creates a pleasing, sing-song rhythm to her books. But this isn’t the only approach to writing children’s books – and in fact, it’s not one that she necessarily recommends. She says: “Sometimes the rhymes don’t trip off the tongue – and that’s vital for a rhyming book. In my opinion, and that of my editor, it’s vastly preferable for a story to be in patterned prose than in rambling rhyme.” 

You can, of course, play around with rhyme but there are plenty of other ways to create rhythm when you’re writing children’s picture books. As in poetry, you can experiment with different literary techniques that will have an impact on the pace of your book and how it sounds when it’s read aloud.  

Alliteration and assonance and other forms of wordplay are the perfect places to start. As Julia says: “Picture books are often the first time a child will have come across alliteration and assonance, or examples of metaphor, simile, personification and figurative language. Then there’s onomatopoeia, where the words sound like the sounds that they’re describing. POP!” 

These techniques build rhythm into your writing, creating a piece of work that feels animated and exciting to read. Take this example from Julia Donaldson’s book  The Highway Rat : 

A squirrel came bounding along the road,   then stopped with a shake and a shiver.   For reigning his horse was the Highway Rat,   who thundered, “Stand and deliver!”  The alliteration in ‘squirrel’, ‘stopped’, ‘shake’ and ‘shiver’ create a rhythm that gives a sense of the squirrel’s character, in contrast to the thunderous Highway Rat. 

When writing children’s books, then, it’s important to have fun with them and try out different techniques. You can: 

• Try writing in rhyme
• Write in prose but sprinkle rhymes throughout your writing
• Experiment with literary techniques  

Writing a thriller  is all about creating suspense through pacing. You want to keep your reader on the edge of their seat and keep them turning to the page. As Lee Child explains in his course on  Writing Popular Fiction :  “Your job as a writer is to hook the reader at the beginning of the book and deliver them to the end. That may sound obvious. It may sound easy. But it’s a skill in itself. Hooking the reader at the beginning is one thing. Making sure they stay with the story to the end is a whole other thing, and in the case of some readers, elemental.” 

So, how do you do that? It’s all about rhythm. You need to write in a way that drives the narrative forward. He explains:  “It is literally a syllable-by-syllable process from the very first word to the last. Each word, each sentence, each paragraph has to be designed, perhaps instinctively, but also knowingly, in such a way that the rhythm trips constantly forward, forward, forward, so that the reader is swept along by the prose.” 

He compares writing thrillers to music. You need a mixture of fast-paced parts and slower sections to bring the whole thing together. If you write everything in short sentences that are full of action, it could get tiresome quickly. Similarly, if the action is dragged out over several paragraphs, pages or even chapters, the reader will lose interest: 

“You need a mix of fast and slow, a mix of short sentences and long sentences. You need variation and modulation. Above all you need rhythm. These are musical qualities. Momentum in writing is created by meticulous attention to detail, from the very first syllable through to the very last.” 

Writing everything at one pace, he suggests, is the same as having no pace at all. So mix it up and you’ll keep the reader’s interest to the very last line. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that every line in your book has to be action-packed, just because it’s a thriller. You can also reveal details about characters and situations in the slower sections while giving your reader a chance to take a breath before the next big thrilling moment. 

And, of course, as with any other type of writing, you can drop in alliteration and assonance to add rhythm and keep the momentum going. As Lee Child describes it:  “Those internal rhymes and echoes at the level of individual syllables are like little motors that power the reader through the text.” 

When writing a thriller, then, you can create rhythm through:

• Using both faster and slower-paced sections of text
• Thinking of your writing as a piece of music that needs to be balanced
• Using the slower sections of text for a dual purpose, by revealing more details about your characters
• Making use of literary devices  

 Like thrillers, action and drama scenes in TV and films are fast-paced, designed to grip viewers and keep them watching until the end of the episode – while leaving them hungry for the next one. Rhythm in your screenplay action scene, then, is all about pace.  

Jed Mercurio, in his  Writing Drama for Television  course, talks about critical mass and chain reactions.

He explains that there are radioactive materials everywhere in nature, but we don’t get nuclear explosions in the natural world because you need a certain amount of radioactive material together in one place. Only then does it become explosive – and the amount of radioactive material needed to cause an explosion is called the critical mass. 

It’s the same with your writing. You need your characters, your setting, an inciting incident and an antagonist to all come together in the right place at the right time to trigger an explosion – your action scene. 

The chain reaction is the series of events that brings them all together. Once they all come together, you want to create rhythm with short sentences and scenes – don’t slow the action down with long, panoramic shots or long-winded dialogue that distracts from the action.  

When writing a heart-pounding action scene, you can create rhythm by:

• Thinking about critical mass and chain reactions: what are the elements of your story that need to come together for an explosive scene, and how can you set these up earlier in the show?
• Keep the pace up during action scenes
• Consider whether dialogue is necessary 

From experimenting with alliteration and rhyme, to creating a balance of fast and slow sections, there are plenty of ways to make your writing flow and ensure that you keep your readers with you. And, whatever genre you’re writing in, we have one final tip: read your work aloud. As

Alan Moore explains, this can help you to:  “See where you’ve dropped a syllable in the rhythm or when you’re left on an off-kilter stress. Any break in rhythm is a break in the mesmeric trance that you’re trying to cast over the reader. It will draw them out of the story, while a continuous beat will a keep them enthralled right to the end of the piece.” 

Want to learn more writing techniques? Try out our  online writing courses,  from some of the best in the business, covering everything from creating compelling characters to writing convincing dialogue. 

Thanks for signing up

Your unique discount code is on it's way to your inbox

Oops! Something went wrong

Please try again later

FREE video lesson: Use the world around you as inspiration

with poet, Carol Ann Duffy

By joining the mailing list I consent to my personal data being processed by Maestro Media in accordance with the privacy notice .

See related courses

Writing Popular Fiction

Storytelling

Carol Ann Duffy

Writing Poetry

Julia Donaldson

Writing Children's Picture Books

Harlan Coben

Writing Thrillers

Give the gift of knowledge

Surprise a special someone with a year's access to BBC Maestro or gift them a single course.

Thanks for signing up to receive your free lessons

Check your inbox - they’re on the way!

Get started with free lessons

Unlock your passion, sign up today

• Code of Conduct
• All Services
• Case Studies
• Writing Courses
• Commentaries
• Influencers
• Site Overview
• Book Proposal
• Ghostwriting
• Social Media

Rhythm in Writing: 7 Powerful Insider Tips for Success

Table of Contents

In the symphony of language, rhythm plays the maestro, harmonizing words into sentences that dance, sing, and enchant. It’s more than just a decorative embellishment; rhythm in writing breathes life into prose, crafting an engaging experience that beckons readers to dive deeper. In this guide, we’ll explore the art and science of rhythm and flow in writing, illuminating ways to enhance readability and captivate your audience. Whether you’re a seasoned author, an aspiring writer, or an entrepreneurial ghostwriter, let’s embark on this melodious journey of rhythmic writing together. 🎵🖋️

Understanding Rhythm in Writing 🎼

Words are like music notes. Arranged correctly, they can compose a beautiful symphony of expression, eliciting emotions and painting vivid pictures. Rhythm in writing refers to the pattern of language in a piece—how the sentences flow, how the phrases bounce, and how the words resonate with readers. As iconic author Gary Provost once said, “This sentence has five words. Here are five more words. Five-word sentences are fine. But several together become monotonous. Listen to what is happening. The writing is getting boring. The sound of it drones. It’s like a stuck record. The ear demands some variety.” 🎵🎶

Understanding rhythm allows writers to effectively manipulate the pace, leading the reader through the narrative. Slow, languid sentences can give a sense of introspection, timelessness, or anticipation. In contrast, fast-paced, choppy sentences can induce urgency or tension. Rhythm in writing influences how readers perceive and engage with your work, shaping their experience and reactions. 📚✨

Not all sentences should follow the same length or structure—variety is the spice of writing, after all. An effective piece of writing combines a mixture of short, medium, and long sentences, creating a pleasing rhythm. It’s akin to a dance where slow and fast moves interchange, keeping the audience engaged and awaiting the next step. 💃🕺

The rhythm is especially crucial when it comes to long form writing. In a novel or extended essay, the rhythm can set the tone, build characters, and even convey elements of the story. As ghostwriters, understanding rhythm can be instrumental in capturing the unique voice and style of the individuals you’re writing for. 📝👥

Just like a catchy tune that lingers in your mind, rhythm in writing creates a memorable reading experience. It sticks with the reader, leaving a lasting impression long after they’ve put the book down. The harmony of words, when orchestrated with rhythm, creates a profound resonance with the reader, enhancing their engagement and understanding of the content. 🎼📘

The Science of Sentence Length 📏

Sentence length is a vital element when discussing rhythm in writing . The long and short of sentences can significantly influence the pace of the narrative, the reader’s attention, and the overall readability. A variety of sentence lengths keeps the writing interesting and aids the reader’s comprehension. After all, a piece composed entirely of long sentences can be as exhausting as a sprint, while a piece made up of short sentences can feel choppy, like a sequence of jumps. 🏃‍♂️📖

When used effectively, short sentences can add punch and immediacy. They’re excellent for making a point or adding dramatic effect. However, overusing short sentences can make the text feel abrupt or juvenile. It’s essential to balance them out with medium and long sentences. A medium sentence, typically between 15 and 20 words, can provide enough information without overwhelming the reader, making them ideal for conveying complex ideas. 🖊️🧠

Long sentences, on the other hand, can lend a sense of sophistication and depth to your writing. They allow for the development of ideas and the creation of intricate images. However, they should be used sparingly and with purpose, as they can be challenging for readers to follow. Skilled writers often use long sentences to build tension or to describe a setting or character in detail. But remember, clarity is king in writing. No matter the length of your sentence, ensure it’s easily understandable to your reader. 🏰📚

Combining different sentence lengths creates a rhythm in writing. Just like music, it includes a mix of beats – some quick, some slow – to form a pleasing composition. This variety not only enhances the readability of your writing but also makes it more engaging and dynamic. So, whether you’re writing a novel, a blog post, or ghostwriting an autobiography, understanding and utilizing sentence length can significantly improve the rhythm and flow of your writing. 🎵📝

Sentence length can be a powerful tool for directing reader’s attention. It’s much like a spotlight on a stage – it illuminates the area (or idea) you want the audience to focus on. By following a series of long sentences with a short, impactful one, you can effectively highlight key points or dramatic moments in your writing. Just as a sudden pause in a song can command attention, so can a well-placed short sentence in a paragraph. 🎭💡

The Beat of Punctuation 🥁

Commas, for instance, indicate a brief pause. They can be used to separate items in a list or to segment independent clauses. Be wary, though, of the infamous “comma splice”—where a comma is incorrectly used to join two independent clauses. For ghostwriters , understanding your client’s comma usage can help emulate their voice more accurately. 🖊️👀

A period signifies a full stop. It marks the end of a thought or statement. Short sentences with periods can create a staccato effect, adding punch and emphasizing the point. In contrast, using longer sentences with several clauses before reaching a period can slow down the reader and increase tension. ✔️📝

Colons and semicolons are the ‘slow-down’ signals of punctuation. A colon announces that something important is coming, adding anticipation. A semicolon, however, links closely related ideas; it suggests the reader pause but not stop, maintaining a smooth flow. Both can be effective tools for controlling the pace of your narrative. 🕰️🖋️

The dash and ellipsis are the ‘drama queens’ of punctuation. A dash can add an abrupt definition or explanation—like this—adding dramatic flair. An ellipsis, on the other hand… well, it creates suspense, drawing the reader in and leaving them wanting more. Understanding how to use these punctuation marks can add rhythm and emotional depth to your writing. 🎭📚

Painting With Words: The Art of Diction 🎨

Diction, the choice of words used in writing, plays a significant role in creating rhythm. Like the melody in a song, diction sets the tone, style, and mood of the piece. It’s about picking the right words that fit the context, resonate with your audience, and express your ideas effectively. From a ghostwriter’s perspective, mastering diction is key to capturing the client’s unique voice and style. 🗣️✍️

Consider the difference between “I sprinted home” and “I walked home.” The choice of verb changes the pace of the action. Sprinted suggests speed and urgency, creating a faster rhythm. Walked, on the other hand, implies a leisurely pace, slowing down the rhythm. Such careful choices in diction can help dictate the rhythm and mood of your writing. 🏃‍♀️🚶‍♂️

The use of connotative words, words that carry emotional associations, can add depth and texture to your writing. Words like “breeze” and “gale” both denote wind, but they carry different connotations. Breeze implies a gentle, pleasing wind, while gale suggests a violent, disruptive force. These connotative meanings can influence the rhythm and tone of your writing, guiding the reader’s emotional response. 🌬️🌪️

Alliteration, the repetition of the same sounds at the beginning of words, can add a musical quality to your writing. Consider the famous phrase, “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.” The repetition of the “p” sound creates a playful, upbeat rhythm. Similarly, assonance—the repetition of vowel sounds—and consonance—the repetition of consonant sounds—can create pleasing rhythmic effects. These poetic devices can be useful tools to enhance the rhythm in prose writing. 🎵🎶

The choice of words also affects the readability of your writing. Using jargon or complex words can slow down the reader, breaking the flow. In contrast, simple, familiar words can speed up the reading process, maintaining a steady rhythm. Remember, the goal of writing is to communicate effectively with your audience, so choose your words wisely. 📚👥

The Rhythmic Role of Paragraphs and Sections 📃

Just as sentences and words create rhythm in writing, so do paragraphs and sections. They provide structure to your writing, guiding the reader through your ideas. A well-structured piece can lead the reader smoothly from one point to the next, maintaining a steady rhythm and flow. Whether you’re writing a blog post, a novel, or ghostwriting a book, understanding the rhythmic role of paragraphs and sections is key. 📖🔑

A paragraph should contain one main idea or point. It’s like a mini-story, with a beginning, middle, and end. Starting a new paragraph signals a shift in focus or a new point, guiding the reader through your narrative. Longer paragraphs can slow down the pace, while shorter ones can speed it up. As with sentence length, a mix of short and long paragraphs can create an effective rhythm, keeping your reader engaged. 📝💡

Section breaks, on the other hand, provide a pause, a moment for the reader to digest the information. They also signal a significant shift in focus, topic, or perspective. In a novel, a new section might introduce a new scene or a different character’s perspective. In non-fiction, it might present a new topic or argument. Either way, section breaks can be used to control the pace and rhythm of your writing. 📘🔁

Consider the rhythm when deciding where to place your section breaks. A break in the middle of a tense scene can create suspense, leaving the reader eager to find out what happens next. In contrast, a break after the resolution of a scene can provide a moment of calm, allowing the reader to reflect on the events. Be deliberate in your placement of section breaks to enhance the rhythm and flow of your writing. 🎭⏳

Harnessing Rhythm in Ghostwriting 👻✍️

As a ghostwriter, understanding and harnessing rhythm in writing is crucial. After all, you’re not just writing—you’re channeling someone else’s voice, style, and ideas. Rhythm plays a significant role in creating that voice. The pace, tone, and flow can vary significantly from person to person. As such, mastering rhythm can be the key to successful ghostwriting. 🗝️📘

One essential aspect of rhythm in ghostwriting is mirroring the speech patterns of the person you’re writing for. People naturally have a certain rhythm when they speak—some are fast and energetic, while others are slow and thoughtful. Capturing these patterns in writing can make the text feel more authentic and engaging. To achieve this, listen to recordings of the person speaking, pay attention to their sentence structure, word choice, and the pace of their speech. 🎙️📝

In ghostwriting, it’s also important to match the rhythm to the content and context. If you’re ghostwriting a thriller novel, for example, you’ll likely use short, punchy sentences to create tension and excitement. If you’re writing a memoir, on the other hand, you might use longer, more reflective sentences to convey the person’s thoughts and feelings. Adapting the rhythm to fit the genre and purpose of the text can enhance the readability and impact of your writing. 🎭📚

Rhythm can also help in creating distinct character voices in ghostwritten novels. Each character should have a unique voice, reflecting their personality and background. A shy character might have short, clipped sentences, while a confident character might use long, flowing sentences. By varying the rhythm, you can differentiate between characters, making the narrative more engaging and believable. 🧑‍🤝‍🧑📖

Finally, as a ghostwriter, don’t underestimate the power of revisions in establishing rhythm. Writing is a process, and the first draft is rarely perfect. After writing, read your work aloud—listen to the sound, the flow, the beat. This can help you identify any awkward sentences or phrases and improve the overall rhythm of your work. Remember, writing with rhythm is not just about the technical aspects—it’s about creating a piece that resonates with the reader, that dances to its own beat. 🎵📝

Rhythm in Writing – Enhancing Dialogue

Just as rhythm in music can transform a simple melody into an all-encompassing symphony, rhythm in writing can turn plain dialogue into dynamic conversation that deeply engages your readers. This is a secret weapon used by many successful ghostwriters. It’s not merely about what your characters say; it’s about the rhythm, pacing, and timing of their words.

To introduce rhythm into your dialogue, play around with the lengths of your characters’ speeches. Mix long, flowing sentences with short, choppy ones to reflect the natural rhythm of speech. But remember, just as in music, variety is key. Keeping the same rhythm for too long can lead to monotony.

Another way to create rhythm in your dialogue is through the use of punctuation. Punctuation isn’t just about following grammatical rules. It can help you control the pace of your dialogue and influence how your readers interpret the conversation.

Above all, the rhythm in your dialogue should serve your story. It should reveal character, advance the plot, and keep your readers engaged. And this, in turn, helps to enhance the overall rhythm of your writing.

Rhythm in Writing – Rhythm and Flow in Poetry

The importance of rhythm in writing becomes even more evident when we look at poetry . Poetry is perhaps the form of writing where rhythm and flow are most prominently on display. It is the perfect playground for experimenting with and mastering the concept of rhythm in writing.

In poetry, rhythm is created through the strategic use of stressed and unstressed syllables, known as meter. Each line of poetry has a certain number of stressed (strong) and unstressed (weak) syllables that create a pattern, or rhythm, when read aloud.

Moreover, the flow in poetry is often enhanced through the use of rhyme. Rhyme, by its very nature, creates a rhythm as it leads the reader from one line to the next in a predictable and pleasing way.

While most writers may not regularly write poetry, studying and understanding the rhythmic structures used in poetry can greatly enhance the rhythm in any form of writing.

Conclusion: Dancing with Words 💃📝

Rhythm in writing is all about creating a flow that guides the reader through your narrative. It’s about setting the pace, maintaining the interest, and creating an enjoyable reading experience. From sentence length and punctuation to diction and paragraph structure, every aspect of writing contributes to its rhythm. And just like in a dance, it’s the variety and dynamics that keep the performance engaging. 💫📚

As we’ve explored, rhythm is not just a tool for poets or songwriters—it’s integral to all types of writing, including ghostwriting. By understanding and harnessing rhythm, you can enhance the readability of your work, engage your audience, and even capture unique voices and styles. So, next time you sit down to write, don’t just think about what you want to say, but also consider how you want to say it. Remember, every word, every sentence, and every paragraph is a step in your dance with words. Keep the rhythm, and let your words dance. 🎵💃📝

13 Responses

Absolutely loved this blog post! The way it explores rhythm in writing is so engaging and enlightening. It’s like creating a symphony with words that dance and sing on the page. A must-read for any writer looking to enhance their craft! 🎵🖊️✨

I don’t I can do this type of writing but my brother used to do it and he is good at it. These great tips to follow. Thank you for sharing!

Thanks for sharing such an interesting post, I really enjoyed it.

Wow, what a beautiful way to describe the power of rhythm in writing! I couldn’t agree more that it is the maestro of language, transforming words into a symphony that sings to the reader. The idea that rhythm adds life to prose is so true – it’s like the difference between a dull conversation and a lively discussion that keeps you engaged and wanting more. Thank you for this informative guide on how to enhance the flow of our writing and create a captivating experience for our readers. I’m excited to embark on this melodious journey with you!

This is a really interesting and very informative article! Thanks for sharing this with us

This guide on incorporating rhythm in writing is an absolute gem! The explanations are clear, and the examples make it easy to understand. I now feel inspired to experiment with rhythm in my own writing. Thanks for sharing these invaluable tips! 🎵🖋️

It’s interesting how rhythm and flow in writing can draw in readers and improve readability. It’s not really something I have considered before having read your post.

Hhhmmm…I am yet to master how to play with my words in long sentences, to keep the gist of the matter and yet, keep explaining something clearly. The rest, I got them on lock.

One mark of a talented author is rhythmic writing. My favorite author does it too thats why I like certain writers.

Structure and rhythm are big components of writing. What a great breakdown of rhythm in writing.

Great read! I am more likely to read a book if it flows well so I can see where all of this comes into play.

You know, I can see why I love certain authors now. I’m not a writer by any means. I’ve just always liked what I like, but now I can see why.

This was such an interesting read! I have always been a fan of writing that flows. It’s just such a joy to read. The subject doesn’t even matter to me if the flow is right.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

©  2024 The Writing King. Copyright © 2024 The Writing King

Definition of Rhythm

Types of rhythm, 1. iamb (x /), 2. trochee (/ x), 3. spondee (/ /), 4. dactyl (/ x x), 5. anapest (x x /), short examples of rhythm in sentences, what is the purpose of rhythm in poetry, difference between rhythm and meter, examples of rhythm in literature, example #1: romeo juliet by william shakespeare.

“Two house holds, both a like in dig nity, In fair Ve rona , where we lay our scene, From an cient grudge break to new mutiny, Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. From forth the fatal loins of these two foes A pair of star- cross ’d lovers take their life;”

Example #2: Paradise Lost by John Milton

“And Life—blood streaming fresh; wide was the wound.”

Example #3: Macbeth by William Shakespeare

“DOU-ble, / DOU-ble / TOIL and / TROU-ble; FI-re / BURN, and / CAL-dron / BUB-ble.”

Example #4: Song by Sir John Suckling

“ Why so pale and wan , fond Lov er? Prith ee why so pale ? Will , when look ing well can’t move her, Look ing ill pre vail ? Prith ee why so pale ?”

Example #5: Tyger by William Blake

“ Ty ger! Ty ger! bur ning bright In the for ests of the night, What immortal hand or eye Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

Example #6: The Charge of the Light Brigade by Alfred Lord Tennyson

“ Half a League, Half a League”

Example #7: Will There Really Be a Morning? by Emily Dickinson

“ Will there really be a morning? Is there such a thing as day ? Could I see it from the mountains If I were as tall as they? Has it feet like water -lilies? Has it feathers like a bird? Is it brought from famous countries.”

Example #8: My Papa’s Waltz by Theodore Roethke

“The whis key on your breath Could make a small boy diz zy… We romped un til the pans Slid from the k it chen shelf ; My mo ther’s coun te nance Could not un frown it self .”

Example #9: By the North Sea by A. C. Swinburne

“And his hand is not wea ry of gi ving, And the thirst of her heart is not fed And the hun ger that moans in her pa ssion, And the rage in her hun ger that roars , As a wolf’s that the win ter lays lash on… As the waves of the num berless wa ters That the wind cannot num ber who guides Are the sons of the shore and the daugh ters.”

Example #10: The Courage That My Mother Had by Edna St. Vincent Millay

“Oh, if ins tead she’d left to me The thing she took in to the grave ! That cou rage like a rock , which she Has no more need of, and I have .”

Function of Rhythm

Synonyms of rhythm, related posts:, post navigation.

Write, learn, make friends, meet beta readers, and become the best writer you can be!

Join our writing group!

What is Rhythm in Literature? Definition and Examples

by Chris Snellgrove

Chris Snellgrove is an English professor by day and freelance writer at night. When he’s not writing or teaching about writing, you can usually find him in a good book, comic, movie, or video game.

When thinking about rhythm in writing, most writers think about rhythm as it relates to poetry. It’s true that rhythm plays a major role in how poets craft their work and how audiences listen to it, but rhythm also plays a powerful role in prose writing. By mastering how to use rhythm in literature, you can make yourself a better and more versatile writer.

What is rhythm in writing?

Rhythm in writing is the pattern of unstressed and stressed syllables, vowel and consonant sounds, and pacing that a writer can use when composing sentences. These choices enhance the tone and mood of a piece of writing. By carefully crafting the rhythmic flow of their prose, writers can make their words flow in a very pleasing way.

Historically, rhythm is more noticeable in poetry. That’s because the meter of many poems helps draw attention to the poem’s rhythm.

Rhythm helps make writing more memorable. For example, it’s difficult to think of Edgar Allen Poe’s poem “The Raven” without remembering its haunting, sing-song rhythm. By making the writing in your prose more rhythmic, you can make your own literary works similarly memorable.

What are the differences between rhythm in literature and rhythm in poetry?

The primary differences between rhythm in literature and rhythm in poetry have to do with the structures of the work. Because these types of writing don’t share the same structure, rhythm in prose is more difficult to spot and is likely to be more intermittent.

In poetry, the structure of the poem helps draw attention to the rhythm. Thanks to things like line breaks, it’s easy to see when the writer has applied a special meter to each line. Even children just starting with the English language quickly learn how to identify rhythm based on their favorite nursery rhymes.

If the poem uses rhymes, the rhyme scheme also makes the rhythm and meter more obvious. This is because writers must find clever ways to integrate their intended rhymes into their intended rhythm. To do this, many poets engage in the practice of writing aloud to see how everything sounds.

What about rhythm in prose, then? For one thing, rhythm in prose is often more intermittent than rhythm in poetry. While an entire poem may use a special rhythmic meter, prose writing is likelier to use rhythm in specific places (in any given literature example, special meter is likelier to be found at either the very beginning or very end of the text).

Because there are no fixed lines prose, writers usually use special rhythm when they want to make certain moments and characters stand out. In this way, rhythm will only make up a portion of your prose writing, whereas it typically makes up the entirety of a poem.

Elements of rhythmic writing

Rhythm and meter may seem complex, but the core components are very simple. All types of rhythm boil down to two components: the stressed syllable and the unstressed syllable.

How, though, we do actually define rhythm? On the most basic level, it’s defined as the pattern of stresses in writing . These patterns are more visible in poetry, but they are useful in prose because we naturally use stressed and unstressed syllables when we speak. Therefore, rhythm is very useful in prose for dialogue exchanges, to help make characters’ lines seem more realistic.

In order to add more rhythmic writing to the sentence structure of your prose, it’s important to understand more about stressed and unstressed syllables and the relationship between them.

Stressed syllables

It’s impossible to discuss rhythmic writing without discussing the stressed syllable. Despite this, though, many readers and writers are unsure what the term stressed syllables actually means.

A stressed syllable is one that sounds longer than other syllables . This is most noticeable when you pair the stressed syllable with an unstressed one.

For example, take a look at the word “power.” In speech, we naturally put the emphasis on the pow part of this word. Compare this to a word like “idea” where we put the emphasis on the -dea part of the word.

Where you arrange the stress in your writing affects how audiences read your words. You can also play with stresses in creative ways to give certain characters a more rhythmic way of speaking.

For example, imagine you have two characters talking. While this is prose and not poetry, you can sometimes treat their lines of dialogue as if they are lines from a poem. This encourages you to vary your sentence length (which helps the writing sound more realistic) and consider what type of rhythmic meter is best suited to a character. The consecutive stressed syllables of spondees (more on this soon) are great to express that a character is angry, scared, or frustrated. Meanwhile, dactyls involve more syllables and are great for wordier characters because it lets you effortlessly showcase characters that have a lot to say about a topic (or who just enjoy the sound of their own voice).

Unstressed syllables

Now that you know what a stressed syllable is, it’s easier to understand what an unstressed one is. Verbally, these are the shorter-sounding syllables. Once again, it’s easier to notice when placed next to an opposite longer syllable.

For example, take a look at the word “debate.” In speech, we naturally put the emphasis on the bate part of the word rather than the de- part of the word. The de- in “debate” is the unstressed syllable.

Being able to visually or verbally identify the differences between stresses is important. But the real magic comes from the way you make these syllables interact!

The interaction between stressed and unstressed syllables

Both rhythm and meter are easy to understand but complex to master. As you practice your own word rhythm, though, you may discover surprising ways that different syllable combinations can enhance your own writing.

Rhythm works to help certain sounds to leap off the page. For example, “pounding” is a word with one stressed syllable followed by an unstressed one. This helps to emulate the initial sound of someone knocking on a door, with the stressed sound followed by the receiving sound (emulated by the unstressed part).

Combining syllables with different stresses in certain ways helps put your reader in the mindset of the characters in your writing. When done well, rhythm can help your readers understand who is speaking even without you using dialogue tags. We can see an example of this in this passage from J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Sorceror’s Stone :

“You’re right, Harry,” said Hermione in a small voice. “I’ll use the invisibility cloak,” said Harry. “It’s just lucky I got it back.” “But will it cover all three of us?” said Ron. “All—— all three of us?” “Oh, come off it, you don’t think we’d let you go alone?” “Of course not,” said Hermione briskly.

Here, different characters speak with their own rhythms. This not only infuses the characters with added personality, but it makes it easier for readers to differentiate who is saying what even when that is not explicitly described.

Rhythm can also make even plain descriptions of characters into something memorable and stylish. You can see that in this passage from Henry James’ The Wings of the Dove .

“He looked exactly as much as usual—all pink and silver as to skin and hair, all straightness and starch as to figure and dress—the man in the world least connected with anything unpleasant.”

The irony of this passage is that James is describing someone who he thinks has a very typical appearance. But the poetic rhythm and commentary that interrupts this description makes the man seem elemental (he is all color and form and firmness) rather than someone simply flesh and blood. Because of this, the description stands out in the best possible way.

Finally, rhythm is a great way of conveying a specific mood or vibe to the reader. We can see that in this vaguely-haunting passage from Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway :

“It was a park.… And she didn’t know their names, but friends she knew they were, friends without names, songs without words, always the best. But there were so many doors, such unexpected places, she could not find her way.”

Here, the rhythm is used to convey the character’s uncertainty. Lines like “friends without names, songs without words” would be right at home in a poem. However, this poetic intrusion into what would otherwise be a prosaic moment helps to underscore her helplessness at not understanding something important and how she feels lost even among these familiar touchstones.

Types of meter in rhythmic writing

It’s impossible to talk about rhythm without talking about meter and metrical feet.

In writing, feet (sometimes called “metrical feet” or “poetic feet”) refer to specific combinations of stressed and unstressed syllables. Meter , meanwhile, refers to the number of these feet in each line. Therefore, saying a poem is written in “iambic pentameter” means that the poem is written using the feet called “iambs”, and that there are five iambs in each line (the pent- in “pentameter” means “five”).

There are several types of metrical feet that every writer should be familiar with:

The iamb is arguably the most famous poetic foot in the literary world. That’s because Shakespeare used it in many of his most famous works.

An iamb is two syllables: one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed one. One theory held by many is that Shakespeare wrote using iambs because this is how English language naturally flows.

While there are many ways to use iambs, Shakespeare preferred to write in iambic pentameter. That means that each line has ten syllables, so a standard line in Shakespeare’s sonnets would have five iambs.

For a perfect example, see Romeo and Juliet ’s prologue, which is written in this meter. The first line starts with: “Two households, both alike in dignity.” This line has five iambs, each beginning with one unstressed syllable, and is followed by several lines using the same pattern.

The spondee is best understood in opposition to the iamb. While an iamb is made of an unstressed syllable and a stressed syllable, a spondee is made up of two or more stressed syllables in a row.

Spondees are relatively rare in writing because language naturally lends itself to a mixture of stressed and unstressed beats. But you may want to use a stressed syllable followed by another one to express a sense of breathless urgency to your writing.

Arguably the most famous use of spondees comes from Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poem “Break, Break, Break.” The poem begins with those same repeating words (“break, break, break”) and shows how rhythm and meter can simulate how waves crash into the shore.

The trochee is another type of foot that writers should be familiar with. It effectively serves as the mirror image of the iamb: it’s one stressed syllable followed by an unstressed one.

Earlier, we touched on how memorable “The Raven” is. Its popularity is due in part to Poe having composed the poem using trochaic meter, with lines like “And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting / On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door.”

Trochaic meter is a great way to create a memorable beginning to your story. Alternatively, metrical writing can turn the final words of your story into something that’s hauntingly memorable, and it can also give certain dialogue an animated vibe that helps to liven up the standard back-and-forth of dialogue exchanges.

So far, we’ve focused on types of feet that use two syllables. But what if you have a word that’s more than two syllables?

Dactyls are a type of metrical foot spread across three syllables. In a dactyl, the first syllable is stressed and the second syllable and third syllable are unstressed. An example of this is the word “murmuring”.

Because dactyls have three syllables, they’re a handy way of creating sound effects in a reader’s mind. For example, saying that a running sink is murmuring helps someone imagine both the sound of the water and its amount thanks to the two unstressed syllables simulating a trickle of water.

Just as the spondee is the opposite of the iamb, the anapest is the opposite of the dactyl. With an anapest, the first syllable and second syllable are unstressed, while the third one is stressed.

The most famous use of anapests might be in Clement Clark Moore’s “’Twas the Night before Christmas.” Each line contains multiple anapests, starting from the very beginning: “’Twas the Night before Christmas, when all through the house.”

Metrical patterns can extend across different words. In this case, “’Twas the night” is one anapest and “before Christ—” is another. “-mas when all” is another anapest, and “through the house” is the final one. The rhythm created by back-to-back anapests made of three syllables gives this work a very musical feel to readers, especially when it is read aloud.

Why is rhythm important in prose writing?

Using rhythm in prose helps to give your writing a greater sense of style and voice. Doing so can make your text more emotional as well as more memorable.

Writing in rhythmic prose can make it more stylistic. We can see a great example of this at the end of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby , with the line “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” the final line of

Much of this line is written in iambs. This, combined with alliteration, give the whole sentence a very stylistic flourish and an almost musical quality.

It can also help define your own voice in writing. For example, do you want to write in the bleak, unadorned manner of Ernest Hemingway? Or maybe the mythic language of J.R.R. Tolkien? Keep in mind it took these writers years to fine-tune the rhythmic writing that helped define their literary styles.

Exactly how you use rhythm can also lend emotional weight to certain characters and scenes. For example, dialogue that is fast-paced and full of stressed syllables expresses a sense of urgency and even fear. But dialogue that’s slower and full of unstressed syllables may come across as peaceful and laconic.

Rhythm can also help make your writing more memorable. As an example, Cormac McCarthy begins The Road using an anapestic meter: “When he woke in the woods in the dark and the cold of the night.” Here, rhythm creates a memorable start to his tale, with McCarthy’s rhythmic opening standing in contrast to the general bleakness of his prose.

Does every story need rhythmic writing?

Not all prose needs to rely on rhythmic writing. Just as certain kinds of poetry eschew meter and embrace free verse, certain kinds of fiction may have little in the way of meter or special stress patterns.

With that being said, rhythm doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing proposition for a writer. Many great writers, including Fitzgerald and McCarthy, don’t use rhythmic patterns in most of their writing. Rather, they selectively use rhythmical patterns to help enhance certain sections (such as the very end and very beginning of books).

Long story short? You can be a great prose writer without consciously incorporating the long and short patterns of meter into your work. But you can treat rhythm as a kind of secret sauce that you add to certain sections in order to help them grab the reader’s attention.

The relationship between rhythm and style

Many writers want to create a distinctive writing style. Unfortunately, most classrooms and lists of writing tips don’t really focus on how to craft a unique style. However, according to Virginia Woolf, your writing style is intimately tied to rhythm!

In one of her famous letters, Wolf wrote the following:

Style is a very simple matter: it is all rhythm. Once you get that, you can’t use the wrong words. But on the other hand here am I sitting after half the morning, crammed with ideas, and visions, and so on, and can’t dislodge them, for lack of the right rhythm. Now this is very profound, what rhythm is, and goes far deeper than words. A sight, an emotion, creates this wave in the mind, long before it makes words to fit it; and in writing (such is my present belief) one has to recapture this, and set this working (which has nothing apparently to do with words) and then, as it breaks and tumbles in the mind, it makes words to fit it.

According to Woolf, developing a better sense of rhythm will help writers naturally develop a better sense of style. She describes a familiar dilemma for writers: having plenty of great ideas but being unsure how to bring those ideas to life.

Just as rhythm in poetry can help a poet find the right words, rhythm in prose can help prose writers do the same. Woolf believes that rhythm goes beyond making your writing more stylistic. The right use of something like a trochaic pattern or iambic tetrameter can help translate the creative vision in your head to the page in a way that readers can relate to.

To better understand what Woolf meant, consider the familiar idea that rhythm in writing makes the text almost musical. Just like a singer can’t fully articulate the lyrics to their song until they have composed the rhythm, so too a writer may not be able to say everything they wish to say in their prose without first planning how to say it. In turn, since good writing involves sharing your truth with the world, Woolf believes that the style of rhythmic writing helps to capture memories, thoughts, and emotions much more accurately than plain prose.

How can you follow Woolf’s advice in your own writing? First, look at passages of your existing writing and experiment with adding the kinds of meter we’ve described before—for example, rewriting dialogue exchanges to make them sound more rhythmic. Second, take some ideas that you haven’t had a chance to write about yet and try to deliberately write everything out using selective rhythm throughout. This will give you practice on writing rhythmic prose more or less from scratch.

Done right, this ends up being a win-win for writers and readers. Focusing on rhythm can help authors overcome writer’s block and express their ideas even as it helps you to articulate and explore your own unique writing style. Furthermore, reading prose styled around metrical units can help readers understand and appreciate what you have to say, especially when your text is read aloud.

Using rhythm in prose to establish your characters

Still on the fence about when to use rhythmic writing in your text? One of the best ways to do so is to help establish your characters.

Think about the friends, family, and colleagues you deal with on a regular basis. Do they all speak the same way? No; chances are they speak in a mixture of shorter and longer sentences and with variety in how they stress the syllables they use.

You can give certain characters certain rhythms as part of their dialogue. When these rhythms are distinct enough, readers can tell who’s speaking even without you using explicit dialogue tags. This can help you create more direct and streamlined prose that readers enjoy.

Our earlier example of this came from Harry Potter . To expand on that example, think about some of the phrases we associate with different characters in that story. Harry’s hapless friend Ron Weasley tends to have shorter dialogue and repeats phrases like “Are you mental?” Therefore, we can easily identify Ron when he makes a triumphant return in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows :

“Are—you—mental?” Nothing but the shock of hearing that voice could have given Harry the strength to get up. Shivering violently, he staggered to his feet. There before him stood Ron, fully dressed but drenched to the skin, his hair plastered to his face, the sword of Gryffindor in one hand and the Horcrux dangling from its broken chain in the other.

As readers, we share Harry’s relief at Ron coming back to save the day. And thanks to the short cadence of Ron’s speech, we know who it is well before the text clarifies that this is Ron Weasley.

How is rhythmic dialogue different from standard speech?

Rhythms in dialogue are written using a deliberate meter, while normal speech involves a simple back and forth between two characters that might not otherwise stand out.

We can see this difference in a scene from the movie Shakespeare In Love . Philip Henslowe, who owns the theater that performs Shakespeare’s plays, is trying to have a conversation with the Bard. When Henslowe pointedly asks Shakespeare if he has started working on his latest play, the writer, annoyed, responds with, “Doubt that the stars are fire, doubt that the sun doth move.”

Henslowe, equally annoyed, says to Shakespeare what countless students over the years wish they could have told him: “No, no, we haven’t the time. Talk prose.”

Shakespeare’s response is rhythmic, strung together with one metrical foot after another. As with all rhythms in writing, you could mistake this line for something out of poetry. But because such dialogue takes longer to both imagine and express, most people (like Henslowe) speak in plainer language.

What does this mean for you when writing dialogue? As some of our previous examples of rhythm show, the kind of measured motion of rhythmic dialogue really stands out against plain speech. If you have one or maybe just a handful of characters speaking like this and everyone else speaking in plain prose, it helps to distinguish those characters. Alternatively, if you have everyone speak with their own special rhythm, you can blur the lines between prose and poetry and create text that is very dreamlike.

Examples of rhythm in literature

To better understand how to use rhythm in your writing, it’s important to understand how is has been used over the years in great literature.

Here, we have a passage from Tara Moore’s Fade to Dead :

A snort, quickly muffled. No surprise where that came from. Beckwith’s eyes narrowed. He glared at Jessica, if-looks-could-kill. Serene, she gazed back, innocent as the day is long, except for the derisory glint in her cat-green eyes. No hiding that.

In this passage, rhythm plays a role in a couple of different ways. First, the words are choppy enough to reflect Jessica’s annoyance with her colleague. That choppy rhythm also helps to propel the scene and gives it a sense of mild urgency. The changing use of meters throughout helps to add to the uncertainty and tension of the scene.

Think of it this way: chances are that this is your first time reading this passage. Despite that, the rhythm helps to clearly define the personalities of these characters as well as their relationships. The short “if-looks-could-kill” ending to the fourth sentence paints Beckwith as a no-nonsense, all-business character. Meanwhile, the longer sentence describing Jessica’s reaction effectively extends the comparison of her to a cat: she’s happy to mess with serious characters, coming across as a perfectly chaotic foil to someone like Beckwith.

Another example to check out is the beginning of “On the Road to Yazoo City,” a short story by William H. Coles:

My life at twenty-one was never in tune—like a D-string on an antique Gibson with a peg that wouldn’t hold—and I’m walking up this two lane side road about ten miles West of Canton and North of Jackson where I have just come from. Haven’t seen a car in maybe an hour, the straps of my backpack digging into my shoulders, the sun burning my eyes ’cause I lost my shades leaning over a riverbank to fill my water jug, and dragging this guitar case because it’s just too heavy to lift off the ground. The pits. But I gotta make it work. I’m flat broke.

Here, the writer uses a mixture of longer and shorter sentences to create a sense of rhythm. The long sentence in the middle is deliberately poetic, with commas that function like line breaks in poetry. You can see uses of poetic meter throughout that help lines stand out, including “like a D-string on an antique Gibson with a peg that wouldn’t hold.” Here, the combination of meter and simile helps to instantly grab the reader’s attention while fleshing out this character.

Furthermore, this is perhaps our best example yet of rhythm making writing sound more like music. The short descriptions of our narrator’s woes flow culminate in a longer lamentation of his situation that would feel right at home in an old blues song. At the same time, the longer sentence is followed by shorter ones like “the pits” and “I’m flat broke” that help to underscore a theme: his life, like a busted guitar, is no longer making music like it used to. And he must adapt to the new circumstances or die trying as he adapts to a harsh new way of life.

Create memorable writing with rhythm and meter

Rhythm in literature is one of the most effective techniques you can use to write memorable prose.

With the tips we’ve given you here, you should be well on your way to writing text that engages with readers from the very first line. While you don’t need to use rhythm constantly, judicious use of it to your prose will make you a stronger writer who crafts the kinds of lines that readers never forget.

Join one of the largest writing communities online!

Scribophile is a community where writers from all over the world grow their creative lives together. Write, learn, meet beta readers, get feedback on your writing, and become a better writer with us!

Join now for free

Related articles

What is an Oxymoron? Easy Definition, With Examples from Literature

What is Alliteration? Definition, examples and tips

Poetic Devices List: 27 Main Poetic Devices with Examples

Literary Elements: What are the 7 Elements of Literature?

What Is Repetition in a Story: Definition and Examples of Repetition in Literature

Literary Devices List: 33 Main Literary Devices with Examples

Rhythm refers to the use of long and short stresses, or stressed and unstressed, within the writing.

Rhythm usually applies to poetry, although there are examples in prose poetry and prose . It is the pace at which a reader moves through the next, where the stressed words/syllables are, and how those things affect the reader’s understanding of the poem. It can help make some words stand out while allowing others to fade into the background.  

Explore Rhythm

• 1 Definition of Rhythm 
• 2 Types of Rhythm 
• 3 Examples of Rhythm in Poetry 
• 4 Why Do Writers Use Rhythm? 
• 6 Related Literary Terms 
• 7 Other Resources 

Definition of Rhythm  

The word “rhythm” comes from the Greek meaning “measured motion.” It is the pattern of stresses in poetic writing. Writers use various types of rhythms and numbers of syllables in order to create these patterns. Some, like iambic pentameter , are extremely common and widely used. This particular pattern is quite regular, often sounding like a heart or drum beat. Other patterns, like trochaic tetrameter , are slightly less common but still widely used. Others poems that use dactyls and spondees throughout every line are very uncommon. These types are metrical feet that usually appear a few times, but are not consistently used when a writer applies them to their verse .

Types of Rhythm  

• Iamb : the most common of all metrical feet. An iamb is a set of two syllables, the first of which is unstressed or short, and the second of which is stressed or long. If a line consists of iambs , it is “iambic.”  
• Trochee : another type of metrical foot used in English verse. It is made up of two syllables, the first of which is stressed or long, and the second of which is unstressed or short. If a line consists of trochees , it is “trochaic.” Common forms are trochaic tetrameter and trochaic trimeter .
• Spondee : a type of metrical foot that is made up of two stressed, or long, syllables. Lines that use spondees are “ spondaic .”  
• Anapest : contains three syllables. The first two are unstressed, and the last is stressed.  
• Dactyl : the opposite of an anapest. It contains three syllables. The first is stressed, and the next two are unstressed.  

Examples of Rhythm in Poetry  

Sorrow by edna st. vincent millay  .

In this beautiful poem, Milly uses the trochaic meter . The poet uses a depressed, grief-filled tone throughout the poem, employing dark images and creating a fairly oppressive mood . There are many different examples of figurative language , all of which are enhanced by her choice of meter . Here are the first lines:  

Sorrow like a ceaseless rain Beats upon my heart. People twist and scream in pain, — Dawn will find them still again; This has neither wax nor wane, Neither stop nor start.

Trochaic meter is one of the most popular kinds of rhythms in poetry. It is composed of what is known as a “ falling rhythm ,” this refers to the fact that the stress happens first, and then the unstressed beat falls from it. This kind of meter is usually slower than iambs, but it can fill a poem with drama .  

Explore more Edna St. Vincent Millay poems .

Sonnet 18 by William Shakespeare

Iambs are an incredibly common unit of rhythm in English verse. When written out, an iamb sounds line du-DUM and is made up of one unstressed and one stressed syllable. This is the kind of pattern that can be found throughout much of William Shakespeare’s poetry, including within ‘ Sonnet 18,’ also known as ‘Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day.’ Here are the first lines of the poem:  

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate: Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer’s lease hath all too short a date;

Iambs are often described as sounding like a heartbeat. They’re easy to use throughout an entire poem, as Shakespeare often did.  

Read more William Shakespeare poems .  

Annabel Lee by Edgar Allan Poe

‘Annabel Lee’ is one of Poe’s best-loved poems. It is often quoted, memorized, and read out loud. This is in part due to the rolling, wave-like use of anapestic meter in the poem. The poem begins with a seemingly joyful description of the love between two people. But, in classic Poe style , it grows darker and darker until the speaker ’s love has passed away. She’s taken into Heaven due to the seraph’s coveting of their love. Here are a few lines:  

It was many and many a year ago In a kingdom by the sea

The first lines combine iambs and anapests together. The first line is made up of three anapests followed by an iamb, while the second line uses two anapests followed by an iamb. More can be seen in these lines from later on in the poem:  

For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams Of the beautiful Annabel Lee; And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;

Discover more poems by Edgar Allan Poe .

Why Do Writers Use Rhythm?  

Rhythm is one of the most important features of poetry. It works to provide the poem with a pattern of beats, one that influences the way the reader hears the sounds and the speed at which they read them. The stressed and unstressed beats produce different results that make every poem different. They give poetry a song-like quality that makes it a pleasure to hear and to read out loud.  

That all being said, not all poets choose to use rhythm in their poetry. Many contemporary poems are written in free verse .  

The use of unstressed and stressed syllables in poetry as well as a certain number of syllables per line. 

Rhythm is important because it allows poets to create a pattern of beats, one that gives the verse song-like qualities. It can influence a reader’s perception of the poem. 

The most common types of the rhythm of iambic pentameter , iambic tetrameter , trochaic tetrameter , and trochaic trimeter . 

A set of two syllables in poetry. The first is unstressed, and the second is stressed. It is very common in English-language verse . 

Free verse is a style of writing that does not use a rhyme scheme or metrical pattern. These poems lack a structured rhythm, but that doesn’t mean there is no rhythm at all.

Related Literary Terms  

• Cadence : the natural rhythm of a piece of text, created through a writer’s selective arrangement of words, rhymes , and the creation of meter.
• Sprung Rhythm : a rhythmic pattern used in poetry that mimics natural speech .
• Hymn Stanza : uses a rhyme scheme of ABCB and alternates between iambic trimeter and iambic tetrameter.
• Meter : the pattern of beats in a line of poetry. It is a combination of the number of beats and arrangement of stresses.
• Poetic Foot : a foot refers to a unit of meter in poetry. It is a grouping of stressed and/or unstressed syllables.

Other Resources  

• Listen: Rhyme Scheme, Rhythm, Repetition
• Watch: The Pleasure of Poetic Pattern
• Watch: Rhythm & Meter

Home » Poetic Meters » Rhythm

The Definitive Literary Glossary Crafted by Experts

All terms defined are created by a team of talented literary experts, to provide an in-depth look into literary terms and poetry, like no other.

Cite This Page

Baldwin, Emma. "Rhythm". Poem Analysis , https://poemanalysis.com/poetic-meter/rhythm/ . Accessed 28 September 2024.

[email protected]

Poem Solutions Limited International House 36-38 Cornhill, London EC3V 3NG United Kingdom

Help Center

Request an Analysis

(not a member? Join now)

Poem PDF Guides

PDF Learning Library

Beyond the Verse Podcast

Poetry Archives

Poetry Explained

Poet Biographies

Useful Links

Poem Explorer

Poem Generator

(and discover the hidden secrets to understanding poetry)

Get PDFs to Help You Learn Poetry

250+ Reviews

Want to adapt books like this? Learn more about how Pressbooks supports open practices.

Musicality of Poems

Poems have a musicality to them. They are meant to be read aloud to hear the sound, the rhythm, and sometimes the rhyme. How do poets create sound and rhythm in their poems? Through several literary devices.

Assonance 

Assonance is the repetition of the same vowel sound in words near each other.

Consonance 

Consonance is the repetition of the same consonant sounds in words near each other

Alliteration

Alliteration is the repetition of the same consonant sounds at the beginning of words near each other.

Onomatopoeia

Onomatopoeia means a word resembles the meaning sound it represents.

Rhyme requires two or more words that repeat the same sounds.. They are often spelled in a similar way, but they don’t have to be spelled in similar ways. Rhyme can occur at the end of a line, called end rhyme, or it can occur in the middle of the line, called internal rhyme.

Rhythm, of course, is the beat–the stressed syllables in a poem. Poets have a variety of possibilities for building that rhythm and ending lines.

Meter is the countable beat that a poet or reader can count. The rhythm will have equal intervals. Count the beat in William Blake’s poem “The Lamb.”

The Lamb Author : William Blake ©1789

Little Lamb, who made thee? Dost thou know who made thee? Gave thee life & bid thee feed By the stream & o’er the mead; Gave thee clothing of delight, Softest clothing, wooly, bright; Gave thee such a tender voice, Making all the vales rejoice? Little Lamb, who made thee? Dost thou know who made thee?

Little Lamb, I’ll tell thee, Little Lamb, I’ll tell thee: He is callèd by thy name, For he calls himself a Lamb. He is meek, & he is mild; He became a little child. I a child, & thou a lamb, We are callèd by his name. Little Lamb, God bless thee! Little Lamb, God bless thee!

Also, look for alliteration, assonance, consonance, and end-rhyme.

Caesuras are a break, pause, or interruption in the line.

End-Stopped Line

An end-stopped line occurs like natural speech; it ends at the end of a line.

Enjambment 

Enjambment, the opposite of the end-stopped line, does not pause at the end of a line. It continues on without a pause into the next line. For example, poets may break between the subject and a verb, an article and a noun, or between a helping verb and an action verb. In the poem “Endymion,” John Keats uses enjambment. Read this excerpt–the first five lines:

Endymion Author : John Keats ©1817

A thing of beauty is a joy forever: Its loveliness increases; it will never Pass into nothingness; but still will keep A bower quiet for us, and a sleep Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.

Introduction to Creative Writing by Lumen Learning is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

Share This Book

Literary Devices

Literary devices, terms, and elements, definition of rhythm, types of meter, common examples of rhythm, significance of rhythm in literature, examples of rhythm in literature.

So. The SPEAR-danes in DAYS gone BY And the KINGS who RULED them had COUrage and GREATness. We have HEARD of those PRINces’ herOic camPAIGNS.

( Beowulf translated by Seamus Heaney)

Shall I comPARE thee TO a SUMmer’s DAY? Thou ART more LOVEly AND more TEMPerATE: Rough WINDS do SHAKE the DARling BUDS of MAY, And SUMmer’s LEASE hath ALL too SHORT a DATE: … So LONG as MEN can BREATHE, or EYES can SEE, So LONG lives THIS, and THIS gives LIFE to THEE.

(“Sonnet 18” by William Shakespeare)

Whose WOODS these ARE I THINK I KNOW. His HOUSE is IN the VILLage THOUGH; He WILL not SEE me STOPping HERE To WATCH his WOODS fill UP with SNOW.

This is an example of iambic tetrameter, which means that there are four iambs per line. The rhythm in this poem can be equated to the sound of the man travelling by horse through the woods. Indeed, Frost is even more faithful to his chosen rhythm than the previous Shakespeare example; the rigidity of Frost’s rhythm is reminiscent of footsteps and creates a somewhat soporific effect on the reader.

It was MAny and MAny a YEAR ag0, In a KINGdom BY the SEA, That a MAIden THERE lived WHOM you may KNOW By the NAME of ANnabel LEE; And this MAIden she LIVED with NO other THOUGHT Than to LOVE and be LOVED by ME.

The rhythm in Edgar Allen Poe’s poem “Annabel Lee” has a singing quality to it, like in Seamus Heaney’s translation of Beowulf . Poe creates this by alternating between anapests and iambs. Every line starts with an anapest (“In a KING…,” “By the NAME,” and “Than to LOVE,” for example) and continues with either another anapest or an iamb. Rather than the up-down rhythm of iambic pentameter, the rhythm in this poem creates a more melodic quality.

SUNdays TOO my FAther GOT up EARly and PUT his CLOTHES on in the BLUEBLACK COLD, THEN with CRACKED HANDS that ACHED from LAbor in the WEEKday WEAther made BANKED FIRES BLAZE. NO one EVer THANKED him.

This is an interesting example of rhythm in that the rhythm varies greatly from line to line. The first line is a very straightforward example of trochaic pentameter. After that line, however, there are many shifts in rhythm. The shifts are even more interesting because the first line seems to set up a very standard rhythm. Yet then we see iambs and an example of a spondee, in “cracked hands,” and even sets of three stressed syllables in a row, such as “blueblack cold” and “banked fires blaze” (this more uncommon type of meter is called molossus). The end of this excerpt then returns to a trochaic meter with “No one ever thanked him.” The trochaic lines seem plodding in their straightforward meter and indeed refer to the father’s relentless work, whereas the spondee and molossus examples correspond to the intensity of his work and indeed the most vivid imagery. Hayden uses rhythm brilliantly to suggest the different aspects of the father’s work.

Test Your Knowledge of Rhythm

My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun.

Which of the types of meter is present in this line? A. Iamb B. Trochee C. Spondee [spoiler title=”Answer to Question #2″]Answer: A is the correct answer.[/spoiler]

If a roadside sign said VISIT OUR GIFT SHOP—we had to visit it, had to buy the Indian curios, dolls, copper jewelry, cactus candy. The words “novelties and souvenirs” simply entranced her by their trochaic lilt.

Are the words “novelties and souvenirs” really examples of trochees, as Nabokov implies? A. Yes. The phrase, taken as a full line, represents trochaic meter: NOvel|TIES and |SOUven|IRS. B. No. Both words are examples of anapests. C. No. “Novelties” is an example of a dactyl, while “souvenirs” is an example of anapest. [spoiler title=”Answer to Question #3″]Answer: A   is the correct answer.[/spoiler]

• Skip to primary navigation
• Skip to main content
• Skip to primary sidebar

WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®

Helping writers become bestselling authors

What is Rhythmic Writing?

April 12, 2022 by SUE COLETTA - Resident Writing Coach

Rhythm is one of the most underrated aspects of writing, but readers sense the rhythm in our words, whether they realize it or not. Rhythm attracts readers to certain authors.

Life Itself Has a Rhythm

Whether it’s our heartbeat or the motion of the sun, moon, and planets, we’re embedded within a rhythmic world. Hence why rhythm has such enormous power. It’s built into who we are.

Have you ever lounged on a blanket outside at night, stargazing? Nature is never silent. Even a quiet evening has a melodic undercurrent — a pulse, if you will.

The same holds true in writing.

Rhythm Defines a Mood

Rhythm forces the reader to either rush through the pages, flipping one after another, or nestle in the comfy chair to quietly enjoy the story.  Words dance. The writer who pays attention to story rhythm creates sentences that waltz, jerk, tango, stutter, tap dance, float, and sing.

Good writing ebbs and flows by varying sentences, paragraphs, and chapter length and structure.

Notice the atmosphere Hemingway creates in Farewell to Arms .

In the late summer of that year we lived in a house in a village that looked across the river and the plain to the mountains. In the bed of the river there were pebbles and boulders, dry and white in the sun, and the water was clear and swiftly moving and blue in the channels. Troops went by the house and down the road and the dust they raised powdered the leaves of the trees. The trunks of the trees too were dusty and the leaves fell early that year and we saw the troops marching along the road and the dust rising and leaves, stirred by the breeze, falling and the soldiers marching and afterward the road bare and white except for the leaves.

Rhythm Defines Pace

In music, tone length and dramatic pauses define rhythm. When long notes blend without pauses, the music flows like a swan across still water. On the flipside, short notes with clear pauses draw your attention. The music amps you up.

The same principles apply to writing. Rhythmic writing is defined by punctuation and the stress patterns of words. As a general rule, long sentences are more relaxing, while staccato sentences startle the reader. They draw attention. They force the reader to pay attention.

Tension builds and releases. When a movie reaches its climax, the rhythm increases in pace only to subside as the story resolves. Within the larger rhythmic structure of a story, micro-structures also generate rhythm. Scenes change and plots twist. An interruption in the rhythmic flow transports the reader in a new direction. It knocks them off balance — a gentle slap to ensure they’ll keep flipping pages.  

Sentence Structure

If each sentence follows the same structure and rhythm, the writing becomes boring and predictable. Writers who play with rhythm can create tension in many ways, depending on punctuation and word choice.

In the following example, notice how the intentional repetition of hard -ed verbs create tension in The Killing Song by PJ Parrish

He watched her for the next hour. Watched her playing with the plastic snow globe she had picked up in the souvenir shop. Watched her finish her peach tart, tuck her Fodor’s in her purse and wind the red scarf around her slender white neck.

In the next sentence, the authors slow the pace by varying the sentence structure, adding gerunds, and visceral detail, yet maintain the creepy atmosphere.

In the crowded elevator traveling down from the restaurant in the Eiffel Tower, he stood behind her, closing his eyes as he breathed in the grassy scent of her hair.

In White Fang by Jack London, note where he forces the reader to pause.

A vast silence reigned over the land. The land itself was a desolation, lifeless, without movement, so lone and cold that the spirit of it was not even that of sadness.

London also uses repetition but not with a hard -ed verb.

There was a hint in it of laughter, but of a laughter more terrible than any sadness — a laughter that was mirthless as the smile of the Sphinx, a laughter cold as the frost and partaking of the grimness of infallibility. It was the masterful and incommunicable wisdom of eternity laughing at the futility of life and the effort of life. It was the Wild, the savage, frozen-hearted Northland Wild.

Does Point-of-View Matter?

Not at all. Using rhythm as a literary device isn’t limited to 1 st or 3 rd POV , or even past or present tense. Check out the melodic rhythm in Try Darkness by James Scott Bell. The novel is written in 1 st POV, but the following excerpt is in 2 nd POV to show the protagonist talking to himself.

And then you wonder what makes you go on, what makes you care, because it’s in there somewhere, the caring, even if you don’t know why, even if you don’t know any reason for it. It’s just there and that’s why you don’t sleep.

You look out at the dark, you walk around in it, you think maybe there’ll be a big insight, a sudden realization. And then everything will add up. That’s the hope part, the part the absurdists call a fool’s game.

Are you just a fool like everybody else?

You think of the girl and you think of her being scared and you can’t stand it, and caring becomes torture.

If God was in the room right now you’d scream at him.

That’s what you think about when you can’t sleep.

Next time you read a novel, pay attention to its story rhythm. Where does the author let you pause? How does the author vary long and short sentences? How does the writing ebb and flow? Do you notice a similar rhythm in the writing of your favorite authors?

Do you pay attention to rhythm in your writing?

Sue Coletta is an award-winning crime writer and active member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, and International Thriller Writers. Feedspot and Expertido.org named her Murder Blog “Best 100 Crime Blogs on the Net.” She also blogs at the Kill Zone (Writer’s Digest “101 Best Websites for Writers”). Her backlist includes psychological thrillers, the Mayhem Series (books 1-3), Grafton County Series, and true crime/narrative nonfiction. Now, she exclusively writes eco-thrillers, Mayhem Series (books 4-7 and continuing). Sue’s appeared on the Emmy award-winning true crime series, Storm of Suspicion, and three episodes of A Time to Kill on Investigation Discovery. Find out more about our RWC team  here  and connect with Sue below or at www.suecoletta.com .

Share this:

• Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
• Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
• Click to print (Opens in new window)

Reader Interactions

April 13, 2022 at 10:35 am

This is probably what distinguishes great writing from the average.

April 13, 2022 at 11:01 am

Thanks, VM. Agreed. 😁

April 12, 2022 at 2:03 pm

Thanks for a lovely article. I do a specific edit on my drafts for the rhythm of the words. And it helps so much, as Becca says, to read them out loud.

And do you ever wonder how folks read these passages you quoted and then decided on the “no adverbs/no adjectives” rules?

April 12, 2022 at 3:09 pm

Great question, Gifford. IMO, blanket statements like that aren’t helpful. I never subscribed to the “kill all adverbs and adjectives” from your writing advice. They’re useful words, except after a dialogue tag or when they water down the writing. The problem is new writers tend to overuse them, and that can be problematic. 🙂

April 12, 2022 at 12:47 pm

Sue, Thank you for this wonderful and important post! Really great advice.

I do a lot of revising after I’ve written a first draft, and I’m aware of the cadence of the words when I go back and look at things again. Some of my revisions are just to get the rhythm right.

April 12, 2022 at 1:26 pm

Kay, so nice to “see” you here! Concentrating on rhythm in subsequent drafts sounds like a solid revision process. Striking the correct rhythm at the right time can make all the difference.

April 12, 2022 at 10:16 am

Sue, great post today. So helpful. Thank you. Your examples really strike home.

April 12, 2022 at 11:41 am

Thank you, Paula. I’m so glad it resonated with you.

April 12, 2022 at 10:06 am

This is a topic so rarely talked about – thank you for this, Sue!

April 12, 2022 at 11:43 am

It’s odd, right? For such an important topic, I’m surprised there isn’t more written about story rhythm. Thanks, Angela!

April 12, 2022 at 9:52 am

The best writing advice I’ve read in a long time. The examples are perfect too. Thanks.

April 12, 2022 at 11:45 am

Wow. Thank you, Darlene! I’m so glad you enjoyed it.

April 12, 2022 at 9:19 am

This is such a great post! Thank you, Sue, for sharing!

April 12, 2022 at 9:38 am

Thank you, Jan! Nice to “see” you here. 🙂

April 12, 2022 at 9:13 am

Thanks for this awesome post, Sue! Having the right rhythm makes stories so much stronger.

When I first started writing, my major ‘aha’ moment for rhythm came from reading SPEAK by Laurie Halse Anderson. The heartbeat throughout was so incredibly strong. I started playing around with my rhythm a lot more after that.

April 12, 2022 at 9:41 am

Thanks, Mindy! I’m so glad you enjoyed it.

I started the same way. Katia Lief’s rhythm entranced me, and I bought every book she wrote, dissecting her words, her rhythm, how she forced me to feel. Still love her writing.

April 12, 2022 at 8:19 am

Rhythm is so important, but it’s one of those background things that you don’t often notice unless something’s wrong—and then, you often can’t put your finger on what’s wrong. So I agree it’s super important to become more aware of this in our own writing. It’s one reason I keep banging the Read Your Work Aloud drum, because that’s a great way to start hearing where the rhythm is off.

April 12, 2022 at 9:02 am

Reading our work aloud is the perfect way to check if the rhythm is off, Becca. Or use a text-to-speech app. Or both. 🙂

April 12, 2022 at 6:38 am

I must agree with you. Awareness of the rhythm of your words as you write is essential.

I’ve loved music and poetry all my life; and I believe both have an influence on writing. The link between music and poetry is very strong. My best verses were written to the beat of a specific tune. The cadence of both verse and music subconsciously influences how I write – a even what I write.

When I wrote a story to the prompt “winter”, I consciously used music for my muse. I listened to “Winter” from Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” as I wrote. It gave me the setting and story line: a train, charging clickety-clack along the track across Siberia; the engine snorting and huffing in the snow and the freezing cold, as it bore the last Tsar and his family to their final destination.

April 12, 2022 at 9:05 am

Love that image you created, Andie! I build a playlist for each book. The minute I slide on the headphones I’m transported back into my story world. Works great.

April 12, 2022 at 10:14 am

Andie, I too use music to get the flow of my writing going. Love how Vivaldi’s Winter served your creativity! When I wrote my novel Greylock about a music composer, I listened to many symphonies while writing the story, even to the point of playing an imaginary keyboard.

[…] out to be Authors Prime Suggestions for Advertising YA Books by LL Hunter at E-book Brush Weblog What’s Rhythmic Writing? by Sue Coletta at Writers Serving to Writers 15 Guidelines for Promoting Books by David […]

[…] What is Rhythmic Writing? by Sue Coletta […]

• Skip to primary navigation
• Skip to main content
• Skip to footer

Enchanting Marketing

Writing advice for small business

Rhythm in Writing: How to Make Your Words Swing and Swirl

by Henneke | 67 enchanting opinions, add yours? :)

T he rhythm in your writing can be sensed by readers. But what is this rhythm? And where does it come from?

This article covers:

Write with rhythm

Most business writers ignore the power of rhythm.

They think rhythm is for poets, musicians, and dancers. Why would a business writer worry about something as esoteric as rhythm?

Well, have you ever worked out while listening to music? Did you notice how the cadence of the music influenced your speed of running, cycling or lifting weights?

You might not be aware of it, but a higher-tempo song makes you bounce a little faster. Your brain synchronizes with the tempo of the music; and, as neuroscientist Dr. Daniel Levitin argues , you might not even feel your muscles protesting because the music enhances your mood and increases your pain threshold.

There’s music in writing, too

Writing can stutter and stumble. Writing can flow so softly, it almost sends you to sleep. Writing can hop and skip, putting a smile on your face.

Rhythm is one of the most underrated aspects of writing.

Just like the music during your workout, your readers can sense the rhythm in your writing. Even when they aren’t reading your copy aloud, they can hear its rhythm because they listen to their inner speech. Inner speech mimics “outer” speech, using similar brain areas and even producing tiny movements in the muscles of your larynx.

Yucky rhythm can make your readers click away, while carefully composed rhythm can keep your readers engaged.

Music is what language would love to be if it could. ~ John O’Donohue

Want to know how rhythm can enhance your content?

Examples of rhythm in writing

Rhythm is easiest to spot in poetry, where the same cadence is repeated line after line. Here’s an example of Dr. Seuss:

I’m Yertle the Turtle! Oh, marvelous me! For I am the ruler of all that I see!

Note how the stress pattern is the same in the first and third sentence, and also in the second and fourth. Stressed syllables in bold:

I’m Yer tle the Tur tle! Oh, mar velous me ! For I am the ru ler of all that I see !

The rhythm in nursery rhymes and traditional poetry tends to be fairly rigid. But while prose and modern poetry don’t stick to a rigid pattern, you can still hear their rhythm.

Have you read On the Road by Jack Kerouac? It reads like the author is in a hurry to get his story shared. When reading, you hardly have time to take a breath, the sentences keep running, one after the other. Here’s an example:

I first met Dean not long after my wife and I split up. I had just gotten over a serious illness that I won’t bother to talk about, except that it had something to do with the miserably weary split-up and my feeling that everything was dead. With the coming of Dean Moriarty began the part of my life you could call my life on the road.

When you read a paragraph a couple of times, preferably aloud, you’ll get a better feel for its rhythm.

Notice how the rhythm of the description of the Ammo Can packaging from Man Crates below is similar to Jack Kerouac’s paragraph:

The NATO spec Ammo Can is air-tight, waterproof, and virtually indestructible. Even if your gift mistakenly gets shipped to the inside of an active volcano then shot into the middle of the ocean where the government is conducting nuclear test explosions, the contents will be safe and sound.

Rhythm creates a mood. Rhythm can make you rush ahead, or slow you down to quietly enjoy reading. In the paragraph below from All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, the pace ebbs and flows :

When she opens the bedroom window, the noise of the airplanes becomes louder. Otherwise, the night is dreadfully silent: no engines, no voices, no clatter. No sirens. No footfalls on the cobbles. Not even gulls. Just a high tide, one block away and six stories below, lapping at the base of the city walls. And something else. Something rattling softly, very close. She eases open the left-hand shutter and runs her fingers up the slats of the right. A sheet of paper has lodged there.

The pace of this paragraph from FiftyThree is quite similar:

We make stuff. Beautiful, practical, meaningful stuff. We make what we love. We love what we do. But over the years, we noticed that somehow, along the way, software designed to help us be creative actually made us less creative. We believe the best ideas often emerge from the simplest tools: pencil and paper.

What defines the rhythm of your content?

In music, tone length and the silences in between tones define rhythm. When long notes blend together without silences, the music flows smoothly. In contrast, when you play short notes with clear pauses in between, you get a more abrupt style of playing. It wakes you up.

In writing, rhythm is defined by punctuation and the stress patterns of words in a sentence. Long sentences sound smoother, while short sentences make your content snappier.

When each sentence follows the same structure and rhythm, your writing becomes boring. For instance:

She went to the shop. She bought ingredients. She prepared Beef Rendang. She let it simmer for 5 hours. The house filled with exotic smells. She cooked rice. She waited for her husband. They ate a delicious dinner. She thought life was good.

By varying sentence length and structure, you can find a rhythm that suits your voice . Here’s an alternative version:

She went to the shop to buy ingredients. And when she prepared the Beef Rendang in the afternoon, exotic smells wafted through the house. After dinner, she whispered to her husband: “Life is good.”

Music doesn’t need words to be mesmerizing, moody, or upbeat. You sense its mood, and it impacts your state of mind.

In a similar way, the rhythm of your writing impacts your reader, too.

Rhythm is one of the most powerful of pleasures, and when we feel a pleasurable rhythm we hope it will continue. When it does, it grows sweeter. ~ Mary Oliver

How to write with rhythm

Next time you read a novel, pay attention to its rhythm. Where does the author let you pause? How does the author vary long and short sentences? How does the writing ebb and flow?

Do you notice a similar rhythm in the writing of your favorite authors?

After studying the rhythm of a few writers, go on and play with the rhythm of your own content. Experiment by varying sentence length . Try different sentence structures. Play with different words.

Read your content aloud.

And learn how to influence your reader’s mood.

Make your words dance.

PS Thank you to Barry Feldman for inspiring this post.

Recommended reading on rhythm in writing:

How to vary sentence length and shine a spotlight on your key points How to write a dazzling long sentence Word repetition: How to make your writing resonate like good music

You may also like:

Enjoyed this get my fortnightly newsletter in your inbox > > >, get my best writing tips in your inbox ....

Success! Now check your email to confirm your subscription.

There was an error submitting your subscription. Please try again.

Reader Interactions

Leave a comment and join the conversation cancel reply.

April 19, 2023 at 5:15 pm

Many thanks for the insights. Let me go and make my words dance to the tune of my content.

April 20, 2023 at 11:15 am

Happy dancing! 🙂

October 16, 2021 at 2:31 pm

Genius! Another genius angle to looking at writing.

October 16, 2021 at 2:49 pm

Thank you so much, Stu. Happy writing!

June 1, 2020 at 12:18 pm

I am thrilled to share my views on your writing advice. You, believe me, are the one whose blogs posts are some extra ordinary. The advice and the suggestions you share with us are not so common but are unique. I wish to possess the same intellect you have as a person and the same gravity you have in your writing. Love it.

June 1, 2020 at 3:29 pm

Thank you so much for your compliment, Younis. Happy writing!

September 20, 2019 at 8:41 pm

I’ve been watching, and listening to, Ken Burn’s Country Music on PBS television. Many of the writers of country music could not write music. They had stories. They had rhythm. They wrote great songs. As writers of words we’re telling our stories and wanting others to listen. We vary sentence lengths and punctuations, and chose more dramatic words to make a statement. Telling that I’m in my ninety-fourth orbit of the sun grabs more attention than saying I’ve had my ninety-third birthday. I continue to learn. Thanks for your help.

September 23, 2019 at 10:07 am

I love this point: “Many of the writers of country music could not write music. They had stories. They had rhythm. They wrote great songs.”

Thank you so much for sharing that, Wayne. I had never thought about it like that.

August 27, 2019 at 12:39 pm

As an amateur musician, the concept of rhythm is built in. Modern music sans flow and rhythm simply dies before my ears process it.

My writing is the same. A sentence, scene, chapter, or story that does not flow with emphasis and rhythm does not work as well as one that does. The words feel uncomfortable and off without rhythm.

Henneke has opened a window that shows us writers a glimpse of greatness.

August 27, 2019 at 2:51 pm

I’m glad you agree about the importance of rhythm in our writing, Cliff. Thank you so much for stopping by!

May 10, 2019 at 10:13 am

From the beginning, I am hearing a short sentence. About long sentence with rhythmic benefit, I have learned from you today.

The rhythmic idea in business writing is a new adventure in my life.

thank you so much for your efforts.

May 12, 2019 at 11:32 am

Enjoy your new adventure of rhythm in writing, Hasan! 🙂

February 23, 2018 at 9:16 pm

I like this, it’s really helping me become a better writer. Thank you so much!

February 24, 2018 at 10:25 am

Great! Happy writing, Maggie 🙂

November 6, 2017 at 6:44 am

Really great content, Henneke! I’m super glad I read your posts on writing, because all that just hit me in the head and say, “Oh, you sound pathetic!” And gave me the motivation to really practice and try to listen to my voice.

Thanks a lot, a lot and a lot! Besides I love your images!

November 6, 2017 at 8:58 pm

What a lovely comment! I’m glad you’ve found the motivation to practice.

Happy writing, Ashley!

July 1, 2016 at 9:51 am

Here my problem is, I can write good poems in my native language but when I want to do that in English, I cannot just because I cannot find the harmonious words, this makes me sick. There should be a program for this to show you the harmonious words when you write a word down. Is this much to ask? 😀 🙂

July 1, 2016 at 10:48 am

I don’t write poetry, but I often use a thesaurus when I can’t find the right word.

August 18, 2016 at 8:12 am

That’s what the top professional (human) translators are for ;). Brodsky managed to write poetry in a non-native language, but only after living in the country for many years and picking the brains of several top translators along the way.

May 5, 2016 at 4:59 am

What a super fun and informative post. I advocate checking stressed and unstressed syllables even in prose. Thank you, Henneke, for a post filled with bubblegum and fizz.

May 5, 2016 at 9:16 pm

Thank you, Robyn! And yes, rhythm is valid for prose, too. Most people undervalue how important rhythm is for prose.

October 12, 2015 at 2:20 am

Quite often, I find myself growing hungry on this blog. Must be your mentions of Beef Rendang. When will you post your favourite Rendang recipe?

October 12, 2015 at 11:07 am

Sometimes I get hungry while writing, too 😉

I’ve written down my Rendang recipe and included it as a surprise bonus in my guide for writing About pages. But perhaps I should post it somewhere on my blog, too? I’ll think about it!

September 29, 2015 at 3:44 pm

Thanks for this post, Henneke. It really showed the differentiation between longer sentences vs. shorter ones. And while shorter ones are good and snappy and can wake you up, too much of it is overkill. And you can easily lose readers that way too.

A rhythm in writing is very important to keep readers on their toes and interested.

Excellent stuff here.

– Andrew

October 12, 2015 at 11:08 am

Yep, it’s always about variation and moderation. Too many long sentences are boring, but too many short sentences are exhausting, too.

September 28, 2015 at 9:17 pm

Writing in general is fascinating, truly an art form in itself. Anyway great article:)

September 28, 2015 at 9:41 pm

So true. And the wonderful thing is that we never get bored of studying art. There’s always more to discover, and other styles to experiment with.

September 27, 2015 at 12:13 pm

You’re so right, Henneke: the rhythm of our writing makes all the difference to its enjoyability, and can even affect our understanding of its meaning. Even without reading a page aloud, we hear it in our heads – if you’ve ever read a fantasy novel with characters or places called things like Xfrhtl and Ploudm, you’ll know what I mean!

September 23, 2015 at 11:09 pm

Wow Henneke I love this one especially, you truly are amazing, how you com up with ideas, it’s simply superb writing. Love you, Annamarie

September 24, 2015 at 8:42 am

Thank you, Annamarie. Happy dancing!

September 23, 2015 at 6:07 pm

Oh, another piece in the puzzle of copywriting. Thanks, Henneke. It gets more interesting every time I read your fabulous posts that teach me so much, in a different way than I was taught. Thanks for that. I do change up the length of my sentences, and create white space; I will pay even more attention to it now.

September 23, 2015 at 8:57 pm

Thank you, Elvire. It’s fun to discover all these aspects of writing, isn’t it? I’m still discovering new things, too. The journey never ends (and I see that as a positive thing!).

September 23, 2015 at 4:22 pm

Henneke – This is a post that makes you think hard about the things you’ve read. I never thought about writing having a rhythm. The examples you give are great; I especially liked the Man Crates quote.

September 23, 2015 at 8:56 pm

The Man Crates copy is great. Very well targeted to their audience.

Thank you for stopping by, Patricia!

September 23, 2015 at 3:14 pm

Hi Henneke,

Yes, rhythm is certainly something to think about in writing, including copy. It’s no coincidence Dr. Seuss was a great rhythmist (if that’s a word – if not, just pretend it is, Seuss-style ), he was also a brilliant copywriter. He led you into buying with the rhythm of his sales schpiel.

And Kerouac was so full of exploding experience that he couldn’t stop until he’d finished. His writing is like a journey too.

Rhythm is important. It helps you read and can keep people reading on or not. That’s why reading your writing aloud is so helpful because what sounds great in your head, often doesn’t when it’s read aloud.

Your copy always reads well and sounds good too. I often read aloud to help myself with reading.

Here’s wishing you lots of success with The Enchanting Copywriting course.

September 23, 2015 at 7:00 pm

I like new words, so if it’s not in the dictionary yet, I’ll vote for adding rhythmist!

Thank you for your good luck wishes, Tom!

September 23, 2015 at 10:20 am

Well, this certainly was useful!

You are right. Rhythm is absolutely one of the most underrated aspects of writing.

The last article I’ve read on this subject was quite disappointing. You always make your articles easy to consume and give them your own interesting twist.

The examples you provided we’re nice. The one for the Ammo Can packaging was excellent, I am very fond of bold copy like that.

Reading my content aloud is something I already do that helps a lot, especially for sales copy.

You seem to have mastered rhythm, so you can bet I’ll lurk around to see how you use it in some of your other posts 🙂

Enjoy the rest of your week Henneke.

– Jasper

September 23, 2015 at 6:59 pm

I personally prefer the rhythm on FiftyThree – it gives me more time to savor the words 😉

But it’s a matter of personal preference. The one isn’t better than the other. It’s just different.

And yep, feel free to lurk around and steal my rhythm 😉

September 23, 2015 at 12:01 am

I read Kerouac’s “On the Road” twice when I was a travelin’ youngster and it was compelling both times. Also read several of his other books and he convinced me that writing did not have to adhere to all of the “rules” — the crucial rule was communicating so effectively to the reader that the reader could visualize, enjoy, be moved, be entertained, escape, feel strongly for or against something, learn…all of the reasons we write online “content” these days.

Thanks for the wonderful reminder, Henneke

September 23, 2015 at 6:53 pm

I’ve only read “On the Road” quite recently. It’s interesting how much we can learn from reading novels and paying attention to writing styles.

Thank you for stopping by again, Stan.

September 22, 2015 at 10:52 pm

Another wonderful piece of Henneke insight! I know about making sure sentences “move along” but never thought of them as lyrical i.e. words to music. Thanks Henneke, I’m have a good think about this. Paul

September 23, 2015 at 6:52 pm

Great! Let me know how you get on? I’d love to hear whether you feel understanding rhythm makes a difference to your writing.

September 22, 2015 at 7:47 pm

September 22, 2015 at 8:56 pm

September 22, 2015 at 6:20 pm

Thank you, Henneke. There is a beautiful music-like feel to good writing. I agree that mixing long, short (and medium) sentences give words a beautiful cadence. Reading aloud helps me find my best rhythm. Great tips.

Yep, and that music-like feel makes good writing a pleasure to read 🙂

September 22, 2015 at 4:24 pm

Henneke, a reminder for the poet in all of us. Thanks.

September 22, 2015 at 8:55 pm

Yep, just like we need to let our inner child fool around from time to time, we also need to let our inner poet play a little 🙂

September 22, 2015 at 2:54 pm

Wonderful post AGAIN! I like some of my posts and love some of them. I am going back to see if it is a rhythm issue. I look forward to practicing this technique on a conscious level. Thanks Henneke.

September 22, 2015 at 8:54 pm

Yes, that would be an interesting point to investigate! Let me know what you find out?

September 22, 2015 at 2:04 pm

Henneke, great post!

Advertising writers train themselves to use rhythm to create headlines (and copy) that sticks in people’s heads. The fact that we all remember certain product slogans from our childhoods attests to the power of rhythm, and how it heightens our recall.

Those who believe the tagline is dead, don’t get this.

Written or spoken words have the power to trigger an emotional response when they mirror the rhythms of our inner feelings. As you point out, this is something you can be conscious of and you can practice. But eventually, you just feel it.

Yep, that’s it. You just feel it – that’s why I found it quite hard to explain.

And you make a good point about rhythm making it easier to remember slogans. The same is true for nursery rhymes. Both rhythm and rhyme help people remember lines.

September 22, 2015 at 1:24 pm

Excellent post (as usual), Henneke. A few days ago I talked to someone about their website copy. To be honest: It sucks. Anyway, one major problem is its dullness. Every sentence is exactly built and as long as the one before. No variation. Just sleep-inducing, irksome (is that a word?) blandness. What most people don’t see: Some little tweaks can already have a huge impact on the readability of any given text. That’s what I’m trying, too when I write copy, blog posts, emails or even letters and WhatsApp messages. Why not make all of those more fun to read? 🙂 (If the rhythm of this comment sems to contradict all of what I’m saying, I hope I do better in my native language.) 🙂

September 22, 2015 at 8:51 pm

Yep, I agree – even small tweaks can make a big difference in readability.

Your English is absolutely fine! Thank you for stopping by, Chris.

September 22, 2015 at 1:07 pm

Great examples of how business writing can also be pleasurable reading.

I love the paragraph from FiftyThree, in particular the undulating sentence “But over the years, we noticed that somehow, along the way, software designed to help us be creative actually made us less creative.” On the face of it, this sentence doesn’t seem essential. But the slower pace contrasts beautifully with the punchy final sentence, making the main message stand out.

The ebb and flow of the FiftyThree paragraph also helps to create an emotional response. The snappiness of the ending is uplifting.

September 22, 2015 at 1:37 pm

Yes, and the long sentence also contrasts beautifully with the short sentences before hand.

If you’d be editing the text, you might be tempted to tighten the long sentence and remove “somehow, along the way” as it doesn’t feel essential. But removing these words kills the flow of the sentence: “But over the years, we noticed that software designed to help us be creative made us less creative.”

Fascinating, isn’t it?

PS Have you read the novel “All the Light We Cannot See” by Anthony Doerr? I think you might like it.

September 22, 2015 at 12:57 pm

Hello Henneke,

Loved today’s post. Rythm and harmony in texts and design is very important, and somehow these two are ignored in general. There’s science among rythm and harmony which makes us like things.

I missed the “Make your content swing and swirl” step guide. Maybe for a future article?

September 22, 2015 at 1:29 pm

Yeah, I guess I haven’t quite figured out how to create a step-by-step guide for rhythm in writing – other than recommending to try to “absorb” the concept of rhythm by paying more attention to it and then practicing and experimenting.

I’ll keep thinking. Perhaps I can come up with something. A guide to dancing with words 😉

September 22, 2015 at 12:35 pm

I like this idea a lot. It’s like if you imagine the words had an actual shape to them and the sentences created a visual pattern that had a flow and harmony that carried you along.

Like a song 🙂

I was looking at some sheet piano music recently and even though I can’t read music, could get an idea of how it sounded from the elegant shape and visual flow of the notes.

Thanks for the enlightening new perspective on business writing, is really interesting!

September 22, 2015 at 1:27 pm

I like that way of thinking … the words that are stressed might have bigger shapes than the words that aren’t stressed.

I think the sounds of the words also have an influence on perceived harmony. Words with strong letters like “k” or “p” sound harsher than words with “sh”.

September 22, 2015 at 12:24 pm

Brilliant post, Henneke! I have never seen this discussed *anywhere* and it’s absolutely key One way we can check our own rhythm is to follow the commonly prescribed (but widely disregarded) advice to “Read your copy aloud.” I’ve even heard the suggestion to “sing” your copy… maybe that’s why we sometimes say the copy “sings” when it seems to flow just right into place.

September 22, 2015 at 1:22 pm

I’m a very bad singer, so I won’t try singing my blog posts 😉

But reading aloud definitely helps a ton.

September 22, 2015 at 11:58 am

I always know that there’s rhythm is music, poetry, drawings and paintings. I just never thought about rhythm in business writing. But now you bring it up, wow, of course!

September 22, 2015 at 12:08 pm

Yep, so true. I didn’t think about it while writing this post, but there’s also rhythm in drawings, and paintings, and architecture. Once you start looking for rhythm, it’s everywhere 🙂

September 22, 2015 at 11:22 am

Thanks for this Henneke. It’s made me realise I do focus on rythm but not consciously. Fortunately, the examples you use are excellent and make it easier for me to step back and be a bit more analytical about my writing in future.

Do you know if there are certain rythms that are proven to work best to encourage sign ups? You know, slow, slow, quick, quick, slow. Or something like that.

September 22, 2015 at 12:06 pm

I’ve not found a magic rhythm yet. 😉

However, I’d say that short, quick and powerful is best for a call to action. Check out this post: https://www.enchantingmarketing.com/how-to-make-words-more-powerful/

Books and courses

Follow proven templates for specific writing tasks, practice your skills, and get professional feedback so you become a confident business writer. Take on any writing project with gusto. Learn more about books and courses

About Henneke

I never saw myself as a writer, but in my early forties, I learned how to write and discovered the joy of writing. Now, I’d like to empower you to find your voice, share your ideas and inspire your audience. Learn how I can help you

Popular topics

Sales copywriting

Blog writing for business

Your writing voice

Tips for beginning writers

The writing process

Improve your writing skills

Writing examples

Popular blog posts

Recent blog posts

Free Snackable Writing Course

Get 16 concise emails and learn how to write more persuasive content.

• Writing Tips

Rhythm in Writing: How to Get It Right

• Dec 22, 2023

Share this article:

Being able to create rhythm in writing is an essential skill for freelance writers . Effective use of rhythm can make a text much more engaging and enjoyable to read. It can also help to convey a particular mood and tone, emphasize key ideas, and control pacing.

For many content writers , rhythm in writing is one of the hardest things to get right. Rhythm can (and should) vary from piece to piece – so it takes a lot of practice and revision to make it seem effortless. In this blog post, we’ll take you through our top five tips for getting the rhythm of your writing right.

What Is Rhythm in Writing?

Have you ever read something and felt that the words sang? Or that you’re short of breath but compelled to read on? The way a piece of writing makes you feel is no coincidence! A good content writer will carefully select words and arrange their sentences to create a particular rhythm – and achieve a specific effect.

Rhythm in writing is the way words and sentences are arranged to create a certain sound and pace. It can be impacted by the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables, use of vowel and consonant sounds, variations in sentence length, and punctuation choices. We’ll cover all of these elements in detail in the next part of this blog post.

Much like rhythm in music, rhythm in writing can also be used to control tone and mood. For example, if a content writer wants to create a sense of urgency or excitement, they may opt for a fast-paced rhythm. If they want the reader to quietly contemplate and reflect, they may opt for a more slow-paced rhythm.

5 Tips for Writing with Rhythm

The exact choices you make when it comes to building rhythm will depend on what you are trying to achieve with a piece of content. However, there are some general tips you can employ to improve the rhythm of your writing.

Consider Your Sentence Length

There is no right length for a sentence . It can vary depending on the context, your target audience, and the message you want to convey.

Short sentences are great for providing concise, easy-to-digest information. They tend to be easier to understand, reducing the likelihood of confusion or misinterpretation. Just be careful not to overuse them – this could give your writing a choppy, stuttering feeling or come across as overly simplistic. As we mentioned above, short sentences increase the pace, creating a sense of urgency, immediacy, and excitement. They often work well for:

• Instructions and how-to guides
• Social media posts
• News articles (to quickly convey key facts)
• Online content like web pages and blogs (to aid skimmability )
• Marketing and advertising copy (e.g., taglines and promotions)

Longer sentences, by contrast, tend to slow the pace, and they can add smoothness and richness to your writing. They are ideal for in-depth exploration of an idea, nuanced discussions, and a contemplative tone. They work well in content (such as blog posts and articles ) where you want to:

• Explore a topic in great detail
• Paint a vivid picture in the reader’s mind
• Create a narrative
• Present a nuanced argument or analysis
• Explain complex or technical information

You’ve probably been told at least once in your life that the best writing uses a mixture of short and long sentences. And that’s true, as Gary Provost demonstrates.

In most cases, varied sentence lengths and structures make for the most engaging content. The variation creates a natural rhythm and prevents monotony. Experiment with sentence length and see what works best!

Make Careful Punctuation Choices

Punctuation choice can make all the difference to rhythm in writing. Each punctuation mark has a different meaning when the text is read aloud.

Periods (.) note a full stop. They help to create a clear separation between ideas and points within a text. A period signals the end of one idea or thought and prepares the reader to move on to the next. They help add structure and, depending on the length of the sentence, can speed up or slow down reading pace.

I planned to go straight home after work. My friends convinced me to go to the pub.

Commas (,) mark a pause between ideas in a sentence. A comma can help a writer divide complex information into more manageable chunks and maintain a smooth, steady rhythm.

I planned to go straight home after work, but my friends convinced me to go to the pub.

Semicolons (;) also mark a pause, but a longer pause than that suggested by a comma. They help to convey a sense of flow and continuity between closely related ideas, especially in longer sentences.

I planned to go straight home after work; my friends convinced me to go to the pub.

If you read each example sentence aloud, you can hear how each punctuation mark changes the flow of the sentence.

Other punctuation marks have an impact on rhythm in writing, too. For example:

• Ellipses (…) can be used to build suspense or create a dramatic pause in the rhythm
• Parentheses [()] can help add supplementary information without disrupting the overall flow of a text
• Dashes (-) can be used to emphasize certain words or phrases and to guide the reader’s attention
• Exclamation marks (!) add moments of intensity and emotion to a text and draw attention to key points
• Question marks (?) prompt the reader to pause and reflect and to engage actively with the text. They can also add authenticity by reflecting the flow of a conversation.

Add Transition Words

Transition words are words that help to organize a piece of writing. They help the reader move smoothly from one topic to another by connecting the ideas in the previous sentence to the ideas in the next one. Transition words can be used to:

• Highlight a contrast (e.g., on the other hand )
• Highlight a similarity (e.g., similarly )
• Show cause and effect (e.g., as a result )
• Clarify a point (e.g., in other words )
• Provide an example (e.g., for instance )
• Place emphasis (e.g., above all )
• Summarize (e.g., in conclusion )

Transition words make it easier for the reader to follow the writer’s train of thought. They provide clues about the direction in which the text is going and create a sense of clarity and coherence – all of which contribute to a smooth rhythmic flow.

Use Literary Devices

Some literary devices, like similes and metaphors , have developed a bad reputation among writers because they have been overused and become cliche . However, used sparingly, literary devices can add rhythm and flavor to your writing. For example:

• Alliteration (the repetition of consonant sounds) and assonance (the repetition of vowel sounds) can create a melodious effect. Just think of that old rhyme about a girl selling seashells !
• Repetition (for example, anaphora ) can help establish a poetic rhythm and sense of momentum
• Parallelism (the repetition of grammatical elements in a sentence) can create a sense of balance and rhythm

Always Read Aloud

Our final tip for improving rhythm in writing is to read the text aloud. There are tools that you can use to do this , but it is often better to read it yourself. Research has shown many benefits to reading aloud , outside of figuring out rhythm in writing. It can help you spot when the rhythm is off (and it’s also a fantastic proofreading technique).

Becoming a Freelance Writer

Our Becoming a Freelance Writer course covers everything you need to know about writing professional blogs and articles, including writing clear, engaging content. If you’d like to see how this course could benefit you, you can try it for free .

Related posts:

Start your journey

Kick-start a flexible new career, time for a change.

Sign up for a Knowadays free trial – it’s your first step towards a new career.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published.

You are using an outdated browser. Please click here to upgrade your browser & improve your experience.

Explore #WeAreOCA

Using your rhythm section

One of the first things you may have taken on board, as a new creative writing student, is that it’s not only poets who needs to pay attention to a beat or metre: all prose must have a rhythm – the rhythm of the words, sentences and paragraphs. During Part Three of Writing Skills, we look at speech– the spoken monologue, the interior monologue, dialogue within prose and dialogue as script. Good dialogue is vital. Handled with energy, it can turn a good story into a winning story and it is one of the best ways of creating living characters. Its generous spacing eases the reader’s eye and lends itself to a poetic shape. But getting it to work on all levels can be an overwhelming difficulty, especially at first. On pg 99 of the course materials, we suggest that… Dialogue must never be written for its own sake and should always have AT LEAST one of the following functions-

• impart information
• enrich the characterisation
• move the plot along
• develop the characters within the story
• further the complexities of the plot
• crank up the pace
• enhance the theme or ‘core truth’
• reflect relationship changes and emotions

“You do understand the principles of packing, right, Den?” “Get it in the boxes somehow?” “Fold flat. Neatly wrap against breakage. Wedge to prevent sliding. Not stuffed so full you can’t lift the package.” “Hell…all that? I haven’t left the family threshold yet and already I’m useless in the wider world.”

Something that’s hard to get right at first is the rhythm of speech tags. These are the little labels that complete dialogue, explaining who is speaking, sometimes explaining how they’re speaking. More correctly, they should be called ‘identifiers’ or ‘speaker attribution’. New writers often like to be creative with their use of speech tags, and mostly this becomes a problem. Your tutor may already have told you to go easy on speech tag adverbs, and possibly have advised how to make the tags as invisible as they possibly can be by sticking to ‘said’. Too many tags jar the flow. Too much variety jars the flow. The wrong kind of repetition can jar the flow. So much advice, some of it seemingly contradictory, can be confusing. One way of getting your head around how to use tags is to remember your rhythm section. Here is a piece of dialogue which is bogged down with bad speech tabs:

“Ivan,” I said, sheepishly, “This is Detective Sergeant Buckley.” My voice squeaked at the edges. “Your eleven o’clock client?” asked Ivan. “I’m afraid not,” Rey piped up. “I’m here on official business,” he barked. “Don’t you chaps usually turn up in pairs?” Ivan growled, suspiciously. Rey shook his head. “This is a straightforward, informal interview,” he said. “Informal official business,” I chuckled, trying to get a secret smile to Ivan.

This needs some drastic editing. I can get rid of any tab where it’s clear who is speaking (always a bit harder when there are three characters) and I can cut out adverbs. What I’m trying to do is get a better beat into my tabs and into the flow of speech. To do this, I should read my dialogue aloud, until I’m happy with its flow:

“Ivan, This is Detective Sergeant Buckley.” My voice squeaked at the edges. “Your eleven o’clock client?” “I’m afraid not,” said Rey. “I’m here on official business.” “Don’t you chaps usually turn up in pairs?” said Ivan. “This is a straightforward, informal interview.” “Informal official business,” I said, trying to get a secret smile to Ivan.

Developing your characters is a crucial part of all of this. Until you know the people in your narration, you won’t be confident about how they might speak, or know their own internal speech rhythms. Once you have real sense of what drives your character you can apply that understanding to the dialogue and extrapolate the rhythm. In the next extract of dialogue, one character has recently arrived in Britain from Eastern Europe, and their speech has a jerky, non-grammatical rhythm that subverts what we expect…

“We are EU in Bulgaria, now,” she said, shifting a little. “But gypsy hard to get passport.” “No wonder your wages are so low. They’re getting away with murder.” “Kizzy, she say, ‘save and go back home head high’. She say, ‘Mirela, take little risk’. I don’t like. She say, ‘Mirela, you so uncool’.” “Uncool?” “Like I will never dip my toe.” “In case the water’s too cold?” “In case the water poison.”

In the above extract, I wanted the rhythm to reinforce the pace of the conversation. Languid sentences convey a different mood to bite-sized, choppy ones. A shorter snatch of speech that comes after several longer dialogues will draw attention to itself—such sentences are often used as ‘clinchers’ to round off characters’ conversations, as in the extract above, and they have immediate impact within their rhythm. Deciding how much dialogue to have is another way to look for rhythm and balance in your work. While redrafting work, try focusing on rhythm and balance by checking these points:

• Break up long narration. If you tend to have paragraphs that go on for a page, (often because you are telling, not showing), try using dialogue to cut through this.
• Catch your breath after action scenes. During an action scene where no one had the chance to do more than utter “Run!” or “Help!”, take a moment to change to mood by using interior monologue or longer dialogue to slow things down again.
• Develop character. Dialogue can show what the character wants to hide, or what they wish to reveal. Use dialogue to put one character under threat, or express an inner emotion.
• Add atmosphere where you want via your characters speech…do they have long, flowing conversations which suggest warmth, harmony, slow development of theme, or are they curt with each other because your want a sharp, cold, fast-moving mood?

As you try to weave all the various parts of dialogue together, don’t forget to read your work aloud. Reading aloud will give you an instant insight into how the narrative sounds, and how its rhythmic beat works. During Part Three, you will be asked to practise some scriptwriting. Many writers believe that the discipline of only being able to express story through dialogue can help you understand good, rhythmic dialogue. When writing a script, it’s usually clearer if dialogue is stilted or weak, and the rhythm of the lines can shine through. Do have a go at doing this; there are scriptwriting courses offered at both level one and level two, and working on this skill in Writing Skills will help with both. Script dialogue should have its own internal metre, and a constantly moving flow. Working on this element from the start will help your work later on. As you write more dialogue, you will find you are more discerning about this area of narration in your reading. You will be noticing that writers who don’t pay careful attention to rhythm are harder to read. You’ll spot good use of metre and flow, and notice how the writer has used variety to keep the rhythm interesting. Amalgamate the reading you are doing with the writing you’re producing. As you read, ask yourself how the author gains rhythm in their dialogue, and also look at the balance they’ve formed between the dialogue and the rest of the narration. At level one of the degree pathway, we are not expecting you to be able to have everything sorted all at once, but here is your chance to highlight what you learnt about using rhythm, patterns, flow and balance in your writing. When you do this, you’re demonstrating several of the criteria we ask for within the assessment process. You’re showing you understand how to handle ‘Language’. You’re working on your ‘Craft of Writing. You may be able to gain ‘Emotion’ by amalgamating rhythms into the conversations your characters have with each other, and by showing how you worked on these strategies in your final reflective commentary, you’ll be indicating ‘Contextual Knowledge’. Dialogue can be one of the most engaging parts of prose, and your ‘rhythm section’ deserves your full attention. All dialogue taken from Nina Milton’s Shaman Mystery Series. Image: OCA student Katherine Jasven

3 thoughts on “ Using your rhythm section ”

Thanks for this, Nina. Although on level 2 I like things like this to save and refer back to.

Good thinking, Marie, everyone needs their memory jogged about the basic precepts and strategies of writing from time to time.

Thanks, Nina. Will revisit old pieces, review, rewrite where necessary. Like Marie, will print out and keep in log for current and future writing. So much to keeping in mind when writing. It explains why some books, also TV dramas, are flat and difficult to get into, and characters hard to believe in, when dialogue is stilted.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

> Next Post In conversation with: Angela Fraleigh

Serious about sci-fi.

Open College Of The Arts Degree Show Showcase

OCA’s Online Degree Show Showcase 2023

OCA Degree Show Showcase 21/22

OCA News: Student Fees from August 2022

Poetry: Rhythm and Meter

by Melissa Donovan | Sep 13, 2022 | Poetry Writing | 19 comments

Does your poetry have rhythm and meter?

Rhythm is everywhere: we hear it in the hum of vehicles and appliances. We feel it when we walk or run. We see it in the very rising and setting of the sun. Even our hearts beat to a rhythm. Rhythm is built into the way we experience and perceive the world.

Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary offers several definitions for  rhythm :

an ordered recurrent alternation of strong and weak elements in the flow of sound and silence in speech the aspect of music comprising all the elements (such as accent, meter, and tempo) that relate to forward movement movement, fluctuation, or variation marked by the regular recurrence or natural flow of related elements 

Poetry encapsulates all of these definitions of rhythm. But what about meter?

The words  rhythm  and  meter  are often used interchangeably, but their meanings are slightly different in the context of poetry.  Perinne’s Sound and Sense (aff link) describes this difference clearly and simply: “rhythm is the flow of sound; meter is the patterns in the sounds.”

However, working with breves and slashes on a computer in this manner is tedious and time consuming. Fortunately, there are some other methods available to us.

Some dictionaries include pronunciation guides, which indicate stressed and unstressed syllables. Dictionaries often use quotation marks for stressed syllables and apostrophes for unstressed syllables: PO”e’try’. This isn’t easy on the eyes. Another option, which is much clearer, is to use all caps for stressed syllables and all lowercase letters for unstressed syllables: POetry; and we can add hyphens to further denote each syllable: PO-e-try. Ah, that’s more like it: easy to read and easy to type.

Metrical Units

We now know how to show meter with scansion, but we also need to know how to talk about it. Here is some special terminology that helps us communicate when discussing meter:

A metrical foot is a unit of metrical measurement that includes stressed and unstressed syllables. Here are a few types of metrical feet:

• Anapest: Two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable (da-da-DA). Example:  un-der-STAND.
• Dactyl: One stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables (DA-da-da). Example: PROM-i-nent .
• Iamb: One unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable (da-DA). Example:  be-LONG
• Trochee: One stressed syllable followed by one unstressed syllable (DA-da). Example: O-ver

We also use special terminology to refer to the number of feet in a line of poetry:

• 1 foot: monometer
• 2 feet: dimeter
• 3 feet: trimeter
• 4 feet: tetrameter
• 5 feet: pentameter

Let’s return to the first line of “Annabel Lee” and show its metrical feet:

it was MA|ny and MA|ny a YEAR | aGO ||

This line consists of three anapests followed by an iamb, or a combination of anapestic and iambic feet.

But what about the number of feet? How do those factor into the language we use to talk about meter? Let’s look at a line from Shakespeare’s “ Sonnet 18 ” (please note that I have changed the capitalization to accommodate scansion):

shall I | comPARE | thee TO | a SUM | mer’s DAY? || Thou ART | more LOVE | ly AND | more TEM | perATE:

Each line consists of five metrical feet, so this poem is written in pentameter. Each line also includes five iambs. These lines are therefore written in iambic pentameter.

Silence (Rests, Pauses)

In poetry, line breaks, stanza breaks, white space, and punctuation provide cues for pauses. We’ll pause a little longer between stanzas than we will between lines. We’ll hold on a period longer than on a comma. Sometimes breaks and punctuation are part of the aesthetic design of a poem, but their placement will almost always affect a poem’s meter and rhythm, because they instruct the reader to pause.

End-stopped lines  contain a complete grammatical phrase (or clause) or terminate with a period, closing parenthesis, colon, or semicolon. Enjambment occurs when a line break occurs in the middle of a complete phrase or clause or when terminal punctuation marks are absent. The first two lines of “Annabel Lee” (above) are enjambed; the first two lines of “Sonnet 18” (above) are end-stopped.

Let’s Get Back to Rhythm

Rhythm is best understood as the flow of sound, whereas meter is a pattern of sound. If we mistakenly equate rhythm and meter, we might assume that free verse poetry lacks rhythm because it doesn’t use metrical patterns. Let’s look at the first stanza of “ Spelling ” by Margaret Atwood, which is written in free verse:

My daughter plays on the floor with plastic letters, red, blue & hard yellow, learning how to spell, spelling, how to make spells.

There’s no discernible pattern in the meter, which is why the poem is called free verse. Yet the poem still has a flow, a rhythm. If the rhythm isn’t coming from the poem’s meter, where is it coming from?

Even though there aren’t repeated patterns, the accented and unaccented syllables still inform the rhythm. But so do the pauses. Consider the pause after “spelling” and before “how to make spells.” This pause influences the musicality of the poem. But the poem uses some other tricks to create rhythm. Look at the rhyme of “yellow” and “spell” (not a perfect rhyme, but a rhyme nonetheless). And look at how it echoes into the next two lines with “spelling” and the repetition of “spell(s)” in the final line. There’s a pattern of sound there, which creates rhythm.

As we can see, meter is not the only contributing factor to rhythm.

How Rhythmical is Your Poetry?

If meter is a pattern of sounds and rhythm is the flow of sound, which of these elements is more important in poetry? When you write poetry, do you check for meter or rhythm? Do you prefer metrical poems or are you drawn to poems with vivid rhythm? Share your thoughts by leaving a comment, and keep writing poetry!

19 Comments

Very informative. Thanks!

You’re welcome!

Oh thank you! I am old school when it comes to poetry – it has to have either meter or rhyme or else it is just prose chopped up into short sentences. Of course that’s just my opinion…

You’re welcome, Grace. I’m glad you liked this post.

And I 100% agree with you, Grace. Your words about prose being chopped up onto lines are the exact words I use myself. And as someone who has written poetry, both rhyming and not, it is harder to write rhyming poetry that has rhythm than breaking a piece of prose, no matter how beautiful and poetic, into seemingly random lines.

Thank you very much for this article. Very useful in teaching my subject in Literature.

You’re welcome, Avelina.

lol we had to read this for a school assigment

Well, I don’t know how you feel about it, but it’s pretty cool for me! I hope your class was able to learn something from it.

i learn a lot thanks

Fabulous demonstration, but I had a doubt about finding stressed and unstressed syllables in monosyllabic words: by, and, I, sea, year and so on…if this can be clarified, thank you!

Hi Omar. I’m not sure what you mean about having “a doubt about finding stressed and unstressed syllables in monosyllabic words.” Feel free to clarify, and I’ll try to answer.

Thank you for this. It was most interesting. I’ve heard about iambic pentameter, but never really knew what it is. But I can’t see any rhyme between yellow and spell.

I believe the rhyme is within *yell*-ow and *spell*-space.

Thank you! This was most helpful. Am writing a paper on intersemiotic translation based on a visual poetry film I made, and needed clarity on this.

You’re welcome, and thanks for sending the tip about the correction 😉

For me, a poem fully exists when it is read aloud, felt in the body. I find metrical poetry easier to fit into the rhythms of breathing and also easier to prepare for reading aloud (principally by identifying beats, metrical irregularities, significant pauses and run-on lines). Non-metrical poetry _seems_ more difficult, not having familiar structures to identify and hang onto, but perhaps it’s easier: maybe you can identify what syllables would be stressed in normal speech and then make the pauses at the end of the line of a length that seems to help the succession of thoughts.

I wonder if you meant to refer to rhythmic poetry? Meter is a method for measuring stressed and unstressed syllables.

Trackbacks/Pingbacks

• Top Picks Thursday! For Writers & Readers 12-19-2019 | The Author Chronicles - […] For our poetry writers, Melissa Donovan examines rhythm and meter in poetry. […]
• Praxilla From Ancient Sikyon – Women in Antiquity - […] Lyric poetry is very complex and multiple meanings are hidden in their verses. The Homeric poems are written in…

Submit a Comment Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed .

Subscribe and get The Writer’s Creed graphic e-booklet, plus a weekly digest with the latest articles on writing, as well as special offers and exclusive content.

Recent Posts

• Writing Tips: Every Word Matters
• Get Poemcrazy!
• Creative Writing Prompts for Movie Lovers
• Fiction Writing Exercise: What If?
• 10 Reasons Storytellers Should Dabble in Poetry

Write on, shine on!

Pin It on Pinterest

• Skip to main content
• Skip to secondary menu

Wylie Communications, Inc.

Writing workshops, communication consulting and writing services

How to use rhythm in writing

Make your message ring in their ears.

Share this:

Reach more readers with our writing tips.

Learn to get the word out with our proven-in-the-lab techniques in our email newsletter.

Home For Fiction – Blog

for thinking people

August 31, 2020

Rhythm in Prose: The Rolling Waves of Storytelling

Criticism , Writing

guest post , Igor Livramento , narrative , pace , sounds

Today’s post on the concept of rhythm in prose is authored by Igor da Silva Livramento. He’s a fellow academic from UFSC, fellow author, fellow creative-writing advisor, and overall a great fellow. He’s also a composer, music theorist, and producer. Check out his  papers on Academia.edu , his  music on Bandcamp , and his  personal musings on his blog  – in Portuguese, Spanish/Castilian, and English.

So you’ve heard of rhythm. It exists most explicitly in music, especially music with drums and beats and looping patterns. It also exists in poetry, with its rhyming and metrical patterns .

Indeed, rhythm is a remarkable feature of our very life and its processes. Think of sleeping, walking, breathing, or having a heartbeat.

No wonder, then, that rhythm in prose is so important. In this post we’ll see how it manifests and why it matters.

Artistic Rhythm

There is rhythm in the arts, as there is rhythm in life. Just as we breath and walk somewhat regularly along time periods, so we speak and dance and sing and stomp our feet.

The arts most infamous for their studies of rhythm are music and poetry , bequeathing us the oldest treatises about such topics.

These two arts are affine to each other, so much that it’s said they were born together. In other words, the ancient Greek  àiodós  ( ἀοιδός ), the poet-singer, is the common origin for both practices.

For us, interested in the arts of words and letters , poetic rhythm stems from the patterns of (un)stressed syllables in the verses and across the whole poem. At least that’s how it works in English and some other modern languages, like Portuguese and Spanish.

And don’t go thinking there is no rhythm in architecture (have you  walked  through the place/site?) or in painting or sculpture (how many movements have your eyes made to grasp the whole thing?). Every curve is a variation of intensity and it affects the rhythm of apprehension.

Rhythm in Prose: from the Syntactic to the Narrative Level

Aside from the obvious syntactic-level rhythm in prose, borrowed from poetry That is, choosing words in order to (regularly) distance (un)stressed syllables from one another, a strategy used by classical Roman rhetors. , there is also at least one more level for rhythm in prose.

With recent studies regarding story  beats  – a word well-suited to our discussion – in narrative arts (originally stemming from film studies, only later arriving at creative writing), we get to envision this rhythmic layer.

For the sake of naming, let us call it  information delivery : the pace at which a reader receives new information regarding the story.

But how do we put it to use?

In Practice

With our definition in hand, we get to know a few aspects of narrative rhythm regarding the sentence level, besides poetic (syllabic) considerations.

• Descriptions slow down the pace, producing a sensation of time stopped, especially due to verb choice (and tense ) and the use of qualifiers (adjectives and adverbs).
• So do internal states of characters and their musings , but only as long as they don’t have…
• …action, which speeds up the pace. It’s irrespective if that’s stemming from actual events in current  diegetic time  or from memory.
• Dialogue is interesting, for it puts us in the very present diegetic moment , as the pace we take to read the dialogue is the very same pace at which it happens.

Beyond this, we get to the aforementioned level of information delivery. Each new bit of information speeds up the pace and takes up more cognitive space in the reader’s current working memory.

Doing so, it demands more of their attention. And yet, it produces more interest as it populates the fictional universe, unfolding sentence by sentence and paragraph by paragraph. Ultimately, it surrounds their imagination from all sides, progressively engulfing them.

As you’ve probably noticed, both levels intertwine intimately. I can present new happenings via descriptions, dropping this new coin at the reader’s pocket with a gentle sleight of hand; or I can roll people on the floor, fist-fighting and pulling hairs, to throw the reader face-first on the ongoing action.

Cognitive considerations should be taken, as stress is a main factor in memory retention and in the self-perception of pleasure.

A Note about Diegesis

I’ve used a fancy theoretical word up there:  diegesis . It used to be Greek, but not anymore, for French literary theorist Gerard Genette provided us with a redefined use of it in his narratological studies.

Because classical Greek thought was based on pairs of conceptual opposites (somewhat simple dialectical thinking), the opposite of diegesis was  mimesis .

Let us take a sneak peek at its meaning. Mimesis was translated to Latin as  imitatio  (phonetic resemblance to  imitation  is the clue we’re looking for).

Thus, if mimesis imitated the story we want to tell (think of reenacting it as a play, performance, or film), diegesis tells it from without (think narration, or even hearsay).

Diegesis and Plot

But as I’ve said, big ol’ G. G. redefined the term for modern narratological studies. Diegesis concerns the whole of the fictional world presented to the reader: characters, actions, locations, objects, etc.

This creates a divide between the internal diegetic level of the fiction’s happenings ( intradiegetic ) and the external level of how we deliver information to the reader ( extradiegetic ).

From this we can tell literary rhythm concerns both levels. Short sentences (extradiegetic level) speed up reading, but that does not necessarily correspond to stuff happening quicker inside the story (intradiegetic level). Coinciding or diverging both levels makes up for a powerful rhythmic tool.

Another example: Think of a film scene depicting a slow motion punch to the face. An extradiegetic decision (slowing down the information delivery) affects directly the intradiegetic affective meaning of what happened (someone punched someone else), thus rendering it far more symbolic than a real-time paced punch (something rather fast and almost meaningless; just watch a boxing match and you’ll see what I mean).

Thus, the secret for literary rhythm is to decide at which pace and speed to deliver each information, aware that reading has its own inherent rhythm, pace, speed, and time.

Rhythm in Prose: Plot Isn’t Everything

The above might make you think plot is everything when it comes to rhythm. But in actual fact, plot is akin to glue, sticking the whole thing together, rather than something more substantial, like bricks.

A memorable novel with great rhythm but little plot is  L’amant , by Marguerite Duras . The very language used has an internal rhythm respective to memory , forming layers upon layers of comes-and-goes, rolling waves of story.

But plot may be used to plan beforehand and guarantee an internal rhythm. Excessive elaboration may go unnoticed by the reader. Think of the  sestina . It has a fixed form so complicated, that its internal complexity becomes inapprehensible when the poem is read out loud.

As a note from experience: Beware of too much planning. It feels fun and promising, all sun rays and glory, but it is not work done.

Just as we feel time in our lives filtered through so many intermeshed rhythms (breath, talk, walk, sleep, blink and sight, heartbeat, chewing, and so on), so we do in the arts.

Rhythm in Prose: A Fun Exercise

I have stumbled upon poetic rhythms because I was recently invited to co-translate a forgotten Latin author.

Classical antique poetry did not have rhymes. Sometimes, it did not even have a fixed stanza, only variation in syllable duration Or stress; apparently Latin was much closer to neo-Latin languages than it first seemed. served to ground the form.

Because of that, I had to research some stuff and I’ve found out Latin prose writers also used rhythms, but not through the whole sentence. Rather, they counted from the final syllable backwards up until the eighth from last.

This practice was called clausula (literally: “little close”). Discussed both by philosophers and rhetors, it added finesse to a sentence’s ending, showcasing the author’s abilities.

Some classical authors, known to adhere to the Attic (or plain) style, did not take rhythm into consideration. The ones adhering to the Asiatic style did care for rhythm, and their prose remained in the highest esteem, considered the finest possible, until the early 19th century.

Pope Gregory VIII formalized the main four endings, which he labelled:

• plānus: 2nd and 5th;
• tardus: 3rd and 6th;
• velōx: 2nd and 7th;
• dispondaicus: 2nd and 6th.

Effectively, there are 128 possible combinations, but these four were the most praised end-of-sentence rhythms.

I invite you to experiment. It can get real fun, and it will provide more writing skill. Maybe, like me, you’ll have to check a thesaurus every so often to achieve adequate rhythms , enriching your vocabulary as I did mine.

Daily Writing Tips

5 tips about writing with rhythm.

Think of all the things you do each day, including mundane tasks like getting dressed, cooking meals, and speaking to other people. They all involve patterns or random sequences of ebb and flow: rhythm. Writing is like that, too. Just as with any other activity, rhythm in writing can occur automatically, but it’s improved by conscious attention. Here are five tips for enhancing your writing by attending to rhythm.

1. Alternate Sentence Length Vary the word count for your sentences — not mathematically, not analytically, but naturally, organically. Introduce a comical character with a statement that resembles a clumsy person stumbling down a stairway — then bring the headlong descent to a sudden stop with a concise comment. Describe a tortuous bureaucratic procedure with a run-on-and-on sentence, and then figuratively snap your fingers at it with a brusque reaction.

For inspiration, listen to a musical composition, noting the variety of measures. Do the same with recordings of speeches or comedy routines, and with scenes from films or television programs (fact and fiction alike) — and, of course, with fiction and nonfiction writing.

2. Relocate Words and Phrases English is a flexible language. Exploit that fact. Though parts of speech have set interrelationships, the relative positions of words representing the categories are negotiable. Shift words and phrases around until the parts of a sentence seem to fall into their preordained places. How? Read your writing aloud, of course.

Note, too, that writers are inclined to introduce the most important element of a sentence at the beginning; the key component should be provided early on, right? Wrong. Where does the punchline go in a joke? Correction: When you tell a joke, where’s the punchline? (Doesn’t that revision read more smoothly?)

3. Embrace Sentence Fragments The law against incomplete sentences was repealed a long time ago. A very long time ago. As a matter of fact, there never was such a regulation, except in the hidebound handbooks of grim grammarians. No kidding. People speak in sentence fragments and incomplete sentences all the time, and although writing, except for the most informal prose, should reflect a more carefully constructed communication, in all but the most formal writing, judiciously employ truncated statements. Over and out.

4. Match Rhythm to Mood Let the length and rhythm of a sentence match the mood you wish to impart. A description of a beautiful landscape or an account of a rapturous experience should cascade like a rippling waterfall or undulate with the peaks of valleys of sensual imagery. Longer sentences punctuated with alliteration and assonance and laced with metaphors evoking physical sensations will help readers immerse themselves in the places and events you describe.

Conversely, the sentence structure describing a sequence of events in a thriller or a passage detailing an exciting incident is probably most effective in brief bursts of short, simple words.

5. Apply Tension and Release Many musical compositions are paced on the principle of building up to peaks of stress or emotion and a counterpointing relief from that ascent. Writing benefits from the same approach to carrying the reader along on waves of tension and release.

Stop making those embarrassing mistakes! Subscribe to Daily Writing Tips today!

You will improve your English in only 5 minutes per day, guaranteed!

Each newsletter contains a writing tip, word of the day, and exercise!

You'll also get three bonus ebooks completely free!

7 thoughts on “5 Tips About Writing with Rhythm”

I receive Daily Writing Tips via email, and I would like to thank you. The emails are entertaining, and many, like the ones on etymology, are educational.

I especially appreciate them because they back up my convictions about how things should be written, or worded. I think a backlash against text shorthand is well underway, and I appreciate your part in it.

Please explain this a little more concisely, I can’t quite grasp it, reaching, stretching, tippy-toeing…there I have it! Thank you

Great post! My only disappointment is the lack of examples. Care to include these in a sequel?

Christopher Hitchens was a brilliant writer. Though, as he himself confessed, his writing; or more pointedly, his publishable writing, was limited to non-fiction. Why? Well, to use (paraphrase) his own words:

‘good fiction reads like a good melody sounds. All good authors of fiction are, from my own experience at least, musically adept in some way or another.’ (He claimed that he couldn’t hear music in his head without listening to it).

Point of the story: Writing with rhythm is almost essential to compose any tale dancing down a path of chimerical wonder.

Thanks for the post. It’s nice to see writers giving tips that aren’t shackled down in conformity and structure.

*Fight the system*

Thanks to all for your comments!

Julie: I indirectly provided a couple of examples within the discussion above, but I didn’t offer any sample sentences or passages from well-known writers, because researching exemplary sentences is time consuming.

Site visitors are welcome to offer excerpts from their favorite writers that demonstrate these tips.

Very nicely expressed. I’ve tried to explain this myself, though not in a blog, and I think it’s a hard concept to understand if you can’t already hear it. I suggest reading poetry out loud, and even writing some, because the rhythm is more obvious in poetry, and the beats more significant. Then apply that rhythm to prose.

This is a useful post! I remember when I first started writing. I wrote what most people refer to as “purple prose”. My sentences were long enough to be paragraphs. Luckily, I got some sense knocked into me and finally started alternating my sentences. That was a few years ago. It’s no problem, now! I’ll be sure to send people with questions about writing to this post.

Leave a Comment

• Credentials
• Testimonials & Portfolio

How to Vary Your Sentences to Create Rhythmic Writing

• by Kristen Hamilton

One mark of a talented author is rhythmic writing, but this can be a difficult writing strength to master. Rhythm in writing is defined as the way the words and sounds come together, usually to create a beat. Long sentences might sound smoother but more rich and complex, and short sentences are snappier and easier to understand. When these two types of sentences are combined, they can create an incredible rhythm to your writing.

Punctuation and stress patterns of words make up the rhythm of a sentence, making long sentences sound smoother and short sentences snappier. If you read a paragraph and find yourself drawn in with a smooth flow of sentences, alternating between long and short sentences, you’re reading something with good rhythm.

The number-one way to achieve rhythm in your writing is to vary the length of sentences.  Use a mix of short and long sentences to create beautiful prose. Offset longer paragraphs with short, one-sentence paragraphs, especially to draw attention to something.

Let’s take a look at Anthony Doerr’s  All the Light We Cannot See :

“When she opens the bedroom window, the noise of the airplanes becomes louder. Otherwise, the night is dreadfully silent: no engines, no voices, no clatter. No sirens. No footfalls on the cobbles. Not even gulls. Just a high tide, one block away and six stories below, lapping at the base of the city walls. And something else. Something rattling softly, very close. She eases open the left-hand shutter and runs her fingers up the slats of the right. A sheet of paper has lodged there.”

Do you see that magic? Better yet, can you  feel  it? That’s what rhythmic writing is all about.

Let’s also take a look at   Insights: If Boys Never Learn, Men Won’t Know  by Quincy C. Newell, which I edited. I read this example in the corresponding Facebook video.

Did you know that there is no such thing as fear? Really, it doesn’t exist. Fear is a name that was created to identify a biological reaction that your body has to certain external and internal stimuli. That’s why fear is purely individual. Every person has a different set of “fears” that’s personal only to them.

Need another example? Let’s go deeper and take a look at this awesome illustration of sentence lengths by Gary Provost:

Fun, right? You can see here that the one step to creating rhythmic writing is to vary the length and type of your sentences. This creates cadence, which better engages readers and pushes them forward, encouraging them to keep reading. But, of course, in doing this one thing, you must follow some rules:

1. Don’t overuse any one sentence type or length , as this can become distracting. (Take a look at the first paragraph in the image above.) 2. Read your work aloud.  It’s the best way to see if anything is “off” with the rhythm of your writing. A too-long sentence might make you run out of breath, or too many short sentences in a row will make your writing sound choppy.  3. Notice the words or syllables that naturally become stressed in the rhythm of your writing.  Are these the words you want emphasized? If not, something needs to change. Our brains naturally pay more attention to the beginnings and endings of sentences and paragraphs–that’s why, when I’m editing, I pay close attention to how sentences end, generally swapping out weaker words for strong, emotion-filled ones. We also naturally emphasize shorter sentences and words, so these stick out more, whether we’re reading silently or aloud.

Some tips and tricks:

• Try using longer sentences at the beginning of your paragraphs, and a short sentence at the end.
• Super-short sentences—like 5 words or fewer—can be used to draw emphasis to an idea. Use these for drama! You can even break up long paragraphs by a short, one-sentence paragraph, especially in high-stakes scenes.
• Use punctuation, like commas or—my favorite, em dashes—to draw emphasis to different parts of your sentence. Personally, I like to offset the end of a particularly powerful sentence by adding an em dash.

Book editor Kristen Hamilton is the owner and sole employee of Kristen Corrects, Inc., where she provides manuscript editing services for traditionally and self-publishing authors. Several authors whose books she has edited have  won awards and have topped Amazon’s best sellers lists .

Reading is Kristen’s passion, so when the workday is over, she can usually be found curled up with a good book alongside her four cats. She loves watching cat videos and scary movies, eating pizza, teaching herself French, and traveling, and she is likely planning her next vacation. She lives outside of Boise, ID.

Read Next...

1 thought on “how to vary your sentences to create rhythmic writing”.

This is such a helpful post. Showing examples of good prose really helps to understand the concept.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

• Link to facebook
• Link to linkedin
• Link to twitter
• Link to youtube
• Writing Tips

Writing Tips: A Beginner’s Guide to Rhyme

4-minute read

• 28th December 2020

Rhyme and rhyming words are common in English. You might even want to use this technique in your own writing . But how does rhyme work? What types of rhyming are there? And where is it used most often? In this post, we explain the basics.

What Is Rhyme?

Words rhyme when they end with similar or identical sounds to each other:

The cat sat on the mat .

The goat boarded the boat .

Here, for example, “cat” rhymes with “mat,” and “goat” rhymes with “boat.”

For a perfect (or full) rhyme , the words need to share a stressed vowel sounds, as well as any sounds after this. This is clearly the case in the single-syllable words above, but it also applies to multi-syllable words (e.g., “seven” and “heaven”).

An imperfect (or half) rhyme , on the other hand, will involve two words that don’t quite meet the conditions for a perfect rhyme. This might be because the stress is different in the words (e.g., “reflect” and “subject” share an “-ect” sound, but the stress in each word falls on a different syllable). Or it might be because two words share similar but non-identical sounds (e.g., “sworn” and “swarm”).

There are other types of rhyme. Assonance and consonance , for instance, focus on repetitions of sounds within words, not just in the final syllable (e.g., “h o nesty” and “p o licy,” or “ma sh ” and “di sh ”). But we will focus on perfect rhymes in this post.

Why Are Rhymes Used For?

Two of the most common uses for rhyme are:

• Adding a sense of playfulness, anticipation, and rhythm in creative writing.
• Linking ideas or concepts with rhyming words to make them memorable.

The most obvious examples come from poetry and song lyrics, where it is common to end a line with a rhyme. This is because the repetition of sounds is pleasant to the ear and creates a sense of rhythm so that the poem or song flows well.

Many of the nursery rhymes we learn when we are young, for example, have a strong sense of rhythm to them created by the rhyming element:

Twinkle, twinkle, little star How I wonder what you are Up above the world so high Like a diamond in the sky

Find this useful?

Subscribe to our newsletter and get writing tips from our editors straight to your inbox.

These rhyming couplets are a very simple type of rhyme, as you might expect from a children’s song! But you can use rhyme very creatively, varying where rhymes fall and playing with people’s expectations of what will come next.

Outside of poetry, rhymes are also common in mnemonics (i.e., phrases or sayings that work as memory aids). For instance, you might have heard the following:

In fourteen hundred ninety- two Columbus sailed the ocean blue .

This is designed to remind us that Columbus set sail in 1492. And since no other single-digit numbers rhyme with “blue,” we know the year has to end with “two.”

Businesses use rhyming in marketing, too. A famous example of using rhyme in an advertising slogan came from the car company Chevrolet in the 1950s:

See the USA in your Chevrolet !

As well as being catchy, the rhyme here between “USA” and “Chevrolet” helps to connect the two words in people’s minds. The slogan therefore cemented Chevrolet’s reputation as an all-American company.

Expert Proofreading

And finally, a rhyme about proofreading:

If you don’t get your writing proofread, Typos could be widespread. But there’s no need to be nervous: With Proofed’s editing service You can be sure you won’t be misread!

However you choose to use rhyme in your writing, make sure your work is error free with our outstanding proofreading service! Why not upload a free 500-word trial document for our experts to proofread and find out more today?

Share this article:

Post A New Comment

Got content that needs a quick turnaround? Let us polish your work. Explore our editorial business services.

5-minute read

Free Email Newsletter Template

Promoting a brand means sharing valuable insights to connect more deeply with your audience, and...

6-minute read

How to Write a Nonprofit Grant Proposal

If you’re seeking funding to support your charitable endeavors as a nonprofit organization, you’ll need...

9-minute read

How to Use Infographics to Boost Your Presentation

Is your content getting noticed? Capturing and maintaining an audience’s attention is a challenge when...

8-minute read

Why Interactive PDFs Are Better for Engagement

Are you looking to enhance engagement and captivate your audience through your professional documents? Interactive...

7-minute read

Seven Key Strategies for Voice Search Optimization

Voice search optimization is rapidly shaping the digital landscape, requiring content professionals to adapt their...

Five Creative Ways to Showcase Your Digital Portfolio

Are you a creative freelancer looking to make a lasting impression on potential clients or...

Make sure your writing is the best it can be with our expert English proofreading and editing.

How to Write a Sonnet [Ultimate Guide + Examples and Tips]

Have you ever been captivated by the rhythmic beauty of a Shakespearean sonnet or the heartfelt emotions in Petrarch’s verses?

Here is a quick summary of how to write sonnet:

Write a sonnet by choosing a theme, selecting a sonnet type (Petrarchan or Shakespearean), planning your rhyme scheme, writing in iambic pentameter, developing your quatrains or octave/sestet, using literary devices, and editing and revising your poem.

This ultimate guide will walk you through everything you need to know about writing a sonnet.

What Is a Sonnet?

Table of Contents

A sonnet is a 14-line poem that originated in Italy during the 13th century.

The term “sonnet” comes from the Italian word sonetto , meaning “little song.” Sonnets are known for their strict structural rules, including specific rhyme schemes and meters, which give them a musical quality.

Sonnets traditionally explore themes like love, beauty, politics, mortality, and nature.

Despite their concise form, sonnets are powerful vehicles for conveying deep emotion and complex ideas.

Key Features of a Sonnet:

• 14 lines in total.
• Written in iambic pentameter (a specific poetic meter).
• Follows a specific rhyme scheme, depending on the type.

The Different Types of Sonnets

While all sonnets share common characteristics, they can be divided into several types based on their rhyme schemes and structural components.

The three most well-known sonnet forms are:

• Shakespearean

Petrarchan (Italian) Sonnet

• Octave (first 8 lines): Presents a problem, situation, or emotional state.
• Sestet (last 6 lines): Offers a resolution or reflection.

Rhyme Scheme:

• Octave: ABBAABBA
• Sestet: Can vary (CDECDE, CDCDCD, or others)

Example Opening:

“When I consider how my light is spent…” — John Milton

Shakespearean (English) Sonnet

• Three Quatrains (each 4 lines): Develops an idea or theme.
• Couplet (final 2 lines): Offers a conclusion or twist.
• ABAB CDCD EFEF GG

“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” — William Shakespeare

Spenserian Sonnet

• Similar to the Shakespearean sonnet but with a linked rhyme scheme.
• ABAB BCBC CDCD EE

“One day I wrote her name upon the strand…” — Edmund Spenser

Sonnet Structure

To write a sonnet, it’s crucial to understand its structural components.

Rhyme Scheme

The rhyme scheme refers to the pattern of rhymes at the end of each line. It’s denoted using letters to represent sounds. For example, in an ABAB rhyme scheme, the first and third lines rhyme with each other, as do the second and fourth.

Meter and Iambic Pentameter

Meter is the rhythmic structure of a line of poetry. Iambic pentameter is the most common meter in sonnets and consists of five iambs per line.

An iamb is a metrical foot containing two syllables: an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable (da-DUM).

Iambic Pentameter Example:

“But soft, what light through yonder window breaks?”

Breaking it down:

• But soft (da-DUM),
• what light (da-DUM),
• through yon (da-DUM),
• der win (da-DUM),
• dow breaks (da-DUM).

Tips for Crafting an Exceptional Sonnet

When you want to supercharge your sonnet-writing skills, follow these tips:

• Read Classic Sonnets: Familiarize yourself with works by Shakespeare, Petrarch, and modern poets to understand different styles.
• Practice Iambic Pentameter: Write simple sentences in iambic pentameter to get comfortable with the rhythm.
• Expand Your Vocabulary: A rich vocabulary allows for more creative expression within the constraints of the rhyme scheme.
• Avoid Forced Rhymes: Ensure your rhymes feel natural and don’t disrupt the flow of the poem.
• Be Concise: With only 14 lines, every word counts. Make sure each line contributes to the overall theme.
• Use Imagery: Vivid descriptions engage readers and convey emotions more powerfully.
• Experiment with Volta: The “turn” or volta is a shift in the poem’s direction. Use it effectively to surprise or impact the reader.

Examples of Famous Sonnets

Speaking of classic sonnets, let’s read a few famous sonnets to inspire your writing.

Sonnet 18 by William Shakespeare

“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate: Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer’s lease hath all too short a date…”

This sonnet compares the beloved to a summer’s day, ultimately asserting that the poem itself will immortalize their beauty.

Sonnet 43 by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

“How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight For the ends of being and ideal grace…”

Browning expresses the depth of her love in this heartfelt Petrarchan sonnet.

Common Mistakes to Avoid When Writing Sonnets

• Ignoring the Meter: A sonnet without proper meter loses its musicality.
• Overcomplicating the Language: While rich language is good, overly complex words can alienate readers.
• Inconsistent Theme: Keep your sonnet focused on a central idea.
• Poor Rhyme Quality: Avoid using clichés or awkward phrasing just to make a rhyme work.
• Neglecting the Volta: The turn is essential in adding depth to your sonnet.

Sonnet Writing Exercises and Writing Prompts

Enhance your sonnet-writing skills with these exercises and prompts designed to stimulate creativity, improve technique, and inspire original poetry.

Exercise 1: Iambic Pentameter Practice

• Objective: Develop a strong grasp of iambic pentameter.
• Write ten lines of poetry in iambic pentameter without worrying about rhyme.
• Focus on maintaining the unstressed-stressed syllable pattern (da-DUM) across each line.
• Example Line: “The sun a rose to greet the morn ing sky .”

Tip: Clap or tap your foot to the rhythm as you read your lines aloud to ensure the meter is correct.

Exercise 2: Rhyme Scheme Exploration

• Objective: Familiarize yourself with different rhyme schemes.
• Choose a quatrain (four-line stanza) and write four versions, each using a different rhyme scheme (ABAB, AABB, ABBA, ABCB).
• Keep the same thematic content but adjust the end words to fit each scheme.
• Example: Describe a sunset using each rhyme scheme variant.

Tip: This exercise helps you see how rhyme schemes affect the flow and mood of a poem.

Exercise 3: The Volta Twist

• Objective: Practice incorporating a volta (turn) into your sonnet.
• Write an eight-line poem presenting a problem or situation.
• Add a six-line resolution that shifts the perspective or tone.
• Example Theme: A flower wilting (octave) and then blooming again (sestet).

Tip: Use transitional words like “yet,” “but,” or “however” to signal the volta.

Exercise 4: Emulating a Master

• Objective: Learn from the greats by emulating their style.
• Select a famous sonnet and analyze its structure and themes.
• Write your own sonnet inspired by it, but with your unique twist.
• Example: Use Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130 as inspiration but modernize the imagery.

Tip: This helps you understand how themes and structures can be adapted over time.

Exercise 5: Sensory Overload

• Objective: Enhance imagery by focusing on the five senses.
• Write a sonnet where each quatrain focuses on a different sense (sight, sound, touch, taste, smell).
• Use vivid descriptions to immerse the reader.
• Example: Describe a bustling marketplace using sensory details.

Tip: Sensory language makes your poetry more vivid and engaging.

20 Original and Creative Writing Prompts

Here is a collection of creative writing prompts to write your sonnet:

• Echoes in a Cave – Explore themes of isolation and self-reflection.
• A Clock Counting Backwards – Delve into concepts of regret or longing to revisit the past.
• The Secret Life of a Tree – Personify a tree witnessing historical events over centuries.
• A Dialogue Between Fire and Ice – Contrast opposing forces and their coexistence.
• Lost Letters Found in a Bottle – Imagine messages from distant lands or times.
• Dreams of an AI Robot – Reflect on artificial intelligence gaining consciousness.
• The Bridge Between Worlds – Describe a metaphorical or literal connection between two realms.
• Colors No One Has Seen – Challenge perceptions by describing the indescribable.
• The Last Melody of a Dying Violin – Convey loss and the end of an era through music.
• Footprints Leading Nowhere – Contemplate aimlessness or the journey over the destination.
• Whispers of the Wind – Give voice to nature’s unseen forces.
• A Mask That Reveals True Faces – Investigate identity and authenticity.
• The Taste of Forgotten Memories – Use synesthesia to blend senses and emotions.
• A Garden Where Time Stands Still – Create a haven untouched by change.
• Shadows Writing Stories on the Wall – Animate shadows to tell tales of the unseen.
• A Child’s Perspective on War – Offer innocent insights into serious themes.
• When Stars Fade Away – Ponder cosmic events and their impact on humanity.
• The Burden of Immortality – Explore the challenges of eternal life.
• Silent Screams Beneath the Ocean – Address environmental issues or hidden struggles.
• A World Without Mirrors – Examine self-awareness and how we perceive ourselves.

Tips for Using These Prompts:

• Free Writing: Spend five minutes writing whatever comes to mind before shaping it into a sonnet.
• Mind Mapping: Create a visual diagram of ideas related to the prompt to expand your thinking.
• Perspective Shift: Write from the point of view of an unexpected narrator, like an object or an animal.

Resources for Further Learning

Expand your knowledge and refine your sonnet-writing skills with these recommended resources.

• “The Making of a Poem: A Norton Anthology of Poetic Forms” by Mark Strand and Eavan Boland. This is an insightful exploration of various poetic forms, including detailed sections on sonnets with examples and analyses.
• “A Poet’s Guide to Poetry” by Mary Kinzie. This book offers deep dives into poetic techniques, encouraging readers to understand and experiment with form and meter.
• “Sonnets from Dante to the Present: 125 Sonnets” edited by Philip Levine and Alfred Corn. This is a curated collection showcasing the evolution of the sonnet over centuries.

Online Courses and Workshops

• Coursera: “Sharpened Visions: A Poetry Workshop.” A free online course covering the fundamentals of poetry writing, including form and meter.
• edX: “Poetry in America: The Sonnets.” Focuses specifically on sonnets, exploring historical context and encouraging creative practice.
• The Poetry School ( www.poetryschool.com ) . Offers online and in-person workshops on various poetic forms led by experienced poets.

Websites and Online Communities

• Poetry Foundation ( www.poetryfoundation.org ) . Features articles, poems, and poet biographies to inspire and educate.
• Academy of American Poets ( www.poets.org ) . Provides resources like poem-a-day, writing tips, and educational materials.
• AllPoetry ( www.allpoetry.com ) . An active community where poets share work, give feedback, and participate in contests.

Podcasts and Videos

• “Poetry Off the Shelf” (Podcast). Engaging discussions on poetry trends, featuring interviews with contemporary poets.
• TED Talks on Poetry. Offers perspectives from poets and thinkers on the role of poetry in society.
• Button Poetry: Showcases spoken word performances.
• The Poetry Channel: Features readings and analyses of classic and modern poems.

Writing Tools and Apps

• RhymeZone – An online rhyming dictionary and thesaurus.
• Meter App (Available on iOS and Android) – Assists in scanning your poetry for metrical accuracy.
• Evernote or Scrivener – Writing software that helps organize notes, drafts, and revisions.

Local and Online Workshops

• Community Centers and Libraries – Often host poetry readings, workshops, and writing groups.
• Universities and Colleges – Many offer continuing education courses in creative writing.
• Online Workshops: – Writer’s Digest University – Gotham Writers Workshop

Literary Journals and Magazines

• “Poetry” Magazine – Publishes a wide range of poetic works and offers submission opportunities.
• Features contemporary poetry and essays on poetic craft.
• “Sonnet Central” ( www.sonnetcentral.com ) – An archive of sonnets from various periods and authors.

Detailed Exercises

Tips for Using Prompts:

• “The Making of a Poem: A Norton Anthology of Poetic Forms” by Mark Strand and Eavan Boland – An insightful exploration of various poetic forms, including detailed sections on sonnets with examples and analyses.
• “A Poet’s Guide to Poetry” by Mary Kinzi – Offers deep dives into poetic techniques, encouraging readers to understand and experiment with form and meter.
• “Sonnets from Dante to the Present: 125 Sonnets” edited by Philip Levine and Alfred Corn – A curated collection showcasing the evolution of the sonnet over centuries.
• Coursera: “Sharpened Visions: A Poetry Workshop” – A free online course covering the fundamentals of poetry writing, including form and meter.
• edX: “Poetry in America: The Sonnets” – Focuses specifically on sonnets, exploring historical context and encouraging creative practice.
• The Poetry School ( www.poetryschool.com ) – Offers online and in-person workshops on various poetic forms led by experienced poets.
• Poetry Foundation ( www.poetryfoundation.org ) – Features articles, poems, and poet biographies to inspire and educate.
• Academy of American Poets ( www.poets.org ) – Provides resources like poem-a-day, writing tips, and educational materials.
• AllPoetry ( www.allpoetry.com ) – An active community where poets share work, give feedback, and participate in contests.
• “Poetry Off the Shelf” (Podcast) – Engaging discussions on poetry trends, featuring interviews with contemporary poets.
• TED Talks on Poetry – Offers perspectives from poets and thinkers on the role of poetry in society.
• RhymeZone ( www.rhymezone.com ) – An online rhyming dictionary and thesaurus.
• Writer’s Digest University
• Gotham Writers Workshop
• “The American Poetry Review” – Features contemporary poetry and essays on poetic craft.

FAQs about Sonnets

If you still have questions about how to write a sonnet, I hope that I have answered your question here.

Do I have to write in iambic pentameter when composing a sonnet?

Traditionally, sonnets are written in iambic pentameter, which consists of five iambic feet per line (an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable, repeated five times).

Adhering to this meter is a hallmark of the classic sonnet form.

Modern poets often experiment with different metrical patterns or use free verse. If you’re aiming for a traditional sonnet, practicing iambic pentameter is essential.

However, creative expression allows for flexibility, so you may choose to deviate from strict meter to suit your poetic voice.

Can a sonnet be longer or shorter than 14 lines?

By definition, a sonnet is a 14-line poem.

The term “sonnet” comes from the Italian word “sonetto,” meaning “little song,” traditionally consisting of 14 lines of iambic pentameter.

Some poets experiment with variations in line count for artistic effect.

However, such poems are typically considered sonnet-inspired rather than true sonnets.

If you choose to write a poem with more or fewer lines, it may not fit the traditional sonnet form but can still be a valid and creative piece of poetry.

What is a volta, and why is it important in a sonnet?

A volta, Italian for “turn,” is a rhetorical shift or dramatic change in thought and emotion within a sonnet.

It introduces a new perspective, solution, or counterargument that adds depth to the poem.

In Petrarchan sonnets, the volta typically occurs between the octave and the sestet (after the eighth line). In Shakespearean sonnets, it often appears at the start of the third quatrain or in the final couplet.

The volta is crucial because it provides contrast and progression, engaging the reader and enhancing the thematic complexity.

Is it acceptable to use slant rhymes in a sonnet?

Yes, using slant rhymes (also known as near rhymes or half rhymes) is acceptable, especially in contemporary poetry.

Slant rhymes involve words with similar but not identical sounds, such as “heart” and “starve.”

They offer flexibility and can make your poem feel more natural and less forced. While traditional sonnets often employ perfect rhymes, incorporating slant rhymes can add subtlety and modern flair to your work.

The key is to maintain a consistent rhyme scheme to preserve the sonnet’s structural integrity.

How can I ensure my sonnet doesn’t sound outdated or overly formal?

To keep your sonnet fresh and relatable, use modern language and avoid archaic expressions like “thee” or “thou” unless intentionally aiming for a classical tone.

Incorporate contemporary themes, imagery, and colloquial speech where appropriate.

Focus on authentic expression rather than adhering strictly to outdated conventions. Reading modern sonnets can provide inspiration on how poets today adapt the form while keeping it relevant and engaging.

Can I write a sonnet about any topic?

Absolutely. While traditional sonnets often explore themes like love, nature, and mortality, you can write a sonnet about any subject that inspires you.

Modern sonnets address a wide array of topics, including technology, social issues, personal experiences, and abstract concepts.

The sonnet’s structure can be a powerful vehicle for expressing complex ideas concisely. The key is to delve deeply into your chosen theme and use the form to enhance your message.

What are some techniques for finding the right rhymes without sounding forced?

To find natural-sounding rhymes:

• Brainstorm Word Lists: Jot down all words related to your theme and look for rhyming pairs.
• Use Rhyming Dictionaries: Tools like RhymeZone can help you discover rhymes you might not have considered.
• Employ Slant Rhymes: These provide flexibility and can make your poem sound more organic.
• Rewrite Lines: Adjust the phrasing of your lines to accommodate smoother rhymes.
• Read Aloud: Hearing your poem can help you detect awkward rhymes and improve flow.

Remember, the goal is to enhance your poem’s musicality without compromising meaning or clarity.

How important is the meter compared to the content of the sonnet?

Both meter and content are essential in a sonnet.

Meter, particularly iambic pentameter, provides the rhythmic framework that defines the sonnet form, contributing to its musical quality.

Content conveys your themes, emotions, and messages.

Neglecting meter can make your sonnet lose its structural identity, while weak content may fail to engage readers. Striking a balance ensures that your sonnet is both technically sound and emotionally resonant. Practicing the interplay between form and substance is a key aspect of mastering sonnet writing.

Should I follow strict sonnet rules or can I experiment with the form?

While understanding traditional sonnet rules is important, poetry is an art form that encourages creativity and experimentation.

Many contemporary poets adapt and innovate within the sonnet structure, playing with rhyme schemes, meter, and thematic elements.

Experimentation can lead to fresh and impactful poetry.

However, knowing the conventional rules allows you to make informed choices about when and how to break them effectively. Ultimately, whether to adhere strictly to tradition or to innovate depends on your artistic goals.

How do I handle writer’s block when writing a sonnet?

To overcome writer’s block:

• Change Your Environment: A new setting can spark inspiration.
• Free Write: Spend a few minutes writing without worrying about form or content to get ideas flowing.
• Use Prompts: Select a prompt from the list above to give you a starting point.
• Read Other Sonnets: Gain inspiration from the works of other poets.
• Break It Down: Focus on writing one line at a time rather than the entire sonnet at once.

Remember, it’s okay to step away and return later with a fresh perspective.

Can I incorporate modern language and slang into a sonnet?

Yes, incorporating modern language and slang can make your sonnet more relatable and reflective of contemporary speech.

Using current expressions and idioms can add authenticity and freshness to your poem. However, ensure that the language aligns with the sonnet’s tone and theme. Balancing colloquial language with the formal structure of a sonnet can create an interesting contrast that engages readers.

What role do literary devices play in a sonnet?

Literary devices like metaphors, similes, personification, and imagery enhance the depth and richness of a sonnet. They help convey complex emotions and ideas vividly and memorably. Employing these devices can:

• Create Imagery: Paint vivid pictures in the reader’s mind.
• Add Layers of Meaning: Allow for multiple interpretations.
• Enhance Musicality: Devices like alliteration and assonance contribute to the poem’s sound.

Using literary devices thoughtfully strengthens your sonnet’s impact and artistry.

How do I know if my sonnet is effective?

An effective sonnet typically:

• Adheres to Structure: Follows the chosen sonnet form’s rules or intentionally deviates for effect.
• Conveys Clear Themes: Presents a compelling idea or emotion.
• Engages the Reader: Evokes an emotional response or provokes thought.
• Flows Naturally: Reads smoothly without awkward phrasing or forced rhymes.
• Utilizes Literary Devices: Enhances meaning through figurative language.

Seeking feedback from others and reading your sonnet aloud can help you assess its effectiveness.

Can sonnets be written in languages other than English?

Yes, sonnets can and have been written in many languages since their origin in 13th-century Italy.

The sonnet form has been adapted worldwide, with poets composing sonnets in languages like Spanish, French, German, Russian, and more. While the specific metrical patterns may vary due to linguistic differences, the fundamental structure of 14 lines and thematic elements remain consistent.

Writing sonnets in different languages enriches the form’s diversity and global appeal.

How has the sonnet influenced modern poetry and literature?

The sonnet has had a significant impact on modern poetry and literature by:

• Establishing Poetic Traditions: Influencing the development of poetic forms and conventions.
• Encouraging Innovation: Inspiring poets to experiment within and beyond the form.
• Contributing to Literary Movements: Playing a role in movements like Romanticism and Modernism.
• Crossing into Other Media: Inspiring adaptations in music, theater, and film.

Its enduring popularity showcases its versatility and the timelessness of its themes.

How can technology assist in writing and sharing sonnets today?

Technology offers numerous tools and platforms to aid poets:

• Writing Software: Apps like Scrivener help organize drafts and revisions.
• Online Rhyming Dictionaries: Facilitate finding rhymes and synonyms.
• Social Media: Platforms like Instagram and Twitter allow poets to share work instantly.
• Online Communities: Websites like AllPoetry provide spaces for feedback and collaboration.
• Publishing Platforms: Blogs and self-publishing services enable poets to reach wider audiences.

Final Thoughts: How to Write a Sonnet

Writing a sonnet is like writing a play or a novel.

It’s not necessarily going to be a linear journey. There will be stops and starts, sudden forward leaps followed by backtracking. This is all normal (and possibly even helpful). Your first draft might leave you in hopeless despair.

But don’t give up. Keep at it, keep learning, and the result will be an exceptional sonnet that rivals the masters.

Read This Next

• How to Write a Sad Poem (31 Easy Steps + Examples)
• How to Write a Haiku [40 Tips & Examples]
• 100 Most Beautiful Words in the English Language
• Can AI Write Poetry? (Answered with Examples)
• 100 Ugliest Words in the English Language (Mega List)

Poetry Foundation Brittanica

Wisconsin 4-H

Division of Extension

Home » 4-H Opportunities » Projects » Expressive Arts » Creative Writing Project

• Share on Facebook
• Share on X (Twitter)
• Share via Email

Creative Writing Project

What is it all about?

How do you want to express yourself? You can explore different genres, or kinds of writing, such as poetry, short stories, plays, essays, longer works, or even multimedia projects. Then, learn about the different parts of each, like themes, plot, character, word choice, meter and rhythm, and more.

Grow in Your Project

• Learn about the language of creative writing, such as genre, perspective, story arc, and character
• Explore different genres of creative writing – what do you like to read?
• Experiment with different writing prompts
• Create basic character descriptions
• Practice writing a simple story arc
• Start a writing portfolio

Intermediate

• Explore writing through different perspectives (first, second, and third person)
• Write in different genres (poetry, non-fiction, fiction, plays, etc.)
• Experiment with different sentence structures, lengths, and line breaks
• Create and maintain a daily writing journal
• Keep writing and find your writer’s voice
• Edit works you’ve written to make them better
• Continue to experiment and improve your writing skills
• Read something you wrote in public
• Put your best work together in a writing portfolio

Project Resources

Member resources.

The Writer in You Curriculum 1 level (grades 6-12)

Free Download

• Creative Wordworking (grades 3-12)

Image courtesy of LuciGood via Pixabay

We teach, learn, lead and serve, connecting people with the University of Wisconsin, and engaging with them in transforming lives and communities.

Explore Extension »

Connect with your County Extension Office »

Find an Extension employee in our staff directory »

Get the latest news and updates on Extension's work around the state

Feedback, questions or accessibility issues: [email protected] | © 2024 The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System Privacy Policy | Non-Discrimination Policy & How to File a Complaint | Disability Accommodation Requests

An EEO/AA employer, University of Wisconsin-Madison Division of Extension provides equal opportunities in employment and programming, including Title VI, Title IX, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act requirements.

80 Creative and Fresh Writing Prompts for Students of All Ages (+ Bonus Interactive Tip to Run a Writing Activity in PowerPoint)

Ausbert Generoso

Writing prompts are essential tools for helping students explore their creativity and improve their writing skills, potentially even sparking a love for writing. While there are many instructional methods available, encouraging students to stitch their words together and bring their ideas to life through writing remains superior. Why?

• Writing helps students organize their thoughts clearly. It turns abstract ideas into coherent and structured arguments.
• Regular writing sharpens critical thinking. Crafting essays or stories encourages deeper analysis and problem-solving.
• Writing fuels creativity. Engaging with diverse prompts pushes students to explore new ideas and perspectives.
• Writing builds confidence. Seeing their ideas on paper boosts students’ belief in their own abilities.
• Writing prepares students for the future. Strong writing skills are essential for academic success and professional communication.

As straightforward as it may be, writing prompts need to be directly tailored to students at different levels. Considering their age groups, environment, and how they’re engaged, targeted writing prompts will better connect with their interests and developmental stages.

Fun Writing Prompts

Creative writing prompts, personal writing prompts, imaginative writing prompts, persuasive writing prompts, reflective writing prompts.

• Career-Oriented Writing Prompts

Critical Thinking Writing Prompts

Writing prompts for students in elementary.

• If you could have any superpower for one day, what would it be and why?
• One day, it started raining candy from the sky, and I…
• Imagine your pet could talk. What would they say about their day?
• If you could invent a new holiday, what would it be called and how would people celebrate it?
• You’ve just discovered a hidden treasure map in your backyard. What do you do next?
• Write about a world where kids make all the rules for one week.
• If you could swap places with your teacher for a day, what would you teach?
• If you had a magic backpack that could carry anything, what would you pack for an adventure?
• You’ve just met a friendly alien! What questions would you ask them?
• Describe the best birthday party you could ever have—who’s invited and what do you do?
• The dragon was afraid of flying, so he decided to…
• Imagine you found a door in your room that leads to a magical land. What’s the first thing you see?
• If animals could form their own town, what would it look like? Who’s the mayor?
• You’ve been chosen to design a brand-new theme park. What’s the theme and what rides do you create?
• Every time I sneezed, something strange happened. Suddenly…
• A talking tree asks for your help. What does it need, and how do you help it?
• You’ve just opened a box with mysterious objects inside. Pick one and write a story about it.
• Create a story about a kid who finds out they can jump into books and become part of the story.
• If you could fly anywhere in the world, where would you go first and what would you see?
• One morning, I woke up and realized everything in my house was made of chocolate…

800,000+ educators and professionals use ClassPoint to boost audience engagement right inside PowerPoint.

How to run a Short Answer activity in PowerPoint:

• Create a slide with a writing prompt from this blog as text.
• From the Inknoe ClassPoint tab on your PowerPoint, click on Short Answer to immediately insert a quiz button to your slide.
• Enter slide show mode to get your class code, which your students will use to join your class from their devices.
• Click on the inserted Short Answer quiz button to send the slide to your students’ devices, where they can submit responses back to your PowerPoint real-time.

Writing Prompts for Students in Middle School

• Think about your best friend. What makes them special to you?
• Write about a time when you faced a challenge and how you overcame it.
• If you could travel back in time and give your younger self one piece of advice, what would it be?
• The most exciting day I’ve ever had was when…
• What’s one thing you’ve learned about yourself in the past year, and how has it changed you?
• What’s something you do that makes you feel proud? Why?
• Imagine your life 10 years from now. Where are you, and what are you doing?
• Write about a time when you had to make a difficult decision. How did it feel, and what did you choose?
• If you could spend a whole day doing anything you wanted, what would it be?
• Write about a moment when you helped someone. How did it make you feel?
• I discovered an old book in the attic. When I opened it, I was transported into…
• Imagine you’re a detective solving a mysterious case in your town. What’s the mystery, and how do you solve it?
• You wake up one day with the ability to talk to animals. What do they say to you?
• Write about a future world where robots and humans live together. How does society work?
• One day, I discovered I had the power to control time. The first thing I did was…
• Imagine you’ve been given the chance to design a new video game. What’s the story, and who’s the main character?
• If you could switch places with any character from your favorite movie or book, who would it be and why?
• You’re the last person on Earth. What do you do first?
• Write about an invention that changes the world. How does it work, and who uses it?
• While hiking in the woods, I found a hidden door in a tree. When I stepped through it…

Writing Prompts for Students in High School

• Do you think school uniforms should be mandatory? Write a persuasive essay on your stance.
• Write about why it’s important to protect the environment. What actions should be taken?
• Convince someone why your favorite book or movie is the best. What makes it stand out?
• Do you believe that social media has a positive or negative impact on society? Support your argument.
• Write a letter to a local government official about a community issue you care about. What solutions do you propose?
• Persuade your reader why a specific hobby or activity should be included in the school curriculum.
• Argue for or against the use of technology in the classroom. What are the benefits or drawbacks?
• Write about why everyone should participate in community service. What are the benefits to individuals and society?
• Should the voting age be lowered? Present your case with compelling reasons.
• Should schools implement more mental health programs? Discuss the potential benefits.
• Reflect on a challenging project or assignment you’ve completed this year. What strategies helped you succeed?
• Write about a time when you had to balance multiple responsibilities, like school, work, and extracurriculars. How did you manage it?
• Think about a recent decision you made about your future (like choosing a college or career path). What influenced your decision?
• Reflect on a class or subject you struggled with and how you improved or overcame the challenge. What did you learn from the experience?
• Write about a moment when you felt proud of your achievements in school or extracurricular activities. What did it mean to you?
• Describe how your goals or interests have changed since you started high school. What events or experiences contributed to this change?
• Reflect on a time when you worked as part of a team on a school project or activity. How did you contribute to the team’s success?
• Write about a mentor or teacher who has had a significant impact on your high school experience. How have they influenced you?
• Reflect on your involvement in a school club or sports team. How has it shaped your personal growth and skills?
• Think about a recent school event or experience that made you see things differently. What did you learn from it?

Writing Prompts for Students in College

Career-focused writing prompts.

• Write about your ideal job and the steps you need to take to achieve it. What skills and experiences are necessary?
• Imagine you’re starting your own business. What is your business idea, and how will you make it successful?
• Reflect on an internship or job experience that influenced your career aspirations. What did you learn from it?
• Write a cover letter for your dream job. Highlight your strengths and explain why you’re the best fit.
• Describe a professional mentor or role model who has impacted your career goals. What lessons have you learned from them?
• Discuss the importance of networking in your chosen field. How do you plan to build and maintain professional connections?
• Write about a career-related challenge you’ve faced and how you overcame it. What did this experience teach you?
• Explore the impact of technology on your desired career field. How do you plan to adapt to these changes?
• Imagine you’re giving a TED Talk about your field of interest. What key points would you cover to inspire your audience?
• Reflect on how your college education has prepared you for your future career. What skills or knowledge have been most valuable?
• Analyze a current event or issue that interests you. What are the key perspectives, and what is your stance?
• Discuss the pros and cons of a controversial policy or practice in your field of study. What are the implications?
• Evaluate the effectiveness of a recent technological advancement. How has it impacted society or your area of study?
• Consider the ethical implications of a major decision or trend in your industry. What are the potential consequences?
• Analyze the role of social media in shaping public opinion. How does it influence your field or area of study?
• Debate the impact of global issues, like climate change or economic inequality, on your future career. What are potential solutions?
• Write about a significant cultural or societal change and its effects on your field. How can professionals adapt to these changes?
• Assess the impact of educational reforms on your academic and career goals. What changes would you advocate for?
• Critique a popular theory or belief related to your field of study. What are its strengths and weaknesses?
• Explore the role of interdisciplinary approaches in solving complex problems. How can combining fields enhance solutions?

More question lists for your next presentation

350+ Insanely Funny Trivia Questions from A-Z that Will Make Your ROFL

261 Versatile Hot Seat Questions from Funny to Philosophical

90+ Truth or Dare Questions for Kids to Unleash Laughter in the Classroom

131 Most Hilarious Family Feud Questions and Answers of All Time  😂

150 Fun Fill in the Blank Game Questions Across Different Categories (Free Downloadable Template Available!)

100+ Short Answer Questions Across Bloom’s Taxonomy Levels

About Ausbert Generoso

Supercharge your powerpoint. start today..

800,000+ people like you use ClassPoint to boost student engagement in PowerPoint presentations.