Line and rhythm: types of lines, caesura, metres and beats

There are three main features of poetic lines:
• the way lines end;
• breaks and pauses within lines;
• the rhythms of lines.

A line can end in two ways:
end-stopped;
or run-on.

In an end-stopped line the meaning is complete by the close, so it finishes with a punctuation mark. End-stopped lines usually sound firm and finished because meanings are completed within them. By contrast, run- on line, the meaning of which is left unfinished, create feelings of expectation. Sometimes very telling effects are created by combining the two sorts of lines. The change from end-stopped to run-on lines can be effective because it marks a change in the emotions of the poet.

Caesura is a break within a line. It can only be located by attending to the pauses, you are obliged to make when reading the line, though sometimes it occurs at a punctuation mark. The customary sign is ||. Caesuras are worth noticing because they have marked effects upon a poem: they shape the emotional life of a poem:
“Sweet day, || so cool, || so calm, || so bright”.
(G. Herbert, ‘Virtue’).

The tone of this line is that of a quiet, loving appreciation of the day’s qualities. Speaking to the day, the caesuras mark the pauses in the poet’s thought. It is as if he stops to think before he speaks, so the caesuras enact the very process of deep thought and careful speech.
Caesuras can help to create humorous effects:
“Meanwhile, || declining from the noon of day
The sun obliquely || shoots his burning ray;
The hungry judges || soon the sentence sign
And wretches hang || that jurymen may dine...”
(Pope)
Caesuras can dramatize a poem’s close: at the end of a poem a caesura can dramatize the meaning. The pause before the final word or words gives the reader some time to recognise what has happened in the poem before it is completed.

Rhythm.
Rhythm usually has several functions in the poem:
• rhythm draws attention to individual words;
• rhythm can lend a significance and an urgency to what is being said;
• rhythm can convey a particular feeling of the author.

A certain regularity of beats makes rhythm. It’s traditional to mark a beat or stress like this -/, unstressed syllable is marked like this -.
In a lot of English verse there are either 4 or 5 beats in a line. Rhythms that slavishly follow a single pattern soon tire readers, so variation is always welcome. It is usually of 2 kinds:
- a change in the expected pattern;
- or stresses that are of different weights.

Metres.
Foot is the basic unit that, when repeated, creates a rhythm. Feet usually consist of 2 or 3 syllables.
- A two-syllable foot that starts with a beat is called a trochee.
(-/-) - trochaic rhythm.
- A three-syllable foot starting with a beat is a dactyl.
(-/--) - dactylic rhythm.
- A two-syllable feet that don’t start with a beat are called iambs.
(--/) - iambic rhythm.
- A three-syllable feet that don’t start with a beat are called anapaests.
(---/) - anapaestic rhythm.
There are also names for the number of feet in a line.
A one-foot line is called a monometer; two - a dimeter;
Three a trimeter; four - a tetrameter etc.

It’s important not only to put a label on a metre but also to characterize it. Describing rhythm you take into account either the emotional impact of rhythm or its physical movement.

When you describe the impact it can be:
• awkward;
• ponderous;
• heavy;
• swaying;
• rolling.

When you describe its physical movement it can be:
• expansive;
• dramatic;
• inviting;
• tense;
• quick;
• brisk;
• lively.

A very useful word that has been borrowed from music to talk about the rhythmical aspects of literature is cadence. As the reader comes to the end of a line, a clause, a verse or a sentence, the voice goes up, down or remains steady. This movement is known as cadence. Cadences often establish the emotional character of a line. A rising cadence is often expressive of hope, while a falling one can sound regretful.

Tasks:
• Read the poem you studying and consider the effects of end-stopped and run-on lines. You should also consider the impact of caesuras.
• Read through the poem you are studying and consider the rhythm of the poetry. You should also consider any variations.
• Think about how the basic rhythm is varied throughout the poem and consider the emotional effect of this.
• Which words are heavily stressed, and what contribution do they make to the meaning of the poem?