Prosody is the study of sound and word choice in poetry.
Poems originally emerged from songs and music. Lyric poetry, for example, started as a "poem" spoken with the beautiful plucking of a 3-stringed harp called a lyre.
We hear poetry sung or spoken daily when we listen to the radio or to our favorite band.
Poems often have a distinct rhythm or pattern to their rhythm.
The rhythm of poetry includes: beat, meter, scansion
Rhythm (also called beat, metrics, versification, etc.) is the comparative speed and loudness in the flow of words spoken in poetic lines.
Words in poetry are selected, not just for content, but also sound or “musicality” of a line.
Placement in a line is also important.
Large units of words make up sentences and paragraph in prose; smaller units make up phrases or cadence groups. In poetry this is metrical feet.
Words are not read in isolation, but in small groups (cadence groups).
Ex. When lilacs last// in the dooryard bloom’d
And the great star// early droop’d
In the western sky// in the night.
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