Stop Counting Syllables in Metrical Verse! | Poetic Meter Basics

#poeticmeter #rhymingpicturebooks #picturebooks #kidlit

If you are counting syllables instead of stressed beats, this video shows you why that's not the best practice for perfecting your meter in rhyming picture books and verse.

METER BASICS PLAYLIST

HOW TO IDENTIFY STRESSED SYLLABLES

ABOUT PEEK & CRITIQUE
PEEK & CRITIQUE -- for writers of rhyming picture books, prose picture books, and children's poetry -- is a series that explores concepts taught in The Lyrical Language Lab online course, such as poetic meter, rhyme, sound devices, word choice, lyrical language, imagery, and scansion. I read and critique YOUR submitted writing samples of rhyming picture books, prose picture books, and children's poetry, explaining concepts along the way.

This is a FREE service for kidlit writers! You do not need to have taken my Lyrical Language Lab course to participate. This service is open to ALL kidlit writers!

Want to submit a writing sample for Peek & Critique? Go here:

Learn more about the Lyrical Language Lab online course:

[SusanJohnstonTaylor]

Renee, I was happy to see you had a new video to start off 2021 right! This was a fun exercise.
Iambic – As AUtumn TURNS to WINter SNOW, I WATCH and WAIT.
Anapestic - But I WANT to be BOLD like a HOLLywood STAR.
Trochaic – HAPpy ROSEs BLOOM in SPRING aROUND the GARden.
Dactylic - LOVingly, TENDerly CROONS little BIRD at dawn.

[TomShuff]

This video was very helpful to me as I'm working on somethings right now and this issue keeps coming up. Counting stressed beats instead of syllables make so much more sense. You're the best. It's a shame that you don't seem to be critiquing things any longer. I'm sure you were overwhelmed with input. Thanks for the video series. I wish I had found you sooner.

[rboyd]

So helpful! I'm 78 and just began writing poetry and was only counting syllables on my fingers which worked until I began a course and today learned about the beats. Your video solved a problem for me. In the past, counting on my fingers I saw that sometimes the syllables seemed uneven with an additional syllable that seemed out of sync with the rest of the lines. Now I see why, and this is illuminating. Though I write more free verse now, I have to develop a good ear for the stressed and unstressed and correct my rhyming poem errors.

[lindsaybabcock]

This video (like all of your videos) was incredibly helpful! Thank you so much, Renee! 🙏 😊

[boyandbelugee]

Now I understand why my original poems were choppy despite counting the syllables! The meter was imperfect! Thank you Renee!

[kimtsbooks]

Thank you!! This is exactly what I needed. You explained it the best out of the many videos and articles I’ve watched and read. One told me that I needed to keep consistent syllables and that got me really confused because my rhymes flowed despite the extra syllables here and there. Bless you!

[mmagella]

Excellent! I can always tell when writers are counting syllables, but this is the site I will send them to from now on.

[boyandbelugee]

And it was eye-opening to learn that syllables can vary as long as the meter is consistent! Thank you!❤️

[karlwaterbury]

I suppose it depends on what kind of poem you are writing. Haikus don't rely on rhymes or meters. They're just three lines with 5, 7, 5 syllable structure. However, there were a lot of great points in this video. It was very informative.

[everynewdayisablessing]

This is groundbreaking info. So happy to know this. I go by the ear, but when I started counting the syllables, they were all over the place. I will never be a great rhymer but at least I know about the syllable-counting myth! Awesome!

[Petite]

I'm so glad I found out videos, taking English 2 summer courses were working oh Poem this week where I have to Annotate a poem, this week, after being out of school over 35 yrs. feel like a rebirth, but your videos are saving me. thank you so much, and you have a new subscriber.

[summerrose]

How is this?

Lavender Fields

Perfect lines of green and purple
The floral perfume  a wave of scent 
As I hear the gentle sullen breeze
The petals soft beneath my touch
I sip my flowery tea with welcome lips
The lavender fields the perfect place to meet her
A love as joyful as the summer buds

I tried not to count syllables and stick to the meter

[cbraps]

This is fantastic, I have a feeling I will be watching all your videos

[BrittanyPomales]

Thanks for another great video, Renee!

[incredibleworld]

Much better now. THANK YOU for sharing!

[youtubecommentor]

Hi Renee, in regards to the couplet, "She WANTS to GO to CAN-dy-LAND", at 2:10 you added the 2nd line, "but HER mom HAS some-THING else PLANNED". As you said, this line does not work when scanned in iambic tetrameter but what if you wanted to use this same line and yet have it function properly in this couplet? Is there a method/strategy to change and/or substitute the words to make it a successful scansion?

As an example, I replaced “tired” with “worn” (among other words) and would like to know if this alternate line would work, "but Mom who’s WORN has OTHER-wise PLANNED"?

Also, the 2nd syllable in the word ‘Otherwise’ (wise) adds a secondary stressed syllable according to Merriam-Webster dictionary (oth·​er·​wise ˈə-t͟hər-ˌwīz) yet this word still sounds like it would work in the iambic tetrameter couplet. Thoughts please? Thank you so much for this video?

[MotownDan]

Thank you! This is very elucidating. Though I wasn't exactly counting syllables, I never understood why I picked up pace at some places so my reading would come out right. I have what some call good ears, but not really a good framework for explaining things. Your video is easy to follow. Thank you so much!

[EllenOrleans]

Just have to say that giraffe 🦒 lamp is fantastic!

[SherrisWorld]

Thank you. Great videos. Trying to go through them now... Dealing with a hot mess of a poem that I thought I was ready to publish but am now rewriting!!! For a beginner like me. How do you suggest I jot down/check my meter/stress marks. Print poem out on paper and write on it, or type the beat out next to it?

[chadsimmons]

Another great video! Curious if you have, or are thinking of making a video about “near rhyme”.

Also, should submissions be four or five consecutive stanzas in a PB?