Try adding rhythm to your writing during this April’s National Poetry Month.
You don’t need to sound like Dr. Seuss (in fact, I’d warn against doing that). But adding some poetic techniques can make your writing sing.
Rhythm moves your readers from line to line to the end. It’s the beat that will capture attention, like the ear worm that digs into your brain and won’t leave you be.
In this post, we’ll dive into poetic tools that add rhythm and energy into any kind of writing: emails, posts, presentations, speeches, scripts, and more. Play with them and see how it can change your writing.
1. Enjambment: Let it spill
In poetry, enjambment breaks a sentence across lines. In regular writing, enjambment happens when ideas flow naturally, using line breaks, paragraph shifts, or even sentence fragments to create a cadence and momentum.
The reader should continue speaking the line from punctuation to punctuation, keeping the thread of the idea and thought intact, even across lines.
Poets use enjambment to create anticipation, control the rhythm and pace, and create a sense of flow.
Poetry example: The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot April is the cruellest month, breeding Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing Memory and desire, stirring Dull roots with spring rain.
Prose Equivalent: “I tensed. Waiting. (paragraph break) Still, the knock startled me.”
2. Anaphora: Start strong and repeat
Repetition builds rhythm. It sets up anticipation and comfort, particularly when delivered in sets of three.
Anaphora is the repetition of a phrase at the beginning of lines or sentences that creates emphasis and pace.
“I have a dream…”
“I have a dream…”
“I have a dream…”
It sticks. It builds. It moves.
3. Internal Rhyme: A little music in the middle
Internal rhyme isn’t just for poems. Mirroring syllables can make a sentence pop. This internal rhyme also aids in setting a pleasing cadence and rhythm in your writing. It flows off the tongue and into the mind.
Poetry Example: The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe
“Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,”
Studies also show that advertising that contains rhyme is remembered 22 times better than ones without, which is why you get slogans like:
“The quicker picker upper.” (Bounty)
“Watch It Wiggle, See It Jiggle.” (Jell-O)
“Once you pop, you can’t stop” (Pringles)
Try slipping a subtle rhyme into your line to capture your readers’ attention.
4. Meter: Write in rhythm
You don’t need to count syllables like Shakespeare, but you should pay attention to natural rhythms. How they sound. Why they work. How they affect engagement.
A short sentence speeds up the pace and can break tension.
A longer, more flowing sentence slows the pace and can add tension or deliver description designed to engage. They also carry ideas easier.
Read your work aloud. If you stumble or it sounds off, look at your rhythm. It might need some tweaking.
5. Refrain: Use a chorus
Refrains aren’t just for poems or pop songs. If you have a core idea, repeat it. Return to it. Echo it.
Repetition adds power.
Refrains are where you establish identity. They also give readers a hook and idea to hold onto.
“Nevermore.”
“Winter is coming.”
“Finger Licking Good.”
Next Up: In Part 2 of our Poetry Series, we’ll dig into sound—the music of consonants, vowels, and word choice. Think of it as sound design for the page.