Rhythm is the hardest element of good prose writing to spot. It is, however, incredibly useful to be aware of, because it’s a fantastic tool for creating effect and manipulating the reader.
Rhythm is the hardest element of good prose writing to spot. It is, however, incredibly useful to be aware of, because it’s a fantastic tool for creating effect and manipulating the reader.
People will tell you that prose differs from poetry in that its rhythms don’t matter to its sense or effect. Don’t believe those people. Consider the following sentence from Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail”:
Too long has our beloved Southland been bogged down in a tragic effort to live in monologue rather than dialogue.
Dr. King has made two of what one might consider mistakes: “monologue” and “dialogue” are awfully big words at the end of a sentence full of awfully big words; and that “too long” is totally in the wrong place – it really should go after “bogged down,” with a “for” in front of it.
Our beloved Southland has been bogged down for too long in a tragic effort to live in monologue rather than conversation.
This is clearer, but it’s also less commanding. That’s because King’s language creates a specific rhythm, and that rhythm produces specific effects. If you read his sentence again, you’ll see that he arranges it so that stress falls very heavily on “long”; what’s more, the fact that “too long” comes at the beginning of the sentence means it makes a very strong impression. King’s placement of “too long” says, “This is what matters: what matters is that it has been too damn long.”
Something slightly different happens with “monologue and dialogue.” This is an example of what in literary studies is called “parallelism” – you have the same construction ( “-ologue” “-alogue”) on both sides of a connector (“rather than”). As a result, the reader’s ear is soothed, but also as a result the difference in the first syllables is enhanced (“mon” is noticed as significantly different from “di”). It also helps that “d” is a strong sound while “m” is a relatively weak one, so “dialogue” is much stronger than “monologue.”
You will notice, too, that King has made some interesting word choices: he has used “Southland” rather than “south,” “beloved” rather than, say, “that we love”, “tragic” rather than “sad.” Each of his words, you can see, has a syllable that is pronounce strongly and a syllable that is pronounced lightly.
The result is two-fold. First(ly), because the words have a kind of slide (each heavy syllable softened by a light one), the reader likes the rhythm and is lulled by it: they get into the sound of the speech. Second(ly), those slightly longer than necessary words give what King is saying heft and grandeur – I don’t know about you, but I’d way rather live in a Southland than a South (although, of course, lots of planets also have a north).
Such rhythmic constructions are a hallmark of African-American preachers (if you go on youtube, you can both see King give a speech and hear Barack Obama’s inaugural speech of 2009, in which he often slips into such a rhythm). They are a hallmark precisely because they manipulate their readers or listeners: the sound of words is a very powerful tool when it comes to creating a persuasive argument.
Try marking up your sentences to see where the strong syllables and the light syllables are: this will make it easier to change and manipulate their rhythms.
If you really want to learn to master rhythm, try reading poetry. There, rhythm’s effects are much more obvious, so it makes a good learning tool.
If you want something to be emphatic, or to be noticed, put it either first or last in the sentence: people pay the most attention to what comes last, then to what comes first (this also means you can sometimes hide not-so-good stuff in the middle).
Rhythm is one of the most pleasurable aspects of good writing, and an aspect that brings immense, although (to them) mysterious, pleasure to the reader. It really is worth cultivating.
Remember that hard sounds like “k” and “t” will give a sentence a more controlled, tidy feel, where as soft sounds like “s” and “f” will give it a more soothing feel. “M” and “n” sounds will create comfort. Also remember that many hard syllables in a row will create first fear, then boredom.
Use your rhythmic powers for good, not ill.