The iamb goes bah-BUM and is William Shakespeare’s heartbeat: “Shall I com pare thee to a summer’s day?” bah-BUM, bah-BUM, bah-BUM, bah-BUM, bah-BUM. Let me stop and quote Fry on meter (or metre) overall: “The life of a poem is measured in regular heartbeats. With Fry’s help, I glance off the Greek, and plunge right into descriptive metaphors for two of the rhyme schemes most-often used when writing for children, the iamb, and the anapest. When I teach rhyme at New York’s 92nd Street Y, I rely a lot on Stephen Fry’s wonderfully thorough and helpful (and funny and clever) poetry writing how-to, “ The Ode Less Travelled.” People “feel” a beat before they label it or define it. Like any specialty practice, writing poetry has its own jargon many interesting Greek terms for things best understood through the ear and the blood and the gut. Can you tell us about meter? What are the most common meters used in picture books? How can a writer train their ear to hear the beat?Ī: Meter, wow. Q: Rhyming poems and stories have a rhythm.
As far as writers giving it a try goes, I want to say a qualified “sure!” But, looking ahead at the rest of the questions, I see that some of those qualifiers will be discussed. Rhyme seemed to be off limits for decades because a) I suspect a generation of editors felt it read old fashioned and, b) in a word, Seuss.ĭunno about “master,” but thanks, and I’ll work to live up to that. Q: Do you believe rhyming picture books are being published more today? As a master of the genre, do you think picture book writers should try their hand at it?Ī: More than they were only a few years back. Ted, author of “Sticks ‘n’ Stones ‘n’ Dinosaur Bones,” offers advice to writers who want to try to tackle rhyme. But writing them isn’t as easy as it looks. Teachers know how well they engage children and teach them about language. Newland, blogs across the web are featuring exclusive content about this humorous tall tale and giving away chances to win a copy of “Sticks ‘n’ Stones ‘n’ Dinosaur Bones.” To celebrate the release of “Sticks ‘n’ Stones ‘n’ Dinosaur Bones,” written by Ted Enik and illustrated by G.F. Welcome to Day #3 of the “Sticks ‘n’ Stones” Blog Tour Check out the wonderful interview with author Ted Enik below as he talks about his use of rhyme and meter! I’m a huge fan of the use of rhyme to engage kids. So when I was offered the chance to participate in a blog tour for the book, I jumped at it. I could definitely see how this would get a classroom of kids talking about fact and fiction, competition, and the importance of fair play. I saw this book as a must for the dinosaur lover and a great read-aloud. Back this summer, my kids and I had a fun time reading Sticks ‘N Stone ‘N Dinosaur Bones.
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