VOA日常语法2023--Poetry and Syllables

Poetry and Syllables²

Last week, we looked at two kinds of poems, the cinquain and the diamante or diamond poem. We explored parts of speech: nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs with poems. Many of you wrote to us and shared your poems.

In today's Everyday Grammar, we will look at the cinquain and the haiku. But we will place our attention on the use of syllables to create the poems.

Syllables

A syllable¹ is a natural division of a word. For example, the word, "flower" has two syllables: -flow and -er.

The number of syllables in the word depends on the number of vowel³ sounds. In the word "flower" there are two vowel sounds.

Although there are about 20 vowels⁴ sounds in English, all the sounds can be written with the letters a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes y.

One syllable can be written with more than one vowel letter, like in the word "boot." Although there are two vowel letters, o and o, there is only one vowel sound -oo.

When two separate vowel sounds are next to each other in the same syllable, it is called a diphthong.

One way to identify vowel sounds is to clap your hands together when you hear the vowel sounds. Take the word "winter." We clap our hands together twice, win-ter. If you cannot clap, you can tap your foot or tap a desk, or even count on your fingers.

Haiku poems

Haiku are short poems that are based on syllables and not do rhyme. They are a Japanese art form. But writers in many countries have copied them. In English, they are expressed in three lines, and the poem has 17 syllables throughout the three lines. They are centered on nature and two opposing ideas in a single moment in time.

In English, haiku can deal with nature, or they can be about anything, as long as the traditional structure is maintained.

Let's look at the English form of the syllable structure for a haiku:

Line 1: Five syllables

Line 2: Seven syllables

Line 3: Five syllables

Let's look at an example:

Sleeping guinea pigs

Eyes wide open, no true trust

Until food arrives

In the poem above, I wrote about my guinea pigs. We can see the syllable structure below:

Slee-ping gui-nea pigs (5 syllables)

Eyes wide o-pen, no true trust (7 syllables)

Un-til food ar-rives (5 syllables)

Here is another example about winter.

Still snowing in March

When will spring be on its way?

No sunshine, so sad

Let's clap this one out.

Still snow-ing in March

When will spring be on its way?

No sun-shine, so sad

Hopefully, spring will be here soon. Let's move on to another kind of poem that we learned about before, the cinquain.

Cinquain with syllables

Just like the cinquain from last week, the form with syllables has five lines. Each line contains an even number of syllables.

Line 1 contains two syllables.

Line 2 has four syllables.

Line 3 has six syllables.

Line 4 has eight syllables.

Line 5 contains just two syllables, like the first line.

Here is an example:

Hot days

Arrive soon now

Sun ri-ses earlier

Sun sets later in the evening

Warm nights

Now, let's look at the syllable structure line by line.

Hot days (2 syllables)

Arr-ive soon now (4 syllables)

Sun rises ear-li-er (6 syllables)

Sun sets la-ter in the eve-ning (8 syllables)

Warm nights (2 syllables)

If you understand syllables well, you can include a rhyme or two within the cinquain poem.

Writing tips and ideas

Now, you have the structure for two kinds of poems created by using syllables, haiku and a cinquain. Haiku have three lines. All the lines add up to 17 syllables, divided up into 5-7-5. A cinquain has five lines and a total of 22 syllables. Each line has an even number of syllables, increasing by two until the last line.

Now, start brainstorming⁶ ideas for your own poem. Write about what you know. Get outside and take a walk; let nature or your surroundings inspire you.

Once you have an idea, you can jump right in with counting syllables. Or you can write your idea in a paragraph form or a list, and then fit it to the structure of either a cinquain or a haiku.

Send your poems to [email protected].

Or share your poems in the comments below!

We love reading what you send! We will select a few to give feedback on next week!

Words in This Story

syllable – n. any one of the parts into which a word is naturally divided when it is pronounced

vowel – n. a letter (such as a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes y in English) that makes a specific sound

clap – n. to hit the palms of your hands together usually more than once

guinea pig – n. a small furry⁷ animal, or rodent⁸, that is often kept as a pet

rhyme – n. one of two or more words or phrases that end in the same sounds

brainstorm⁵ – v. to think of many ideas

inspire –v. to get an idea about what to do or create from a person or something you see or experience

1 syllable   

n.音节；vt.分音节

参考例句：

• You put too much emphasis on the last syllable.你把最后一个音节读得太重。
• The stress on the last syllable is light.最后一个音节是轻音节。

2 syllables   

n.音节( syllable的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a word with two syllables 双音节单词
• 'No. But I'll swear it was a name of two syllables.' “想不起。不过我可以发誓，它有两个音节。” 来自英汉文学 - 双城记

3 vowel   

n.元音；元音字母

参考例句：

• A long vowel is a long sound as in the word"shoe ".长元音即如“shoe” 一词中的长音。
• The vowel in words like 'my' and 'thigh' is not very difficult.单词my和thigh中的元音并不难发。

4 vowels   

n.元音，元音字母( vowel的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Vowels possess greater sonority than consonants. 元音比辅音响亮。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Note the various sounds of vowels followed by r. 注意r跟随的各种元音的发音。 来自超越目标英语 第3册

5 brainstorm   

vi.动脑筋，出主意，想办法，献计，献策

参考例句：

• The women meet twice a month to brainstorm and set business goals for each other.她们每个月聚会两次，在一起出谋献策，为各自制定生意目标。
• We can brainstorm a list of the most influential individuals in the company.我们可以集体讨论，列出该公司中最有影响的人员的名单。

6 brainstorming   

献计献策,合力攻关

参考例句：

• With Brainstorming, treat the view on how to solve the problem rightly. 利用脑激励法(Brainstorming)，正确对待学生实验中的问题解决观。
• We are going to do some brainstorming soon. 我们很快就要做些脑力激荡。

7 furry   

adj.毛皮的；似毛皮的；毛皮制的

参考例句：

• This furry material will make a warm coat for the winter.这件毛皮料在冬天会是一件保暖的大衣。
• Mugsy is a big furry brown dog,who wiggles when she is happy.马格斯是一只棕色大长毛狗，当她高兴得时候她会摇尾巴。

8 rodent   

n.啮齿动物；adj.啮齿目的

参考例句：

• When there is a full moon,this nocturnal rodent is careful to stay in its burrow.月圆之夜，这种夜间活动的啮齿类动物会小心地呆在地洞里不出来。
• This small rodent can scoop out a long,narrow tunnel in a very short time.这种小啮齿动物能在很短的时间里挖出一条又长又窄的地道来。