Good rhythmic poetry?
May 31, 2005 9:30 PM Subscribe

PoetryFilter: I read Vachel Lindsay's "The Congo" for the first time a few days ago and I love its very, very strong rhythm. What are other poems that share such a strong rhythm and energy?
posted by devilsbrigade to writing & language (9 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite

Kipling.
posted by orthogonality at 11:16 PM on May 31, 2005

Well, you may want to see my old post . There aren't a lot like Lindsay, but Lepanto by GK Chesterton is often considered the best of that kind. Edith Sitwell also does this successfully, but with a little more nonsense.

"How Does a Poem Mean" by John Ciardi and Miller Williams has a good section on rythm as well. You may also want to try Gerard Manley Hopkins, though his beat isn't the same, a lot of people like the alliterative energy.
posted by blahblahblah at 12:34 AM on June 1, 2005

An addendum: definitely read Lepanto and Sitwell's poem out loud - the beat becomes instantly clear, and accelerates rapidly.
posted by blahblahblah at 12:35 AM on June 1, 2005

Sea Fever, by John Masefield
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 12:54 AM on June 1, 2005

Perhaps a bit obvious, but I'd nominate The Bells, by Poe.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 2:34 AM on June 1, 2005

John Skelton’s Philip Sparrow; Coleridge’s Christabel; Longfellow’s Song of Hiawatha? Or, for something more contemporary with Lindsay, how about Joseph Moncure March’s The Wild Party?
posted by misteraitch at 5:13 AM on June 1, 2005

Stylistically, it's a far cry from Lindsay, but it's got rhythm and energy for days:

Fever 103
by Sylvia Plath
posted by ibeji at 5:57 AM on June 1, 2005

Garard Manley Hopkins.
posted by yesno at 10:25 AM on June 1, 2005

I always get Lindsey and Robert W. Service mixed up, so maybe they're similar (to me). I think the one everybody knows is "The Cremation of Sam McGee."

(This is the third time that Ciardi's How Does a Poem Mean? has cropped up for me this week, and I'm starting to get a little creeped out, synchronistically.)
posted by steef at 12:55 PM on June 1, 2005

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Good rhythmic poetry? May 31, 2005 9:30 PM Subscribe

Good rhythmic poetry?
May 31, 2005 9:30 PM Subscribe