[Curtis Gale Weeks]

This thread has taken an interesting turn, one I would support with my own observations. Meter is so mechanical in operation, whereas rhythm is quite fluid--in general. Could an analogy with rivers be made, that meter is the banks the poem follows while rhythm is the particular flow of the water between the banks? So that the two combined make up the action of a poem-on-the-whole? In any case...choice of rhythm does seem to be personal, as R. mentions, although I think we could distinguish different rhythmic methods. Some poets (or, should that be "poems"?) display a greater fondness for demotions, a greater fondness for promotions, a fondness for utilizing both equally, or perhaps no particular fondness for either while making the choice to add substitutions to a poem for the creation of interesting rhythms--and of course, this is a bit simplistic, because so many "shades" of rhythm can be created by the combination of these within a poem at various points: the warp and woof of meter, the density/composition of threads, combinations of these things?

Curtis.