Poetic Metres

And there was me thinking that metres
Were mere measures of the metrical days
But with spoken language they mean something else
Giving weight and push in so many ways

For English is a stress timed language
With variations of stress to impart
Whereas the Chinese and Thai speak quite differently
Using pitch to express from the start

So taking English as an example
The tonic is not a drink in a glass
More so syllables or accents most emphasised
Not the ones that we mutter or pass

But the French take another spin on things
Accentuating each part with an equal stress
So that machine that the English might talk of
Is ma-chine when in French it is dressed

And so the measure of English poetry
Takes syllabic accentuation when written and said
And the rhythm becomes thus more organised
In regular heartbeats called metre instead.

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