Dialect – Can’t Count On It!

Writing rhyming, metrical poetry is tricky, but counting the number syllables in one word should be easy, right? I used to think so.

I started a running list of words that I tried to use in poems – and regretted! I know how I pronounce these words, but sometimes Miriam-Webster disagrees. Worse yet, sometimes Miriam-Webster says there are multiple ways that people pronounce seemingly simple words.

So, one syllable or two?
• Fire
• Tire
• Wire
• Trail
• Rail
• Snail
• Frail
• Tail
• Poem
• Flour
• Sour
• Hour
• Crayon
• Real
• Reel
• Mirror
• Iron
• Drawer
• Tour

Hmmmm.

Ok, two syllables or three?
• Favorite
• Broccoli
• Caramel
• Chocolate
• Cattails
• Really
• Finally

Here is an example. Deciding which beats to stress when reading this nonsense poem is confusing (u denotes an unstressed beat, and / denotes a stressed beat):

I make my caramel with flour u/u/u/u/ or u/u/uu/ or u/u/uu/u
regardless of the day or hour, u/u/u/u/ or u/u/u/u/u
but when I add a little flower, u/u/u/u/u
my caramel really loses power. u/u/u/u/u or u/uu/u/u/u or u/u/uu/u/u or u/uu/uu/u/u
I wonder: can I add some fire u/u/u/u/ or u/u/u/u/u
to maybe take my caramel higher? u/u/u/u/u or u/u/u/u/u or u/u/u/uu/u

In some cases, pronunciation also changes whether words rhyme.

To make a poem as universally appealing as possible, I try to avoid ambiguously pronounced words, especially when writing rhyming, metrical poetry because “cattails” can be a tripping hazard.

Leave a Reply

Submit