If you change the words around so they're not the same as in the poem, the meaning stays the same, but the lines don't have the same rhythm.
In English, a poem's rhythm is made by how the poet arranges the stressed and unstressed syllables. Here's now the poem's lines sound (capitalized syllables are stressed, that is, spoken a bit more loudly than the others).
HUR ry! says the FA ther,
TIME to GO to BED!
How can you demonstrate this with the other stanza from the poem -- and with the two stanzas in which the words are moved around?
Here are some websites that explain rhythm and meter in English poetry:
https://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/88/meter.html
and
https://literarydevices.net/rhythm/
and
https://www.poetry4kids.com/lessons/rhythm-in-poetry-i-am-the-iamb/
Hurry! says the father,
Time to go to bed!
Slowly, says the darkness,
You can talk to me...
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It is from a poem.
Q1: Why do we have to put 'the' before 'father' and 'darkness'?
Q2: Can't we say as follows?
Hurry! the father says,
Time to go to bed!
Slowly, the darkness says,
You can talk to me...
1 answer
2 answers