Reading Poems Aloud: Lines, Rhythm, and Rhyme

Poems have their own rhythm, and reading them well means following punctuation, not just line breaks.

Poems are written to be heard, so their rhythm, the pattern of strong and soft beats, matters. Many young readers stop at the end of every line, but a line break doesn't always mean a stop. Follow the punctuation instead. Read this poem: 'The wind ran down the hill tonight / and tugged the kites from every hand, / then dropped them softly, out of sight, / in fields of tall and silver sand.

' The first line has no punctuation at the end, so let it flow into the next line. Pause at the commas, and stop at the period at the very end. Feel the beat too: the WIND ran DOWN the HILL to NIGHT. Don't pound the rhyme words. Let rhyme ring naturally while the meaning stays in charge.

• 1Rhythm is the pattern of strong and soft beats.
• 2Follow punctuation, not just line breaks.
• 3Let rhymes ring without pounding them.