Prosody is the rhythm, stress, and tonal properties of speech used in language acquisition and emotional expression. It is influenced by the speaker’s emotional state and rhetorical tasks. In poetry, prosody includes meter, feet, and caesurae, but modern poetry prioritizes emotional appeal over strict prosodic rules. Stress and tone still play a vital role in both poetic and non-poetic speech.
Prosody in speech is the rhythm of speech, the stress placed on syllables, and the overall tonal properties of speech. This element of language is used in many different ways. Linguists may look to prosody or prose meter to determine how emotion affects language, how tone relates to language acquisition, or how to explain a language to a beginner.
Experts have identified various aspects of speech or language conditions that can have a substantial effect on prosody. For example, the emotional state of the speaker is a habitual influence on this property of language. It is also important to consider whether the speaker is making a statement, asking a question, or performing other rhetorical tasks that may affect the prose meter being delivered.
In poetry, prosody is the poetic meter of verse. The use of this element in poetry is directly related to the use of prosody in non-poetic language, as both are concerned with the rhythm and cadence of language. In poetry, prosodic protocol is more formal or strictly recognized, simply because traditional poetry, as it has been practiced for centuries, has relied on strict rhythm and meter as some of its essential artistic elements.
Although today’s poetry is relatively free from rigid rules and metrics, the older and more classical forms of poetry, often called traditional verse, almost always respected certain prosodic rules. Lines of poetry included elements called feet that used a specific stress and tone. This influenced the stress on specific syllables, which is a key part of prosody in poetry and song.
Along with feet and metres, the prosody of the poem also includes an element called caesurae, or “breaks” – this element can still be used quite a bit in modern poetry. The simple idea of pausing after a specific syllable is also common to poetry and general rhetoric. This makes for caesura elements that may still apply to many instances of modern speech, although the average speaker might not identify them as such.
In the evolution of poetry as an art form, most literary experts would agree that the late 20th century saw poetry go from being largely an art form based on strict prosodic rules to to something more based on emotional appeal. The idea of ”free verse” has largely replaced traditional verse, reflecting a priority of emotional power, passion, or conceptual appeal over the elaborate prosody of the classical poem. This change has reduced the use of formal prosodic elements in some literary arts, but the idea of stress and tone in language still plays a vital role in both poetic and non-poetic speech.
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