Rhymed prose / Rhymed text / anapestic tetrameter 1) "Rhymed prose is a literary form and literary genre, written in unmetrical rhymes. This form has been known in many different cultures. In some cases the rhymed prose is a distinctive, well-defined style of writing. In modern literary traditions the boundaries of poetry became very broad (free verse, prose poetry, etc.), and some works may be described both as prose and poetry." "European cultures Rhymed prose was a characteristic feature of the Divine Office until the end of the 12th century. A type of the "rhymed office" were offices in rhymed prose, i.e., in irregular rhythm Later it was gradually replaced by rhythmical office. They were popular in France and Germany, and a number of prominent composers of rhymed offices are known. A kind of jesting rhymed prose in Russian culture is known as rayok. Rhymed prose is a trademark of children's books by Dr. Seuss and is present in many other books for small children. Rap is characterized by spoken rhythmic, rhyming lyrics, a kind of rhymed prose." Source and further information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhyming_text 2) "Theodor Seuss Geisel (March 2, 1904 – September 24, 1991) was an American writer and cartoonist best known for his classic children's books under the pen name Dr. Seuss, including The Cat in the Hat, Green Eggs and Ham, How the Grinch Stole Christmas and One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish. His books have become staples for many children and their parents. Seuss's trademarks were his rhyming text and his outlandish creatures. He wrote and illustrated 44 children's books. His books The Cat in the Hat, The Grinch, and Horton Hears a Who! have been adapted into films." "Dr. Seuss wrote most of his books in a verse form that in the terminology of metrics would be characterized as anapestic tetrameter, a meter employed also by Lord Byron and other poets of the English literary canon. (It is also the meter of the famous Christmas poem A Visit From St. Nicholas, more familiarly known as "'Twas the Night Before Christmas".) Anapestic tetrameter consists of four rhythmic units (anapests), each composed of two weak beats followed by one strong, schematized below: x x X x x X x x X x x X Often, the first weak syllable is omitted, and/or an additional weak syllable is added at the end. A typical line (the first line of If I Ran the Circus) is: In ALL the whole TOWN the most WONderful SPOT Seuss generally maintained this meter quite strictly, until late in his career, when he no longer maintained strict rhythm in all lines. The consistency of his meter was one of his hallmarks; the many imitators and parodists of Seuss are often unable to write in strict anapestic tetrameter, or are unaware that they should, and thus sound clumsy in comparison with the original. Seuss also wrote verse in trochaic tetrameter, an arrangement of four units each with a strong followed by a weak beat: X x X x X x X x An example is the title (and first line) of One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish. The formula for trochaic meter permits the final weak position in the line to be omitted, which facilitates the construction of rhymes. Seuss generally maintained trochaic meter only for brief passages, and for longer stretches typically mixed it with iambic tetrameter: x X x X x X x X which is easier to write. Thus, for example, the magicians in Bartholomew and the Oobleck make their first appearance chanting in trochees (thus resembling the witches of Shakespeare's Macbeth): SHUFFle, DUFFle, MUZZle, MUFF then switch to iambs for the oobleck spell: Go MAKE the OOBleck TUMBle DOWN On EVery STREET, in EVery TOWN! In Green Eggs and Ham, Sam-I-Am generally speaks in trochees, and the exasperated character he proselytizes replies in iambs. While most of Seuss's books are either uniformly anapestic or iambic-trochaic, a few mix triple and double rhythms. Thus, for instance, Happy Birthday to You is generally written in anapestic tetrameter, but breaks into iambo-trochaic meter for the "Dr. Derring's singing herrings" and "Who-Bubs" episodes." Source and further information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Seuss It looks like this very poem were generally written in anapestic tetrameter (x x X x x X x x X x x X). The text can be found here: http://members.tripod.com/~TechBabe/places.html Here the beginning: "Oh, the Places You'll Go! Congratulations! Today is your day. You're off to Great Places! You're off and away! You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the guy who'll decide where to go. You'll look up and down streets. Look 'em over with care. About some you will say, "I don't choose to go there." With your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet, you're too smart to go down any not-so-good street."