--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The rhythmic pattern of the poem, which…" description: "\"The rhythmic pattern of the poem, which forces continuity of attention - incites a pleasurable compulsion to 'follow' - is either a tried metrical suas..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/96b/laura-riding-9995_attention_the-rhythmic-pattern-of-the-poem-which-f_1685701.jpg" --- # The rhythmic pattern of the poem, which forces continuity… ![“The rhythmic pattern of the poem, which forces continuity of attention - incites a pleasurable compulsion to 'follow' - is either a tried metrical suasion-contrivance or a specially invented pattern of physical insistences, equally, if not more, binding in its effect on the reader. From a straight…” quote by Laura Riding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/96b/laura-riding-9995_attention_the-rhythmic-pattern-of-the-poem-which-f_1685701.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/96b/laura-riding-9995_attention_the-rhythmic-pattern-of-the-poem-which-f_1685701.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/96b/laura-riding-9995_attention_the-rhythmic-pattern-of-the-poem-which-f_1685701.jpg) > “The rhythmic pattern of the poem, which forces continuity of attention - incites a pleasurable compulsion to 'follow' - is either a tried metrical suasion-contrivance or a specially invented pattern of physical insistences, equally, if not more, binding in its effect on the reader. From a straight linguistic point of view, there is room for wonder if there is not latent vice in this environment in which pleasurable physically-compelled responses, produced by incidents of poetic utterance, are identified with the Good.” [Laura Riding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-riding/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Poetic rhythm compels readers, creating a compelling, sometimes manipulative, experience. **In simple terms:** Rhythm forces reader engagement. Key Takeaway Use rhythm wisely. Themes poetry attention compulsion aesthetics Mood thoughtful introspective Type critical analytical When to use this quote - literary analysis - creative writing workshops - reading groups Key Concepts metric patterns psychology of reading Questions to Reflect On - What makes a rhythm feel natural? - When does compulsion become coercion? A Different Perspective Overemphasis on rhythm can limit meaning. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Attention](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/attention/) [Compulsion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/compulsion/) [Continuity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/continuity/) [Environment](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/environment/) [Insistence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/insistence/) [Patterns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/patterns/) [Poetic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetic/) [Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/) [Point of view](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/point-of-view/) [Vices](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/vices/) [Wonder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wonder/) ## Related quotes > [Prophetic utterance, like poetic utterance, transforms experience and moves the receiver to new attitudes. The kinds of experience--the recognitions or revelations--out of which both…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/denise-levertov/prophetic-utterance-like-poetic-utterance-transforms-experience-and/) [Denise Levertov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/denise-levertov/) > [The end of poetry is not to create a physical condition which shall give pleasure to the mind... The end of poetry is not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-riding/the-end-of-poetry-is-not-to-create-a-physical-condition-which-shall/) [Laura Riding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-riding/) > [Every play is rhythmic control. If you want an audience to go on a journey, it's rhythmic control. You're crafting when they lean in,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-c-wolfe/every-play-is-rhythmic-control-if-you-want-an-audience-to-go-on-a/) [George C. Wolfe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-c-wolfe/) > [I'm pretty goofy. I really do like to sing and dance in real life. I'm a rhythmic person. I love comedy; I love making…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/xosha-roquemore/i-m-pretty-goofy-i-really-do-like-to-sing-and-dance-in-real-life-i-m/) [Xosha Roquemore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/xosha-roquemore/) > [I am a rhythmic bowler.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/s-sreesanth/i-am-a-rhythmic-bowler/) [S. Sreesanth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/s-sreesanth/) > [I did rhythmic gymnastics and I absolutely adored it. I was in the squad for Sussex. I wasn't stupendous, but it was something that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gwendoline-christie/i-did-rhythmic-gymnastics-and-i-absolutely-adored-it-i-was-in-the/) [Gwendoline Christie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gwendoline-christie/) > [It is always there, of course, when you come back from the green world. 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But it is an immediate product and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shane-mccrae/i-believe-rhythmic-sensibility-is-always-a-product-and-extension-of/) [Shane McCrae](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shane-mccrae/) > [Asymmetry is the rhythmic expression of functional design.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jan-tschichold/asymmetry-is-the-rhythmic-expression-of-functional-design/) [Jan Tschichold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jan-tschichold/) > [Rhythmic motion has become the carrier and creator of almost every ecstatic mood of any significance in human life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/curt-sachs/rhythmic-motion-has-become-the-carrier-and-creator-of-almost-every/) [Curt Sachs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/curt-sachs/) > [So I concentrated on the rhythmic side of things, and therefore left a lot of holes. I didn't want to use big pad chords…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/midge-ure/so-i-concentrated-on-the-rhythmic-side-of-things-and-therefore-left-a/) [Midge Ure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/midge-ure/) ## More by Laura Riding > [I believe that misconceptions about oneself that one does not correct where possible act as a bad magic.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-riding/i-believe-that-misconceptions-about-oneself-that-one-does-not-correct/) [Laura Riding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-riding/) > [To a poet the mere making of a poem can seem to solve the problem of truth…but only a problem of art is solved…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-riding/to-a-poet-the-mere-making-of-a-poem-can-seem-to-solve-the-problem-of/) [Laura Riding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-riding/) > [Evil I had never found satisfactorily placeable as an integral element of the universal, or total, content of existence. Indeed, evil is evil just…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-riding/evil-i-had-never-found-satisfactorily-placeable-as-an-integral/) [Laura Riding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-riding/) > [“Forgive me, giver, if I destroy the gift: it is so nearly what would please me I cannot but perfect it”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-riding/forgive-me-giver-if-i-destroy-the-gift-it-is-so-nearly-what-would/) [Laura Riding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-riding/) > [The new "ambiguity" means, in a way adjudged favorable to literary, poetic, intellectually and psychologically well-devised and praiseworthily executed linguistic performance, uncertainty of meaning,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-riding/the-new-ambiguity-means-in-a-way-adjudged-favorable-to-literary/) [Laura Riding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-riding/) > [Conversation succeeds conversation, Until there's nothing left to talk about Except truth, the perennial monologue, And no talker to dispute it but itself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-riding/conversation-succeeds-conversation-until-there-s-nothing-left-to-talk/) [Laura Riding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-riding/) > [Women, ever since there have been women, have had a way of being people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-riding/women-ever-since-there-have-been-women-have-had-a-way-of-being-people/) [Laura Riding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-riding/) > [ She \[Venison\] had never travelled and so could invent all kinds of strange places without being limited, as travelled people are, by knowledge of… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-riding/she-venison-had-never-travelled-and-so-could-invent-all-kinds-of/) [Laura Riding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-riding/) > [rummaging in the storehouses of religious or literary history for myth-matter for ideational uses is of the nature of spiritual vulgarity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-riding/rummaging-in-the-storehouses-of-religious-or-literary-history-for/) [Laura Riding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-riding/) > [The terms 'male' and 'female' must be understood as representing no mere primitive opposition of sex to sex; but as defining two worlds of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-riding/the-terms-male-and-female-must-be-understood-as-representing-no-mere/) [Laura Riding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-riding/) > [The object of all religious activity is to mingle the human and the non-human, and the lower gods represent that which is cast back…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-riding/the-object-of-all-religious-activity-is-to-mingle-the-human-and-the/) [Laura Riding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-riding/) > [Women are strangers in the country of man.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-riding/women-are-strangers-in-the-country-of-man/) [Laura Riding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-riding/) > [Every thought sounds like a footfall, Till a thought like a boot kicks down the wall.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-riding/every-thought-sounds-like-a-footfall-till-a-thought-like-a-boot-kicks/) [Laura Riding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-riding/) > [Politics have always covered two distinct kinds of problems: problems of administrative routine, and those that may be called 'questions of the moment.' A…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-riding/politics-have-always-covered-two-distinct-kinds-of-problems-problems/) [Laura Riding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-riding/) > [To tell one comprehensive story of how it has happened that what is is, one which shall hold true, come what may, now-after -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-riding/to-tell-one-comprehensive-story-of-how-it-has-happened-that-what-is/) [Laura Riding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-riding/) [Explore all 68 Laura Riding quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-riding/) ## More Attention quotes > [It appears to me that one great cause of our difference in opinion on subjects which we often discuss is that you have always…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-ricardo/it-appears-to-me-that-one-great-cause-of-our-difference-in-opinion-on/) [David Ricardo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-ricardo/) > [People pay far too much attention to the television and they're quite literal in some ways. 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They are but improved means to an unimproved end.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/our-inventions-are-wont-to-be-pretty-toys-which-distract-our/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) > [What people don't normally know about us is the hustle is very real, and it's sorely driven a lot by how we consider ourselves.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lzzy-hale/what-people-don-t-normally-know-about-us-is-the-hustle-is-very-real/) [Lzzy Hale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lzzy-hale/) > [For me, the term "psychotherapy" is limiting. It implies that we work with mind and emotions, but excludes the body and pays scant attention…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jed-diamond/for-me-the-term-psychotherapy-is-limiting-it-implies-that-we-work/) [Jed Diamond](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jed-diamond/) > [When you approach something to photograph it, first be still with yourself until the object of your attention affirms your presence. Then don't leave…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/minor-white/when-you-approach-something-to-photograph-it-first-be-still-with/) [Minor White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/minor-white/) > [I'm writing about real things. Real people. Real characters. You have to believe what I write about is true or you wouldn't pay any…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lou-reed/i-m-writing-about-real-things-real-people-real-characters-you-have-to/) [Lou Reed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lou-reed/) > [ I went to a mosque in Philadelphia with \[my wife\] in December 24, 1999. 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