Poetic Features. ASL poetry contains the same features found in spoken language poetry—rhyme, rhythm, and meter (Valli 1996). We can illustrate these features with two lines from Vivienne Simmons’s poem, “White Rose.” These lines look simple and smooth, but they are really quite complicated in terms of rhyme, rhythm, and meter.
CHATTING FLOWER-EVERYWHERE, HUMBLE-ROSE-OUT-THERE COLORFUL FLOWER-EVERYWHERE, WHITE-ROSE-OUT-THERE
Several different kinds of rhyme are evident in these two lines. The transition from open handshape at the beginning (5 handshape or 4 handshape) to closed handshape at the end (Flat 0) is repeated in each of these lines. This is called handshape rhyme; it also can be end-rhyme because of the closed handshapes at the ends of these lines. Another kind of rhyme, movement path rhyme, is present in the alternating circles and arcs in each of these lines. Location and nonmanual signals (NMS) are repeated also, producing location rhyme and NMS rhyme. The handedness in each line starts with two hands and ends with one hand. This is called handedness rhyme.
Rhythm in ASL poetry is created in a variety of ways: movement paths, assimilation, change of a sign, choice of a sign, handedness, alternating movement, movement duration, and movement size. The rhythm in our example is dominated by enlarged movement paths and use of handedness. Meter is a count of something we can see. The essence of meter is the contrast between heavy and light syllables. We see this kind of meter in the example. They are pentametric (five feet in a line). The first signs in each line are double-spondaic. A spondaic foot shows equivalent stress in both of the syllables. The second signs in each line are double-trochaic. A trochaic foot consists of a stronger syllable followed by a weaker syllable. The last signs in each line are iambic, a weaker syllable followed by a stronger one. As you can see, the meter of ASL poetry depends heavily on visual movement (refer to the videotape that accompanies this text for a performance and an explanation in ASL of the example).
SUMMARY
One of the major aims of studying the artistic uses of ASL is to help learners discover the richness of the language, its multiple meanings, its enormous flexibility, and its complicated and very useful structures. Thus, this knowledge is the gateway to success in education and careers as well as to full participation in our bilingual/multicultural society.