4.2 How To Read A Poem With Rhythm By Identifying Rhyming Couplets

Video - How To Read a Poem With Rhythm By Identifying Rhyming Couplets

The following video features the poem, Casey at the Bat.

Casey at the Bat is a famous baseball poem written in 1888 by Ernest Thayer.

In the poem, a baseball team from the fictional town of Mudville is losing by two runs (points) with two outs (out of a possible three). They are in their last chance to score some runs, but they think they can win "if only" they can somehow get "mighty Casey" up to bat. Two weak hitters manage to get on base, and Casey comes to bat with a chance to tie the game.

Before watching the video below, find the poem, Casey at the Bat, in your Learning Guide and read through it once. Don't worry if you can't understand everything or if you can't read it perfectly. This is your "first read" in which you are trying to get the gist (the overall meaning/flow) of the poem.

After this video, you will be able to identify rhyming couplets.