ba-BUM.

The rhythm of the human heartbeat has a singularly soothing effect. It is the first sound that babies encounter while in the womb, and from that point on the familiar iambs of ba-BUM, ba-BUM, ba-BUM produces a uniquely peaceful sensation. Because of the fundamental familiarity of this rhythm, there no other sound that is more satisfying than an iamb. It is for this reason that we are so attracted to and satisfied by iambic poetry. It just comes naturally for us to talk and hear in ba-BUM's.

Poetry often captures this satisfying rhythm. Whether or not you understand the meaning of the poem, the sound of a Shakespearian sonnet is arguably one of the most aesthetically pleasing sounds in the world. The pristine iambic pentameter, the three quatrains following a perfect ABAB CDCD EFEF rhyme scheme, and the couplet with the GG rhyme scheme create a satisfying and harmonious effect. Consider and read aloud Shakespeare's Sonnet 73:

That time of year thou mayst in me behold

When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang

Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,

Bare ruin'd choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.

In me thou see'st the twilight of such day

As after sunset fadeth in the west,

Which by and by black night doth take away,

Death's second self, that seals up all in rest.

In me thou see'st the glowing of such fire

That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,

As the death-bed whereon it must expire

Consumed with that which it was nourish'd by.

This thou perceivest, which makes thy love more strong,

To love that well which thou must leave ere long.

Even if you do not understand what the poet is trying to say, one cannot help but feel contented by the rhythm and rhyme of the sonnet.

On the subject of aesthetically pleasing sound in poetry, I recently read T.S. Eliot's "Preludes" and was particularly struck by his use of onomatopoeia to create images. For example, in the first verse he utilizes "s"-plus-a-consonant sounds to produce the noise of the swirling wind on a blustery night:

The winter evening settles down

With smell of steaks in passageways.

Six o'clock.

The burnt-out ends of smoky days.

And now a gusty shower wraps

The grimy scraps

Of withered leaves about your feet

And newspapers from vacant lots;

The showers beat

On broken blinds and chimney-pots,

And at the corner of the street

A lonely cab-horse steams and stamps.

And then the lighting of the lamps.

Poetry employs sound to delight its audience. Whether it is through the rhythm of a heartbeat or onomatopoeia of the wind, these poems achieve a uniquely satisfying effect to the human ear.