Rhyming with Dr. Seuss, part 1

  This is the story Dr. Seuss told of how he began to write in rhyme:

  In the summer of 1936, he and his wife Helen traveled from Europe to New York aboard an ocean liner, the Kungsholm. Ted was 32 years old, and already well-known as a magazine cartoonist and advertising artist. As they sailed homeward, he began writing down ideas for his first children’s book.

  The ship’s engine provided a noisy background beat,

​  da-da-DA-da-da-DA, da-da-DA, da-da-DA

  To the tempo of the engine, Ted recited a poem that he knew by heart,

  “’Twas the Night Before Christmas, and all through the house . . . .”

  Then he began to compose his new children’s story to that same rhythm. The story became the picture book, And to Think That I Saw it on Mulberry Street. He would use this same basic rhythm and rhyme scheme, officially known as anapestic tetrameter, for nearly all his large format picture books for children. Many of the beginning readers use simpler rhythms. Can you match Green Eggs and Ham​ to its poetic meter?