Many of Seuss' books are written in anapaestic tetrameter which means that each line consists of four rhythmic units or anapaests. An anapaest is composed of two weak beats followed by one strong beat.
If you chop up the first two lines of Horton Hears a Who you can see quite clearly what an anapaest is.
On
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the
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fif
|
teenth
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of
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May
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in
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the
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Jun
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gle
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of
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Nool
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In
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the
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heat
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of
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the
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day
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in
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the
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cool
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of
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the
|
pool
|
"I'll just have to save him. Because, after all
A person's a person, no matter how small."
Jackie is a writer and founder of Pass It On - a must-have industry newsletter - jackiehoskingpio.wordpress.com.
