ABSTRACT
The use of the word ‘rhythm’ as the title for this chapter is likely to conjure up a variety of images relating to different rhythmical phenomena. We talk of the ‘rhythm’ of the tides and the seasons, the ‘rhythm’ of the heart and the pulse, the ‘rhythm’ of dance and music, and even of the ‘rhythm’ of architecture. These are powerful metaphors, and what they have in common is the regular repetition of some kind of pattern, some parts of which are ‘strong’ and others ‘weak’, and some ‘long’ and others ‘short’.
