he suddenly wondered if deaf people have the same appreciation of poetry as hearing people, in regards to meter and rhyme and such. Does anyone have any idea?
My guess is yes. When I was in grad school, the Nt'l Theatre of the Deaf was touring and they came and conducted a master acting class for the MFA acting students. The first 30 minutes of class was performed without any language (sign or spoken) and it was one of the coolest things I've ever done. A lot of the class was getting the ensemble to work together with rhythm and harmony.
Then, that night, they performed Hamlet. It was one of the best productions of that show I've ever seen and they def. got the rhythms of Shakespeare's language down. Probably even moreso than speaking actors because they expressed the language with their whole bodies.