| Rhyme Pattern Variations |
Chain Rhyme
Definition
The linking together of stanzas by carrying a rhyme over from one stanza to the next.
A number of verse forms use chain rhyme as an integral part of their structures. One example is terza rima, which is written in tercets with a rhyming pattern a-b-a, b-c-b, c-d-c. Another is the virelai ancien, which rhymes a-a-b-a-a-b, b-b-c-b-b-c, c-c-d-c-c-d.
Other verse forms may also use chain rhyme. For instance, quatrains can be written to the following pattern: a-a-b-a, b-b-c-b, c-c-d-c.
Example
N/A
|
Cross Rhyme
Definition
Where a word at the end of a line rhymes with a word in the middle of the next/previous line.
Example
Add an Example
|
Double Rhymes
Definition
Double or disyllabic rhymes occur when the final two syllables of different words chime together - as in 'spender' and 'slender'.
Example
Add an Example
|
Enclosed Rhyme
Definition
The rhyme scheme "abba" (that is, where the first and fourth lines, and the second and third lines rhyme).
Example
How soon hath Time, the subtle thief of youth,
Stolen on his wing my three and twentieth year!
My hasting days fly on with full career,
But my late spring no bud or blossom shew'th.
(From John Milton's "On His Being Arrived to the Age of Twenty-Three")
|
Eye Rhyme
Definition
A similarity in spelling between words that are pronounced differently and hence, not an auditory rhyme.
Example
slaughter : laughter.
sew : blew
brow : crow
said : laid
|
Feminine Rhyme
Definition
See Rhyme
Example
Add an Example
|
Half Rhyme
Definition
Half rhyme, sometimes known as slant, sprung or near rhyme, and less commonly eye rhyme (a term covering a broader phenomenon), is a rhyme in which the rhyme occurs only on the first syllable of the rhyming word, as in blue and truly or sum and trumpet.
Example
N/A
|
Head Rhyme
Definition
See alliteration.
Example
Add an Example
|
Identical Rhyme
Definition
Where a poet repeats exactly the same word to create a rhyme. This is usually regarded as 'bad form' unless the repetition serves a particular purpose.
Example
Add an Example
|
Imperfect or Forced Rhyme
Definition
A word that is intended by the poet to fit a rhyme scheme but does not rhyme "perfectly". For example, the words yellow and willow might be used.
Example
Add an Example
|
Internal rhyme
Definition
Either where a word in the middle of a line of poetry rhymes with the word at the end of the line e.g. The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe or where two words in mid sentence rhyme e.g. 'dawn-drawn' in The Windhover by Gerard Manley Hopkins.
Example
Add an Example
|
Masculine Rhyme
Definition
See Rhyme.
Example
Add an Example
|
Monorhyme
Definition
An identical rhyme on every line, common in Latin and Arabic. "aaaaa..."
Example
A break from my career,
to visit a new frontier.
Where life is not severe,
and stress will disappear.
I'll become a pioneer,
a new found volunteer.
To help this old sphere,
make it's air all clear.
We will persevere,
for I'm the brigadier.
So as I tip my beer,
lets offer up a cheer.
Lets make this our year
where everyone will be sincere.
|
Near Rhyme
Definition
Term used to describe a number of devices which come close to full rhyme but don't create the perfect chiming sound associated with words such as 'cat' and 'mat'. These devices include: assonance, consonance, half-rhyme and unaccented rhyme.
Example
Add an Example
|
Nursery Rhymes
Definition
Jingles written for children e.g. Hickory, Dickory, Dock, Wee Willie Winkie or The Cat and the Fiddle. Many have been passed down orally.
Example
Add an Example
|
Oblique Rhyme
Definition
Alternative term for near rhyme.
Example
Add an Example
|
Pararhyme
Definition
Term coined by Edmund Blunden to describe a form of 'near rhyme' where the consonants in two different words are exactly the same but the vowels vary. Pararhyme is particularly a feature of the poetry of Wilfred Owen. For example, in Owen's unfinished poem Strange Meeting we find lines ending with words such as 'groaned' and 'groined' and 'hall' and 'Hell'. Pararhyme is more commonly known as double consonance.
Example
Add an Example
|
Quadrhyme
Definition
I do not know if there is a name for this style of poetry, but I have written it with every fourth line rhyming, so that the two stanzas are dependent upon each other for their verse.
Example
The actor lives upon the stage
With his voice, his tale conveys
Reciting lines in mellow tones
Captures all that hear
The writer lives upon the page
With his hand, his tale portrays
Penning lines, each word he hones
Seduce the eye instead of ear
|
Random Rhyme
Definition
Irregular, sporadic rhyme - often used in modern poetry.
Example
Add an Example
|
Rhyme
Definition
A rhyme is a repetition of identical or similar sounds in two or more different words and is most often used in poetry. The word "rhyme" may also refer to a short poem, such as a rhyming couplet or other brief rhyming poem such as nursery rhymes.
Example
Spoon and Toon
|
Rhyme
Definition
A rhyming poem has the repetition of the same or similar sounds of two or more words, often at the end of the line.
Example
Jabberwocky (First Two Stanzas)
Lewis Carroll
'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"
|
Rhyme royal
Definition
A type of poetry consisting of seven lines, usually in iambic pentameter. The rhyme scheme is a-b-a-b-b-c-c. In practice, the stanza can be constructed either as a tercet and two couplets (a-b-a, b-b, c-c) or a quatrain and a tercet (a-b-a-b, b-c-c). This allows for a good deal of variety, especially when the form is used for longer narrative poems and along with the couplet, it was the standard narrative metre in the late Middle Ages.
Example
Here is the opening stanza of Troilus and Criseyde:
- The double sorwe of Troilus to tellen,
- That was the king Priamus sone of Troye,
- In lovinge, how his aventures fellen
- Fro wo to wele, and after out of Ioye,
- My purpos is, er that I parte fro ye,
- Thesiphone, thou help me for tendyte
- Thise woful vers, that wepen as I wryt
and this is the first stanza of the Wyatt poem:
- They flee from me that sometime did me seek
- With naked foot, stalking in my chamber.
- I have seen them gentle, tame, and meek,
- That now are wild and do not remember
- That sometime they put themself in danger
- To take bread at my hand; and now they range,
- Busily seeking with a continual change.
|
Rhyme scheme
Definition
A rhyme scheme is the pattern of rhyming lines in a rhyming poem or in lyrics for music. It is usually referred to by using letters to indicate which lines rhyme.
Example
For example "abab" indicates a four-line stanza in which the first and third lines rhyme, as do the second and fourth. Here is an example of this rhyme scheme from To Anthea, Who May Command Him Any Thing by Robert Herrick:
Bid me to weep, and I will weep,
While I have eyes to see;
And having none, yet I will keep
A heart to weep for thee.
|
Rhymer
Definition
(or Rhymester) A person who employs rhyme; often a pejorative term for a poet.
Example
Add an Example
|
Rhymers Club
Definition
Group of poets including W.B. Yeats and Ernest Rhys who met at the Cheshire Cheese pub in Fleet Street, London to read and discuss their poetry.
Example
Add an Example
|
Spelling Rhyme
Definition
This occurs where the end words of a line are spelled similarly e.g. 'love' and 'move' but don't chime together as rhymes.
Example
Add an Example
|
Tail-rhyme
Definition
( rime couée ) This is a French form consisting of two rhymes. First there is a rhyming couplet of normally of eight syllables then a third and shorter line. There is another couplet that rhymes with the first one and the sixth, shorter line that rhymes with the third line. This gives us a suggested pattern : aabccb
Example
NA
|
Unaccented Rhyme
Definition
Occurs where lines end with feminine (front-stressed) words and the unaccented final syllables would rhyme (if accented) but the initial syllables don't e.g. 'lover' and 'matter' or 'slowly' and 'clearly'.
Example
Add an Example
|
Vowel Rhyme
Definition
See assonance.
Example
Add an Example
|