RHYME
Several types of rhyme are
explained below.
Pure Rhyme: Pure rhyme occurs when the final sounds of
two words are exactly alike— glance…dance;
quite…bright.
Slant Rhyme (Half Rhyme): Slant of half
rhyme occurs when the final sounds if two
words are very similar but not exactly alike---broods…woods;
chatters…waters.
End Rhyme: End rhyme occurs when the two rhyming words
both are located at the
ends of their ines; this is the most familiar type of rhyme.
End rhyme may be
either pure rhyme or slant rhyme.
EXAMPLES:
1. The
year’s at the spring,
The lark’s on the wing, (pure
end rhyme)
2.
If this be error, and upon me proved,
I never write, nor no man ever loved. (slant end
rhyme)
Internal Rhyme:
Internal rhyme occurs when one or both of the rhyming words is located
at the beginning or
middle of the line instead of at the end.
EXAMPLE: While
I nodded nearly napping, suddenly
there came a tapping,
As
of someone gently rapping, rapping at
my chamber door.
DETERMINING THE RHYME SCHEME
The
rhyme scheme of a poem is the pattern
of rhymes that occur at the ends of the poem’s lines. To make it easier to note the rhyme scheme, a
series of letters is used to show which lines in the poem rhyme with one
another. For example, all the lines that rhyme with the first line in a poem
are called a-lines; all the lines that rhyme with the next new rhyme word are
called b-lines, and so on.
Determine
the rhyme scheme of the poem below using the instructions above.
Echo’s Lament
of Narcissus
Benn Jonson
Slow, slow, fresh fount,
keep time with my salt tears;
Yet slower yet, oh
faintly, gentle springs:
List to the heavy part the
music bears,
Woe weeps out her division
when she sings.
Drop herbs and flowers,
Fall grief in showers:
Our beauties are not ours;
Oh, I could still,
Like melting snow upon
some craggy hill,
Drop, drop, drop, drop,
Since nature’s pride is
now a withered daffodil.
ACTIVITY: Using the steps outlined above, determine the
rhyme scheme of this poem
by William Wordsworth:
It is a beauteous evening, calm
and free; _____
The holy time is quiet as a Nun _____
Breathless with adoration; the
broad sun _____
Is sinking down in its
tranquility; _____
The gentleness of heaven brood
o’er the Sea: _____
Listen! The mighty Being is
awake, _____
And doth with his eternal motion
make _____
A sound like
thunder---everlastingly. _____
Dear Child! Dear Girl! That
walkest with me here, _____
If thou appear untouch’d by
solemn thought, _____
Thy nature is not therefore less
divine: _____
Thou liest in Abraham’s bosom
all the year, _____
And worship’st at the
God being with
thee when we know it not. _____