Rhyme

When one thing sounds like another our brains tend to notice this connection. Poets can seize upon this tendency to create memorable rhymes in their compositions.

Introduction

Rhyme is fine when sounds align. 

I'm quite proud of that. 

However, there is a lot more to rhyme, as we shall see.

Understanding Rhyme

Like rhythm, rhyme is a key part of poetry. But why is it important? 

Well, consider the following line:

Now, this line may be true, but it's not particularly memorable.

Let's try again:

That's more like it—a classic proverb that sticks in the brain.

But why is this line memorable?  What makes us remember it more than the previous example?

The answer, of course, is rhyme. 

The association of rhyme and rhythm in English poetry can be traced back to Chaucer and the marriage of Old French and Old English in the 14th century, and it continues to be a critical part of poetry and song composition.

Traditionally, rhyme refers to the repetition of the final stressed vowel sound, and all the following sounds, in two or more lines of poetry.

Let's consider an example from Samuel Johnson's The Vanity of Human Wishes.

Here, the final sound of each line is the long form of the vowel u, creating a rhyme.

In the next two lines, note how the rhyme includes both the vowel sound and whatever comes after it.

Here, the final vowel sound of each line is the long form of i; however, the rhyme also includes the consonant f. 

Let's look at one more example, and note how the sounds that come after the final vowel are not quite the same.

This time, the final vowel sound is the short form of e; but the sounds that follow are not quite identical (ssed vs. st). 

All of these rhymes are fine: it is enough that the final stressed vowel sound is the same—whatever sounds come after this can be as similar as the poet can make them. 

In fact, sometimes a poet will deliberately vary the final sounds in a rhyme to draw attention to something, or alter the mood of a composition. 

Types of Rhyme

There are a number of ways that poets can create rhyme in their compositions. Let's examine the ones we are most likely to come across in the classroom:

End rhyme 

End rhyme is the traditional form of rhyme in English poetry. As mentioned, it features the repetition of the final vowel sound (plus subsequent consonant sounds) across two or more lines of a poem.

Internal rhyme (middle rhyme)

Internal rhyme refers to the repeated use of words with similar end sounds within one or more lines of poetry. 

Note the repetition of the stressed short vowel sound a, and then the following pping sounds, from Edgar Allen Poe's The Raven:

Assonance

While internal rhyme refers to words with similar end sounds, assonance refers to the repeated use of similar vowel sounds within one or more lines of poetry.

Note the repetition of the long i vowel sound in William Blake's Tyger:

Consonance

While assonance refers to the repetition of vowel sounds, consonance refers to the repetition of consonant sounds across one or more lines. 

This technique is common in rap songs, as seen in the repetition of the consonant j sound in the song Zealots by the Fugees: 

Alliteration

Alliteration is the oldest form of rhyme in English, and refers to the repetition of sounds at the beginning of adjacent or nearby words.

Alliteration can be seen in the many curses of the character Captain Haddock in the comic book series Tintin:

Onomatopoeia (echoism)

Famous for its use in comic books to represent the sound of a hero striking a villain (Wham!!), onomatopoeia can also be used across multiple words to reflect the sound of something that is being described.

Consider the following example from Hopkins's God's Grandeur, and note how the sound and the repetition of the words have trod resemble the thudding of boots across the ground. 

NEXT:
Repetition