RHYMES

Welcome to this lecture headed “RHYMES”. We will be discussing all about rhymes. Enjoy your lecture.

A rhyme is a repetition of similar sounding words occurring at the end of lines in poems or songs.

A rhyme is a tool that utilizes repeating patterns that brings rhythm or musicality in poems which differentiate them from prose which is plain. A rhyme is used for the particular purpose of offering a pleasing effect to a poem which makes its recital an enjoyable experience.

In addition, it provides itself as a mnemonic device smoothing the progress of memorization.

For example, all nursery rhymes are made up of rhyming words in order to aid learning for children as they enjoy reading them and the presence of repetitive patterns allows them to memorize that particular poem effortlessly.

We do not appear to forget the nursery rhymes we learnt as a kid. Below are some nursery rhyme examples with rhyming words in bold and italics:

Baa baa black sheep, have you any wool?

Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full!

One for the master, one for the dame,

And one for the little boy who lives down the lane.

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.

All the King’s horses, And all the King’s men

Couldn’t put Humpty together again!

Mary had a little lamb its fleece was white as snow;

And everywhere that Mary went, the lamb was sure to go.

It followed her to school one day, which was against the rule;

It made the children laugh and play, to see a lamb at school.

And so the teacher turned it out, but still it lingered near,

And waited patiently about till Mary did appear.

The rhyme scheme is the performance of rhyming words placed at the end of the lines in the prose or poetry.

Rhyme scheme means the order in which particular words rhyme. If the every other words rhyme, it is an “a-b-a-b” rhyme scheme, which means “a” is the rhyme for the lines 1 and 3 and “b” is the rhyme affected in the lines 2 and 4.

Example: 

Roses are red (a)

Violets are blue (b)

Beautiful they all may be (c)

But I love you (b)

The above is an “a-b-c-b” rhyme scheme.

Different Types of Rhyme

English poems make use of the following form of Rhyme

1. Perfect Rhyme

A perfect rhyme is a situation in which two words rhyme in such a way that their final stressed vowel and all accompanying sounds are identical e.g. sight and light, right and might, rose and dose etc.

2. General Rhyme

The term general rhyme means a variety of phonetic likeness between words.

Bottle and fiddle, cleaver and silver, patter and pitter etc. are examples of syllabic rhyme  i.e. words having a similar sounding last syllable but without a stressed vowel

Wing and caring, sit and perfect, reflect and subject etc, are examples of imperfect rhyme i.e. a rhyme between a stressed and an unstressed syllable.

Assonance  or Slant Rhyme is found in words having the same vowel sound e.g. kill and bill, wall and hall, shake and hate etc.

Consonance is found in words having the same consonant sound e.g. rabbit and robber, ship and sheep

Alliteration or Head Rhyme means matching initial consonant sounds e.g. sea and seal, ship and short etc.

3. Eye Rhymes

Eye Rhymes, as well known as sight or spelling rhymes, means words that have the same spelling but different sounds. In such instance, the final syllables have the same spellings but are pronounced in a different way For instance cough and bough, love and move etc.

Types of Rhyme According to Position

Classification of rhymes may be based on their positions like the following examples of rhyme.

1. “Twinkle, twinkle little star

How I wonder what you are”

Type: Tail Rhyme

This is the most common type of rhyme. It is present in the final syllable of a verse or line.

2. “Just turn me loose let me straddle my old saddle,

Underneath the western skies,

On my cayuse let me wander over yonder,

Til I see the mountains rise.”

Type : Internal Rhyme 

This is a type of rhyme in which a word at the end of a verse rhymes with another word in the same line.

3. “In Ayrshire hill areas, a cruise, eh, lass?”

“Inertia, hilarious, accrues, hélas!”

Type: Holo-rhyme 

This is a type of rhyme in which all the words of two whole lines rhyme.

4. Had I but lived a hundred years ago

I might have gone, as I have gone this year,

By Warmwell Cross on to a Cove I know,

And Time have placed his finger on me there

Type: Cross rhyme

This means matching sounds at the end of superseding lines.

Uses of Rhyme

As discussed above, a rhyme serves two different functions in the art of writing poetry:

1. It offers to poetry a typical symmetry that differentiates poetry from prose.

2. It makes recitation of poetry a gratifying experience for the readers as the repetitive patterns renders musicality and rhythm to it

Internal Rhyme

Internal rhyme is a poetic device which can be defined as metrical lines in which its middle words and its end words rhymes with each other. It is as well known as middle rhyme, since it comes in the middle of lines.

Types of Internal Rhyme

Internal rhyme examples may be grouped into the following types:

Rhyme in the same line comes when the words rhyme in a single line.

For instance, “Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,

Rhyme in distinct lines comes when two or more words rhyme in the middle of the break up lines.”

For instance,

“While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,

As of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.”

Rhyme of the words at the end of lines and words in the middle of the lines come when the words at the end of lines rhyme with the words in the middle of the next lines. For instance,

“Eagerly I wished the morrow; – vainly I had sought to borrow

From my books surcease of sorrow – sorrow for the lost Lenore…”

Examples of Internal Rhyme from Literature

1.Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,

While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,

As of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.

Tis some visitor, I muttered, tapping at my chamber door…

Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December;

And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.

Eagerly I wished the morrow; – vainly I had sought to borrow

From my books surcease of sorrow – sorrow for the lost Lenore…

(The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe)

This is the trendiest poem of Edgar Allen Poe, where he makes use of internal rhyme. We can observe examples of internal rhymes where the words rhyme in the same lines, in distinct lines and in the proceeding lines.

2. ALL:

Double, double toil and trouble,

Fire burn and cauldron bubble

By (Macbeth by William Shakespeare)

This is an extract from Macbeth where all witches speak. This is an example of the first type of internal rhyme in which words rhyme in the same line.

3. Jenny and Me were engaged, you see,…

So a kiss or two was nothing to you…

Jenny would go in a domino…

While I attended, clad in a splendid…

Now we had arranged, through notes exchanged

At Number Four to waltz no more, …

When Three was over, an eager lover …

By (Pink Dominoes by Rudyard Kipling)

In the extract above, the poet made use of the first type of internal rhyme.

4.The ship was cheer’d, the harbor clear’d,

And every day, for food or play,

In mist or cloud, on mast or shroud,..

Whiles all the night, through fog-smoke white,

Glimmer’d the white moonshine…

Why look’st thou so? – With my crossbow

Ah wretch! Said they, the bird to slay…

Then all averr’d, I had kill’d the bird…

The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew,

(The Rime of Ancient Mariner by T.S Eliot)

In the above extract, the rhyming words produce a musical effect and offer emphasis to the meanings.

5. For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams

Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;

And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes

Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;

And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side

Of my darling, my darling, my life and my bride,(Annabel Lee by Edgar Allan Poe)

In the above example, the first type of internal rhyme is used. The words which produced internal rhyme include “beams, dreams, rise, eyes, tide and side.” These words offer rhythm and a regular rhyme scheme to the poem.

Uses of Internal Rhyme

The sound repetition as a result of internal rhyme makes a poem or story unified. It is used to intensify the poem’s effects and this internal rhyme can occur in the same line or two different irregular lines. Also, it adds to the meanings of words and improves musical effects of the poem.

Roses are red (a) Violets are

Roses are red (a)

Violets are blue (b)

Sugar is sweet (c)

So are you (b)

But the roses are wilted (d)

And the violets are dead (a)

The sugar bowl’s empty (e)

Just like your head (a)

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Rhythm & Rhyme

The concept of ‘rhythm and rhyme’ refers to a pattern of rhymes that is produced by using words that produce the same, or similar sounds.

Rhythm and rhyme together refer to the repetition of similar sounds in prose and poetry, creating a musical, gentle effect.

Example: 

“I am a teapot

Short and stout;

This is my handle

And this is my spout.

When the water’s boiling

Hear me shout;

Just lift me up

And pour me out”

 want to be a raincoat,

so no rain can touch me..

rain of pain and worries,

so no rain can crunch me,

i want to be a plane,

so i can fly high..

fly from the uneasiness of the world,

so nobody can take my peaceful sigh..

Six rhyming types:

End Rhymes (blue/shoe)

Words with ending rhyme have the same final vowel sound and following consonant sound(s). For instance, if you enter the word laughter under this option, Rhymer retrieves a list of words with the ending sound er (e.g., admirer, doctor, pleasure, scholar, watercolor, and were). Other examples of ending rhyme include:

hat/cat

plate/eight

marigold/buttonholed

This alternative allows you easily find exact rhymes (words in which the final vowel and consonant sounds are the same) and masculine rhymes (rhyming words with a stressed final syllable).

Last Syllable Rhymes (timber/harbor)

Words with last syllable rhyme have the same sounds following the last syllable boundary (commonly a consonant, a vowel, and another consonant). For instance, if you enter the word explain with this option, Rhymer retrieves a list of words with the last syllable sound plain (e.g., aquaplane, biplane, plane, and plain). Other instances of last syllable rhyme are:

humanity/zesty

threw/breakthrough

pleat/complete

This alternative allows you find masculine rhymes and all other words with final syllables (stressed or unstressed) that rhyme with the word you entered.

Double Rhymes (conviction/prediction)

Words with double rhyme have the same vowel sound in the second-to-last syllable and all following sounds. For instance, if you enter the word soaring with the use of this option, Rhymer retrieves a list of words with the sound oring (e.g., adoring, exploring, pouring, scoring, touring, and restoring). Other instances of double rhyme are:

walking/talking

humming/coming

navigator/waiter

This alternative allows you to find feminine rhymes (rhyming words with an unstressed final syllable). Words entered with the use of this option must have at least two syllables.

Triple Rhymes (transportation/dissertation)

Words with triple rhyme have the same vowel sound in the third-to-last syllable and all following sounds.

For instance, if you enter the word combination with the use of this option, Rhymer retrieves a list of words with the sound anation (e.g., explanation, coronation, destination, and imagination). Other examples of triple rhyme are:

antelope/cantaloupe

greenery/scenery

mightily/vitally

Words entered with this option ought to have at least three syllables.

Beginning Rhymes (physics/fizzle)

Words with beginning rhyme have the same initial consonant sound(s) and the same first vowel sound. For instance, if you enter the word plantation using this option, Rhymer retrieves a list of words with the sound pla (e.g., plan, plaque, plaster, and plateau). Other instances of beginning rhyme are:

scenery/cedar

cat/kangaroo

table/tailor

This option lets you to find words with initial alliteration (the repetition of initial consonant sounds), initial assonance (the repetition of initial vowel sounds), and front rhyme (the succession of beginning sounds of words).

First Syllable Rhymes (carrot/caring)

Words with first syllable rhyme have the same sounds above the first syllable break. For instance, if you enter the word explanation using this option, Rhymer retrieves a list of words with the sound ex (e.g., excavate, exhale, expert, and extra). Other examples of first syllable rhyme include:

pantaloons/pantomimes

highlight/hydrant

tulip/twosome

Thanks for reaching to this point marking the end of this lecture.

Your Lecture Master:

Mst. Ugonwanne Joshua