Rhyme - What is it?

Rhyme is one of the ways in which rhythm is achieved. It refers to the similarity of sound between words, but more so especially the ending of words.

N.B: Sometimes, the word rime is used as a variant of rhyme.However, it should be brought to your attention that rime is used primarily to refer to part of a word that starts with a vowel and all the letters that follow it. For example, in the word flower, the rime is -ower or -er. I am still investigating this and will discuss it more in a future article.

One indispensable element of poetry is rhythm—a repetitive pattern. It follows therefore that all poems must have rhythm—for them to qualify as poems!

For example the word lime and dime have a similar sound, and so we say that they rhyme.

Before we proceed, a little word about syllables. According to the Oxford concise dictionary, a syllable is a unit of pronunciation uttered without interruption, forming the whole or a part of a word and usu. having one vowel sound often with a consonant or consonants before or after.

For example, the word Love has only one syllable where as the word syllable has three syllable i.e. sy/lla/ble, the syllables being separated by a forward slash.

Got that, huh? Good. Lets proceed…

There are three types of rhyme:

1. Masculine

   The end syllables:

   trivial and menial.

2. Feminine

   The stressed first syllables in the words and the unstressed syllables that follow:

   SNObish and MObbish.

3. Tripple

   All three syllables of the words:

   Salary and Galary.

 

In the poem below, the words in bold are similar in sound:

Teasing—innately teasing, is my love for you.

Our interactions, association gave birth to this;

This child we both desire, yet is amiss,

Keeps us bonded in a fated bond.

We keep this child called love, we falter;

We lose it, therein the loss a gain greater.

It seems we are at the mercy of cupid,

‘Cause since we’re both grown, we aren’t stupid!

Intensely teasing, subtly vile this love;

It hurts to know this child is doomed not to grow.

Upon meeting, you enfolded me like you need me more;

My heart is sick, I desire we don’t part.

In the darkness of day for your hand I grasp

But you’re gone and I know our love, our child is dead.

Did you notice something fishy about the two words part and grasp?

“Do they really rhyme?” you are probably asking. Yes they do, but only slightly. As a result, they are known as slant, off, oblique or soft rhyme.

The words preceding that have identical sound and are therefore known as full-end or hard rhyme.

Rhyme Schemes

These refer to the pattern in the rhyme. There are several types. In the poem above, most of the rhyme occurs immediately on the next line:

We keep this child called love, we falter;

We lose it, therein the loss a gain greater.

It seems we are at the mercy of cupid

‘Cause since we’re both grown, we aren’t stupid!

If we were to use letters i.e. ‘a’ and ‘b’ to represent the rhyming elements , then the verses above would be said to have an a-a-b-b rhyming scheme.

Sometimes the rhyming elements come after one line:

The man floated on a sea of debris;

The filth and dirt of putrefying humanity

And he never knew that all was amiss.

Human ideas drenched with uncertainty--

These he feasted on with insatiable desire.

He was appraised by the ignorant vermin,

Pampered and petted by many a liar,

Making him feel important when he’s nothing.

But alas the day did come,

And he finally realised that all was in vain,

And that he was finally done…

And all efforts to escape were nothing but vain .

The rhyming scheme above is commonly used in sonnets. Will I be right if I say that the poem above has an a-b-a-b rhyming scheme?

N.B: These letters represent rhyming schemes in a quatrain, or a verse of four lines.

And sometimes, the rhyme can occur in the same line:

The eeriness of loneliness Is what makes loneliness so lonely.

Often I understand not why I feel so lonely

Because I long for solitude but it eludes me

Everyday I chase after Solitariness

But alas, I give up with weariness.

And of course, the poem above also demonstrates that a single poem can have more than one type of rhyming scheme.

There are of course several rhyming schemes, but it is not necessary to review all of them.

Other aspects of rhyme that we will discuss in future articles are Assonance, Alliteration and consonance.

Rhyme is, as you can see, one of the easiest ways of achieving rhythm in poetry, and I know you can do it. So in conclusion?

If you can rhyme,then feel fine, because you can compose a poem!!!

Happy composing!

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