Rhyme is a literary device that involves the repetition of similar or identical sounds, typically at the end of words in close proximity. It is most commonly used in poetry to create rhythm and enhance the intended meaning of the author. Rhymes can occur at the end of lines (end rhyme), within lines (internal rhyme), or even across stanzas.
Rhyme patterns are often described using letters to represent matching sounds, such as AABB or ABAB. These schemes give poems a sense of structure and musicality. There are different types of rhyme. They include:
Perfect rhyme (e.g., light and night)
Slant rhyme (e.g., stone and gone)
Eye rhyme (e.g., love and move),
Let's look at an example from D. H. Lawrence, "Piano" (1913):
Softly, in the dusk, a woman is singing to me;
Taking me back down the vista of years, till I see
A child sitting under the piano, in the boom of the tingling strings
And pressing the small, poised feet of a mother who smiles as she sings.
In spite of myself, the insidious mastery of song
Betrays me back, till the heart of me weeps to belong
To the old Sunday evenings at home, with winter outside
And hymns in the cosy parlour, the tinkling piano our guide.
So now it is vain for the singer to burst into clamour
With the great black piano appassionato. The glamour
Of childish days is upon me, my manhood is cast
Down in the flood of remembrance, I weep like a child for the past.
D. H. Lawrence uses an AABB rhyming pattern in this poem to revive the nostalgia of learning how to play the piano with his mom. The poem is written in a conversational style. It is simply a man quietly recounting a touching childhood memory. However, the rhyming enhances the sweetness of the memory being recollected and gives a certain musicality to it.
Why Writers Use Rhyme
1. To give a song-like quality to verse. Rhyme gives poetry a melodic quality that is pleasant to hear. The repetition of sounds adds harmony, and this helps the poem to flow and sound smoothly. Here's an example from William Blake:
Blake, "How Sweet I Roam'd from Field to Field" (1783)
How sweet I roam'd from field to field,
         And tasted all the summer's pride,
'Till I the prince of love beheld,
         Who in the sunny beams did glide!
He shew'd me lilies for my hair,
         And blushing roses for my brow;
He led me through his gardens fair,
         Where all his golden pleasures grow.
The rhythm in this poem is so finely tuned that it could be easily played to an instrument as a song.
2. To reinforce meaning. By pairing rhyming words, poets can highlight or act out the point that they are trying to get across. For example, rhyming words with certain sounds might achieve a specific emotional effect. Let's look at an example from Matthew Arnold.
Arnold, "To Marguerite: Continued"(1852):
Who order'd, that their longing's fire
Should be, as soon as kindled, cool'd?
Who renders vain their deep desire?—
A God, a God their severance ruled!
And bade betwixt their shores to be
The unplumb'd, salt, estranging sea.
The ending rhyme in this poem uses the long "e" sound to reinforce the sadness and loneliness of the human condition, which is its main theme.
3. To provide structure. There are poems where rhyming couplets signify the close of a complete thought or an idea in a poem. The poetry of Alexander Pope is a good example of this:
Pope, "The Rape of the Lock" (1712):
What dire offence from am'rous causes springs,
What mighty contests rise from trivial things,
I sing—This verse to Caryl, Muse! is due:
This, ev'n Belinda may vouchsafe to view:
Slight is the subject, but not so the praise,
If she inspire, and he approve my lays.
Each rhyming couplet contains a complete thought that is reinforced by the rhyme. This gives a sense of well-ordered structure as well as a high sense of musicality.
Examples of rhyme in poetry
1. Robert Frost’s Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
Whose woods these are I think I know,
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
Frost employs an AABA rhyme scheme in each stanza, where the third line of one stanza rhymes with the first, second, and fourth lines of the next. This pattern creates a sense of continuity and reflection, that mirrors the quiet and contemplative tone of the poem.
2. William Blake’s The Tyger
Tyger Tyger, burning bright,
In the forests of the night;
What immortal hand or eye,
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
Blake’s rhyming couplets (AABB) provide a rhythmic and hypnotic quality, reflecting the awe and wonder of the tiger’s creation. The symmetry of the rhyme mirrors the tiger's "fearful symmetry," reinforcing the poem’s themes of balance and mystery.
3. Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore
—While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
Poe uses internal rhyme (dreary/weary, napping/tapping/rapping) alongside end rhyme (lore/door), to create a musical and eerie effect. This rhyming structure enhances the poem’s theme of death, sadness, and haunting.
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Antoine, M. (2024, November 20). What Is Rhyme? https://www.eminentediting.com/post/what-is-rhyme |
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