Rhyme

Rhyme in poetry

The history of rhyme in English language poems dates back to around the late seventh century. There are a few theories about when and where it all originated but no one is sure. What is known is that the poetic use of rhyme has a long and varied history across many cultures and languages.

The use of rhyme in English language poetry had some shaky patches, being referred to by Thomas Campion as:

It later developed into the device that many people most often associate with poetry. Adopted by poets considered part of the classic Western Canon, the use of rhyme became almost compulsory for a group of words to be considered a poem. This is no longer the case.

Since the early 19th century, poets like Gustave Kahn have experimented with removing set rhyme schemes and meters from their poetry. By the time the Modernist and Postmodernist movements had re-imagined the world of poetry, rhyme was not the poetic staple it had been.

Although no longer ubiquitous, rhyme is still a common poetic device used in modern poetry. It can exist on a few levels in a poem. The structural, schematic level of rhyme can be seen in full poems. These are called rhyme schemes. Patterns of rhyme also exist at the stanza level, and at the line level. Within this structure or poetic form, different types of rhyme exist too. Let’s start with some schemes.

Rhyme schemes and examples

Rhyme schemes are set patterns of rhyming sounds. The rhyme scheme will determine the lines in which words rhyme, as well as how these are repeated or changed in a poem. Types of rhyme schemes vary by country and language, so we will take a look at a popular English language rhyme scheme.

Rhyme schemes: sonnets

Sonnets have a long and varied history, originating in Italy. It is thought that Sir Thomas Wyatt and Henry Howard, Earl of Spencer first introduced the sonnet form to the English language during the 16th century. William Shakespeare made a style of sonnet so famous that they are named after him, even though he didn’t invent the form.

Although there are different styles of the sonnet, there are a few common characteristics that can be seen across all of them. Two of these common characteristics are relevant to rhyme schemes.

14 lines

All sonnets contain a total of 14 lines. How these 14 lines are constructed differs and spotting the rhyme pattern is a key to identifying the type of sonnet. Sonnets can contain various combinations of stanza lengths. Stanzas in sonnets can range from octaves (8 lines) to sestets (6 lines), quatrains (4 lines), and couplets (2 lines).

Regular rhyme scheme

All sonnets will have a regular rhyme scheme which means that each sonnet will follow a set pattern that remains consistent throughout the poem. Different types of sonnets will have their own rhyme schemes. You can see some examples below.

Rhyme schemes differ across sonnet types.

Rhyme schemes: Petrarchan sonnets

There are many types of sonnets that are linked to poets from Dante Alighieri to John Milton, each with its unique rhyme scheme. A famous example of the sonnet structure is the original Italian form of the Petrarchan sonnet.

Petrarchan sonnet

The Petrarchan sonnet is the oldest form of the sonnet. Split into two types of stanzas, the octave is always set to one rhyme scheme, ABBAABBA. In contrast, the sestet rhyme scheme is more flexible, with variations including CDECDE, CDCDCD and CDCDEE allowed.

A well known English language Petrarchan sonnet is Sir Thomas Wyatt’s 'Whoso list to hunt' (1557). This poem is a reinterpretation of Petrarch's 'Sonnet 190' (unknown).

In this poem, the rhyme scheme is ABBAABBA, with a variation in the sestet of CDDCEE.

Rhyme schemes: rhyming couplets

Rhyming couplets are two lines that follow one after the other and quite obviously, rhyme. There are two types of rhyming couplets, closed and open. Open rhyming couplets have two lines that can be read as one single sentence. They are not broken up by any punctuation at the end of the first line. Closed rhyming couplets are read as two separate lines, broken up by punctuation and linked only by the rhyme.

A modern example of a poem using closed rhyming couplets is Maya Angelou’s 'Harlem Hopscotch' (1971).

Rhyme: three types of rhyme

Now that we know about the structure of rhyme schemes, we can look at a few different types of rhyme that can be used within these schemes.

Rhyme is usually based on sound and not spelling, but there are always exceptions to the rules of poetry. Types of rhyme are defined by how similar they sound, and where in a line of poetry they are placed.

Eye rhyme

The anomaly in the 'based on sound' trend, an eye rhyme is when two words visually rhyme but don't sound the same. An example would be the name of actor Sean Bean, or the words 'move' and 'love'.

Internal rhyme

Another outlier is internal rhyme. In this type of rhyme, a word in the middle of a line rhymes with a word at the end of a line. An example can be found in 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner' (1797 -1798) by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

Slant rhyme

In contrast to perfect rhyme, a slant rhyme is a more subtle type of rhyme. In this case, words do not exactly rhyme. Perfect rhyme is seen in words like 'sight' and 'height', but the more subliminal slant rhyme is used in words like 'swarm' and 'worm' or 'but' and 'mat'. A poetic example is WB Yeats' 'Sailing to Byzantium' (1928).

¹ Sidney J Baker, 'Australian Rhyming Argot in the American Underworld.' American Speech, 1944

² Thomas Campion, Observations in the Art of English (1602), Oxford University Press, 1904.