Rhyme Scheme in Poetry

Lesson flow including groupings and evaluation

1. RHYME SCHEMES IN POETRY

2. OBJECTIVES Differentiate an end rhyme/ internal rhyme, slant rhyme/eye rhyme, and masculine rhyme/feminine rhyme. Identify and label different rhyme schemes in poetry. Emphasize the rhyme scheme of the poem in choral reading.

3. State titles of children rhymes that you know.

4. RHYME It is the repetition of the last stressed vowel sound and all the sounds that follow it in two or more words. earth  – b irth - worth tr easure  – pl easure  – l eisure

5. Twinkle, twinkle, little star How I wonder what you are Up above the world so high Like a diamond in the sky Star- are High-sky

6. Positions of rhymes in poetry End rhymes Rhyming words that appear only at the end of the lines of poems Ex. I think that I shall never s ee A poem lovely as a tr ee . Internal rhyme Rhyming words that appear within the lines Ex. “ the cr ows in b oughs thr ows endless br awls ”

7. Types of Rhymes Eye rhyme: words that look alike but sound different. Examples : Bough, Cough, Through, Enough Slant rhyme: Also known as  near rhyme  (or half rhyme, weak rhyme, or imperfect rhyme), these rhymes aren't quite… rhymes.  Example : sun- noon, dear-door (The words sound similar, but they aren't close enough to make a full rhyme .)

8. Double rhymes (formerly called "feminine rhyme"): Rhymes using words of two syllables in which the heavy stress falls on the first syllable. Also called trochaic rhymes. Examples : SEAsons-REAsons , HABit-RABbit Masculine Rhymes : rhymes that are a single stressed syllable at the very END of a line in poetry . Examples: thEE-sprEE , proDUCED - reDUCED

9. RHYME SCHEME It is a pattern that describes where the rhyming words fall within a given stanza or verse. Rhyme s chemes do not tell you anything about meter or line lengths, they only outline the number of, and placement of rhymed words.

10. Rhyme Schemes are represented by letters.  Each letter in the Rhyme Scheme represents one line in the poem or story.   Repeated letters indicate Rhymes. 

11. The Box to the right shows an ABAB Rhyme Scheme. This indicates that there are two rhymes in the Stanza. The Rhyme denoted by the letter A falls on the first and third lines and the Rhyme denoted by the letter B falls on the second and fourth lines.

12. The box to the left shows an ABCB Rhyme Scheme.  The first and third lines do not rhyme, hence the use of different letters to represent those lines (A and C).

13. Both of these Rhyme Schemes are called  Alternate Line Rhyme Schemes because , you know, the rhyme is on  alternate lines .

14. The most common type of Rhyme Scheme is the Rhyming Couplet .  A couplet is a two line Stanza, so there is only one place for those two rhymed words to fall.  Rhyming Couplets can be repeated or they can be mixed with other Rhyme Schemes for a more complex structure. 

15. The box to the right shows a series of Rhyming Couplets which are depicted like this: AA BB CC, etc.   Rhymed Tercets would be depicted like so: AAA BBB CCC. 

16. A Rhyme Scheme is usually repeated in each Stanza of a given work, so if the first Stanza is an ABAB, generally the subsequent Stanzas are also.  But it doesn’t have to be.

17. Look at the Stanza below.  It’s from John Lithgow’s  Farkle McBride ( Alladin 2000) .  The Rhyme Scheme is ABAAAB.

18. There is no official list of acceptable Rhyme Schemes, anybody can make one up. 

19. At the Un-National Monument Along the Canadian Border William Stafford This is the field where the battle did not happen, where the unknown soldier did not die. This is the field where grass joined hands, where no monument stands, and the only heroic thing is the sky. Birds fly here without any sound, unfolding their wings across the open. No people killed — or were killed — on this ground hallowed by neglect and an air so tame that people celebrate it by forgetting its name. A B C C B D E D F F

20. Identify the position of rhymes in the following poetry lines. Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall . Humpty Dumpty had a great fall . B . Then took the other , as just as fair , c . No where by thee my steps shall be 2. Identify the types of rhymes in the following pairs of words. Grown- Gown shiver-ever pillar- stellar avarice- trice Best- just Watch- scotch Staying-swaying Leave-love Indict- predict End rhyme Masculine rhyme Internal rhyme Slant rhyme Masculine rhyme Slant rhyme Feminine rhyme Eye rhyme Feminine rhyme Eye rhyme Internal rhyme Slant rhyme

21. Group 1- Read the poem the Seven Ages of Man and spot the words that rhyme. Make a list of these rhyming words and determine which examples of internal rhymes and end rhymes are . Group 2- Give 2 pairs of the following, slant rhymes , eye rhymes, masculine rhyme, and feminine rhyme. Group 3- Identify the rhyme scheme of the assigned poem . Group 4- Think of a song, write the lyrics, and identify its rhyme scheme.

22. QUIZ 1. Which words rhyme in the following stanza?  No motion has she now, no force; She neither hears nor sees; Rolled round in earth’s diurnal course, With rocks, and stones and trees . 2. Which of the following pairs of words do not form a rhyme?   tod ay  – aw ay braid – brain boast – toast drink – pink 3 . Which of the following pairs of words isn’t a feminine rhyme? daughter – water along – belong voted – quoted tension – pension

23. 4. Which of the following pairs of words is an eye rhyme? head – dead rec ei ve – dec ei ve tr i cky – st i cky all ow  – bough 5. Pick out the pair of internal rhyme. “Eagerly I wished the morrow; – vainly I had sought to borrow .” 6. Identify the rhyme scheme of the poem. (5points ) The Fish by William Butler Yeats Although you hide in the ebb and flow Of the pale tide when the moon has set, The people of coming days will know About the casting out of my net, And how you have leaped times out of mind Over the little silver cords, And think that you were hard and unkind, And blame you with many bitter words.