What is Rhyme and Rhyme Scheme of a Poem

Rhyme of a poem means similar stressed vowel sounds occur mostly in the last words and sometimes in the middle words of the verses of a stanza or poem. Common vowel sounds are also called "Assonance" and common consonant sounds are called "Consonance". For example 'money' and 'honey' have rhyming sounds with each other. Both words have similar stressed vowel sound 'ey' which makes them rhyming words. When this type of words occur in the middle or end of both the lines of a verse, it is called rhyming verse. Rhyme has been an important feature of English poetry since Chaucer's Age. Rhyme along with meter is used to create music and rhythm in poetry and gives different poetical forms to the poem. However there are some poetical forms like blank verse and free verse where rhyme is not used.
Rhyming sounds in every line of a stanza are collectively called rhyme scheme of a poem. Rhyme scheme lends smoothness, appeal, musicality ,ear-fascinating rhythm and an effect of unity to poem. Most part of English poetry keeps rhyme as an essential element but some portion of English poetry especially modern poetry does not give considerable importance to rhyme scheme.
Rhyme scheme is a typical pattern of rhymes of a stanza in a poem. Normally poets use rhyme scheme to add a musical sound effect to their poems. To find out rhyme scheme of a poem we have to identify rhymes occurring at the end of every line of stanza and label every new ending rhyme with a different letters. If the same rhyme occurs again in the same stanza then again same above given letter will be assigned to the identical rhyme. In the end arrange all the letters assigned at the end of every line in an order and there will be rhyme scheme for a stanza. Rhyme scheme of first stanza of a poem remains same for the whole poem.
So in the above image there is a poem "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" by William Wordsworth. The rhyme scheme of first stanza is ABABCC where first line ends with the rhyme cloud which is given letter A and second line ends with the rhyme hills which is given letter B. Third line ends with the similar rhyme crowd as of first line cloud so it is again given letter A. Same is the case with fourth line which ends with the similar rhyme daffodils as of second line hills, so it is agian given letter B. Fifth and sixth line end with trees and breeze respectively so they are given C letter. As a whole it becomes ABABCC and same rhythm scheme follows in every stanza throughout the poem.

1. WhatisRhymeandRhymeSchemeofaPoem
WhatisRhymeandItsImportance
Rhymeofapoemmeanssimilarstressedvowelsoundsoccurmostlyinthelast
wordsandsometimesinthemiddlewordsoftheversesofastanzaorpoem.Common
vowelsoundsarealsocalled"Assonance"andcommonconsonantsoundsarecalled
"Consonance".Forexample'money'and'honey'haverhymingsoundswitheachother.
Bothwordshavesimilarstressedvowelsound'ey'whichmakesthemrhymingwords.
Whenthistypeofwordsoccurinthemiddleorendofboththelinesofaverse,itis
calledrhymingverse.Rhymehasbeenanimportantfeatureofenglishpoetrysince
Chaucer'sAge.Rhymealongwithmeterisusedtocreatemusicandrhythminpoetry
andgivesdifferentpoeticalformstothepoem.Howevertherearesomepoeticalforms
likeblankverseandfreeversewhererhymeisnotused.
WhatisRhymeSchemeofaPoem
Rhymingsoundsineverylineofastanzaarecollectivelycalledrhymeschemeofa
poem.Rhymeschemelendssmoothness,appeal,musicality,ear-fascinatingrhythm
andaneffectofunitytopoem.Mostpartofenglishpoetrykeepsrhymeasanessential
elementbutsomeportionofenglishpoetryespeciallymodernpoetrydoesnotgive
considerableimportancetorhymescheme.
HowtoFindRhymeSchemeofaPoem
Rhymeschemeisatypicalpatternofrhymesofastanzainapoem.Normallypoets
userhymeschemetoaddamusicalsoundeffecttotheirpoems.Tofindoutrhyme
schemeofapoemwehavetoidentifyrhymesoccurringattheendofeverylineof
stanzaandlabeleverynewendingrhymewithadifferentletters.Ifthesamerhyme
occursagaininthesamestanzathenagainsameabovegivenletterwillbeassignedto
theidenticalrhyme.Intheendarrangeallthelettersassignedattheendofeverylinein
anorderandtherewillberhymeschemeforastanza.Rhymeschemeoffirststanzaof
apoemremainssameforthewholepoem.
ForExample

2. Sointheaboveimagethereisapoem"IWanderedLonelyasaCloud"byWilliam
Wordsworth.TherhymeschemeoffirststanzaisABABCCwherefirstlineendswiththe
rhymecloudwhichisgivenletterAandsecondlineendswiththerhymehillswhichis
givenletterB.Thirdlineendswiththesimilarrhymecrowdasoffirstlinecloudsoitis
againgivenletterA.Sameisthecasewithfourthlinewhichendswiththesimilarrhyme
daffodilsasofsecondlinehills,soitisagiangivenletterB.Fifthandsixthlineendwith
treesandbreezerespectivelysotheyaregivenCletter.AsawholeitbecomesABABCC
andsamerhythmschemefollowsineverystanzathroughoutthepoem.
SomeCommonRhymeSchemes
Thesoundpatterni.erhymeshelpdividingthepoemintodifferentsections,inother
wordsrhymeschemehelpsthepoetinthematicdevelopmentofthepoemandcreates
differentstagesinthepoem.ForinstanceinShakespeareansonnetinfirstthree

3. quatrains,poetputsdifferentquestionsandinfinalcoupletanswersthem.Thereare
differentandunnumberedrhymeschemesinpoetrybutstillsomerhymeschemesare
commonandmostlyusedbythegreatpoetsintheirpoems.
●AlternateRhyme:(ABABCDCD)
Inalternaterhymefirstandthirdlinesendwithidenticalsounds,andsecondand
fourthlinesendwithanotheridenticalsound.ThusitbecomesABABandis
usuallyfoundinpoemshavingfour(quatrains)oreightlines(octaves/octets).It
isthemostcommonrhymepatternandsometimesiscalledbirhymes.
●Couplet:(AA)
Coupletisapairoflineswithrhymingsoundsattheendofthem.ItbecomesAA,
BB,CC,DDlikeinthepoemLeisurebyWilliamDavies.
●Triplet(AAA,BBB,CCC)
Tripletsarethreelinesstanza(tercet)whichkeepallthreelinesendwithidentical
sounds.Tripletsarerarelyusedinpoetryandaresometimescalledmonorhyme.
ExampleispoemTheEaglebyAlfredLordTennyson
●Ballad(ABCB)
BalladcomprisesoffourlinesstanzawithmostlyABCBandsometimeswith
ABABrhymepattern.Butballadvariesinmeter,firstandthirdlineswith
tetrameterwhilesecondandfourthlineswithtrimeter.RimeoftheAncient
MarinerbySTColeridgeisoneofthebestexamplesofballad.
●PetrarchanRhyme (ABBAABBACDCDCD)
InPetrarchansonnet14linesaredividedinanoctet(8linesstanza)andasestet
(6linesstanza).TheoctetisrhymedinABBAABBApatternandsestetisrhymed
inCDCDCDpattern.HowdoIlovetheebyElizabethBBrowningisoneofthebest
examplesofPetrarchansonnet.
●ShakespeareanRhyme (ABABCDCDEFEFGG)
OnlyShakespeareansonnetequalsPetrarchansonnetinfreshness,qualityand
poeticgrandeure.Shakespeareusesiambicpentameterinthreequatrainsanda
coupletcompletingfourteenlineswithrhymeschemeABABCDCDEFEFGG.One
ofthebestandmostquotedsonnetsofWilliamShakespeareissonnet18ShallI
comparetheetoasummer'sday.
●EmbracingRhyme (ABBACDDC)
Embracingrhymeisformedwithfourlinesanditiswhentwouttermostversesof
astanzawithsamerhymeencloseinnertwoverseshavingsamerhymei.e
ABBA.PoemTheTreesbyPhilipLarkinisthebestexampleofembracingrhyme.
●ChainRhyme (ABABCBCDC)
Chainrhymelinksallstanzasofapoeminasequencewhereeverysecond

4. rhymeofterzarima(threelinesstanza)wrapsthesecondrhymeofnextstanza
likeABABCBCDC.Herearesomeexamplesofchainrhyme.
●TailRhyme (AABCCB/AAABCCCB)
Intailrhymeeverystanzaeitheritisofthreelinesormorelines,endswith
specific rhyme.Intailrhymethereisnolimitoflinesperstanzabut'B'rhymeis
necessarytoendwith.RudyardKipling'sTheUndertaker'sHorseisanexampleof
tailrhyme.
TypesofRhyme
DifferentformsofrhymearefoundinEnglishpoetry,theyaredifferentintheir
soundpatternsandnumberofsyllables.
●PerfectRhyme
Perfectrhymeformtakesidenticalvowelsandlastconsonantsofstressed
syllablesinrhyminglinesofastanza.Itislesscommonrhymebuteveryreader
beforereadingapoemexpectsperfectrhymeinthepoemheisgoingtoread.It
isalsocalledFullrhyme,TruerhymeorExactrhyme.
●ImperfectRhyme
Inimperfectrhymefinalvowelandconsonantsyllablesremainsamebutfinal
consonantsdonotsharesamestresspattern.Instresspatternoflast
consonantsitisexactlyoppositeofperfectrhyme.Imperfectrhymeisalsocalled
Slantrhyme,Halfrhyme,PararhymeorNearrhyme.
●InternalRhyme
Ininternalrhymesamesoundoccursinthemiddleandendofthesamelineor
sometimessamesoundsoundoccursinthemiddleoftwoseparatesentences.
Rhymeslendmusicaleffecttothepoemsandmakethemeasiertoreciteand
remember.ItisalsocalledMiddlerhyme.
●EyeRhyme
Ineyerhymetwowordsattheendoftwolinesarespelledsamebutpronounced
differently.Infact,theyaredeceptionbywriterforreadersbecausetheylooklike
rhymingsoundsbutactuallytheydonot.
●MasculineRhyme
Masculinerhymeiswhenrhymeisonthefinalsyllableoftherhymingwordsand
finalsyllablesofrhymingwordsarestressed.Mostoftenwhenrhymingwords
aremonosyllabic,therhymeissaidtobemasculine.
●FeminineRhyme
Femininerhymeiswhenfirstsyllableoftherhymingwordsisstressedandfinal
syllableofrhymingwordisunstressed.ItisoftencalledDoublerhymebecauseit
mustcontainmorethanonesyllablei.epolysyllabic.

5. ●EndRhyme
Endrhymeisthemostcommonformofrhyme,itiswhenapoemhassome
certainrhymingwordsattheendofeverylineofapoem.Inotherwordsrhyme
schemeofapoemindicatesendrhymeanditisusedinalmosteverypoem
exceptblankverse.
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