Back to Literature or Elftown Academy or Poetry 101
Rhyme
The concepts of Syllables and emphasis play an important role in determining if two words rhyme. So what determines if it's a rhyme or not?
Two words rhyme if every sound from that of the emphasized one are the same.
For example: 'cat' and 'bat' rhyme, because the emphasized sound ('a') and all the following sounds ('t') are the same. However, 'cat' and 'bats' do not rhyme. Some people might think that this is an appropriate rhyme, but I strongly suggest that you do not use it, since it looks very amateur-ish. If you look at famous poems, you will hardly ever find it.
This rhyme (cat - bat) is an example of a so-called masculine rhyme, a mono-syllabic rhyme. But rhymes can be multi-syllabic too. A two-syllabic rhyme is called a feminine rhyme. Example: mother – other.
There can be any kinds of sounds before the emphasized syllable, as in perceived – unrelieved. Note that this rhyme is masculine, even though the words are polysyllabic, since the emphasis is on the last syllable ('eived'/'ieved
'). However, these words do not rhyme: astounded – ahead. The reason? The the first word is emphasized on the second-to-last syllable, but the second word is emphasized on the last. For two words to rhyme the number of syllables between the emphasis and the end must be the same in both words.
Now, can you all see what kinds of rhymes there are in this piece of T.S. Eliot's wonderful poem “The Naming of Cats”? That's part of the homework. Identify the kinds of rhymes:
The Naming of Cats is a difficult matter,
It isn't just one of your holiday games;
You may think at first I'm as mad as a hatter
When I tell you, a cat must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES.
Alrightie, then. Some more homework? How about this: I want you to write four sentences. They shall rhyme two-by-two. They don't necessarily have to form a concise poem, but they can, if you want. They can just be nonsesne sentences, if you prefer. Two of them shall rhyme using a masculine rhyme, and the other two using a feminine rhyme. The lines that rhyme shall have an equal number of syllables, and equal emphasis. For example:
This is just a silly sentence
Has the same emphasis as I will make you pay repentance, but not as there is amazing repentance (now how much sense did that make?). Get it? If you have any questions, message me. I know how bad I am at writing these texts.
| Show these comments on your site |