Rhyme

Rhyme is a tool that many poets use. Some people insist that poems should rhyme, but that's not true. Still, being able to identify and use rhyme—along with other related techniques—is a handy skill. These days, we encounter rhyme, assonance, and consonance in song lyrics.

Why is rhyme interesting? Rhymes are fun to say, they're a challenge to write, and the reader has that exciting moment when they discover the artistic word arrangement.

Rhyme – Words ending with the same stressed vowel and trailing syllables. Also called perfect rhyme.
- Joseph Mohr: Silent night, holy night, all is calm, all is bright.
- Clare Harner: Do not stand by my grave and weep. I am not there. I do not sleep.
- John Greenleaf Whittier: The sun, that brief December day, rose cheerless over hills of gray.
Assonance – The repetition of vowel sounds anywhere in the words.
- Traditional: This little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine.
- Mother Goose: He’s under a haystack, fast asleep.
- Edgar Allen Poe: Hear the mellow wedding bells, Golden bells!
Consonance – The repetition of consonant sounds anywhere in the words.
- Robert Frost: The woods are lovely, dark and deep, but I have promises to keep.
- Walt Whitman: I celebrate myself, and sing myself.
- William Shakespeare: Increasing store with loss and loss with store.
Alliteration – Words that start with the same letter or sound. See Alliteration for more.
- Beowulf: He was four times a father, this fighter prince.
- Traditional: Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
- Emily Dickinson: Were I with thee, wild nights should be our luxury!
Slant Rhyme or Half Rhyme – Blanket terms for assonance, consonance, and alliteration.

Take a look at the following poems. Which of the above techniques can you find?

I Am Not Yours

I am not yours, not lost in you,
Not lost, although I long to be
Lost as a candle lit at noon,
Lost as a snowflake in the sea.

You love me, and I find you still
A spirit beautiful and bright,
Yet I am I, who long to be
Lost as a light is lost in light.

Oh plunge me deep in love—put out
My senses, leave me deaf and blind,
Swept by the tempest of your love,
A taper in a rushing wind.

Sara Teasdale (1917)

The above poem contains a nice mix of techniques. Among other things, the second and fourth lines of the first two stanzas rhyme, the first paragraph has six words that start with "L", and the third stanza repeatedly uses the short "E" sound.

The End of Love

The end of love should be a big event.
It should involve the hiring of a hall.
Why the hell not? It happens to us all.
Why should it pass without acknowledgment?

Suits should be dry-cleaned, invitations sent.
Whatever form it takes—a tiff, a brawl—
The end of love should be a big event.
It should involve the hiring of a hall.

Better than the unquestioning descent
Into the trap of silence, than the crawl
From visible to hidden, door to wall.

Get the announcements made, the money spent.
The end of love should be a big event.
It should involve the hiring of a hall.

The above poem has both rhyme and repetition. When done well, repetition amplifies the effect. For a longer example of rhyme and consonance, read The Raven, a classic poem written by Edgar Allan Poe.

Internal Rhyme

Many poems have lines that end in rhymes. Another type of rhyming is internal rhyme, which is where two words in a single line rhyme with each other. The following is an excerpt from the song Rapper's Delight. The first and fifth lines are good examples of internal rhyme. Assonance shows up in several places, as well.

I’m six-foot-one and I’m tons of fun and I dress to a T
You see, I got more clothes than Muhammad Ali and I dress so viciously
I got bodyguards, I got two big cars, I definitely ain’t the whack
I got a Lincoln Continental and a sun-roofed Cadillac
So after school, I take a dip in the pool, which is really on the wall
I got a color TV, so I can see the Knicks play basketball…

Rhyme Dictionaries

If you're writing a poem and can't think of a word to finish your rhyme, use one of the following sites for help.

References

Hannah, S. (1995). The Hero and the Girl Next Door. Carcanet.
Kearney, D. (n.d.) Sharpened Visions: A Poetry Workshop [MOOC]. Coursera. Retrieved 2024.
Perkins, D. P. & Pearson, A. (2022). Literature Done in English.
The Sugarhill Gang. (1979). Rapper’s Delight [song]. On Sugarhill Gang. Sugar Hill.
Teasdale, S. (1917). Love Songs. Project Gutenberg.

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