Rhyme+Schemes

Poetry [|Rhyme Scheme] **Rhyme Schemes ** media type="youtube" key="jZ1NbMTir-c" height="360" width="640" align="center"

Rhyming words are words that sound the same at the ends, such as: cat / hat, or jumping / bumping. When a poem has rhyming words at the ends of its lines, these are called “end rhymes.” Here is an example of end rhyme:

My cat is nice.  My cat likes mice.

A “rhyme scheme” is a way of describing the pattern of end rhymes in a poem. Each new sound at the end of a line is given a letter, starting with “A,” then “B,” and so on. If an end sound repeats the end sound of an earlier line, it gets the same letter as the earlier line.

Here are three slightly different cat poems, each with a different rhyme scheme. The first is AABB, the second is ABAB, and the third is ABCB):

My cat is nice. A My cat likes mice. A My cat is fat. B I like my cat. B

My cat is nice A My cat is fat. B My cat likes mice. A <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 25px;">I like my cat. B

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 25px;">My cat is gray. A <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 25px;">My cat is fat. B <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 25px;">My cat is cute. C <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 25px;">I like my cat. B

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 25px;">True rhyme is a kind of echo: a sound at the end of a word is repeated a short time after by another word. Like this:

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 25px;">still <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 25px;">thrill <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 25px;">windowsill

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 25px;">In the English language (and in a rhyming dictionary), you’ll find plenty of words that have identical sounds–yet they’re not necessarily spelled the same way:

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 25px;">rude <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 25px;">glued <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 25px;">brewed

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 25px;">Different spellings there, but if you speak “rude”, “glued”, and “brewed” out loud you’ll hear very obviously that they’ve all got that same “-ood” sound at the end.

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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 25px;"> Below are some four-line rhyme schemes.


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 25px;">abab

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 25px;">An interlocking rhyme scheme. Rhyme line 1 with line 3; also line 2 with line 4. A classic, often-used rhyme scheme.


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 25px;">xaxa

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 25px;">This scheme’s a little looser and less predictable than some of the others. Rhyme lines 2 and 4; make sure that lines 1 and 3 don’t rhyme. The two non-rhymed lines will allow you some freedom–and save mileage on [|your rhyming dictionary].


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 25px;">aabb

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 25px;">This scheme divides a section of four lines into two rhymed couplets, each of which sounds kind of complete unto itself.


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 25px;">aaaa

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 25px;">This one’s tough to pull off. To relieve monotony, you might try making some of the lines much shorter than the others—varying line length will make it sound less predictable.


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 25px;">axaa

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 25px;">Line 2 is all alone, left hanging. This scheme contains a bit of tension–try it and see.


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 25px;">abba

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 25px;">A rhyming pair sandwiched inside of another rhyming pair.


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 25px;">axxa

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 25px;">Like XAXA above, AXXA is a wild card. The two middle lines are unpredictable; they don’t rhyme with each other or any other line in the stanza.