Rhyme: Literary Device

Etymology of Rhyme

The origin of rhyme lies in the Latin word rythmus which means rhythm having an equivalent word rhythmos in Greek and rime in French. In Frech, it means “series” or “number. With time, the meanings have changed to the repetition of sounds used in poetic writing.

Meanings of Rhyme

• As a Literary Device
  • Definition: Involves the repetition of similar sounds at the end of two or more words, commonly found in poems and songs.
  • Forms: Includes end rhymes (at the end of lines) and internal rhymes (within a line).
• Purpose in Poetry and Songwriting
  • Musical and Rhythmic Effect: Rhymes enhance the musicality and rhythm of poetic or lyrical compositions.
  • Highlighting Themes and Ideas: It emphasizes major themes and ideas, drawing attention to key elements in the text.
• Unity and Coherence
  • Unifying Element: Rhymes help create unity and coherence within a poem or song by linking different lines and stanzas, providing a sense of structure and continuity.

Rhyme in Grammar

Grammatically, “rhyme” is a singular noun and takes a singular verb. For example, we say “the rhyme is perfect” rather than “the rhyme are perfect.” Even when referring to various rhymes in a single poem or song, it is used as a singular rhyme such as “the poem has several examples of internal rhyme.”

Definition of Rhyme

Rhyme is a literary device that involves the repetition of similar sounds at the end of two or more words, specifically, in a poem or song.

Types of Rhyme

Type of Rhyme	Definition	Example
End rhyme	End rhyme occurs at the end of two or more lines of poetry.	For example, “cat” and “hat” or “love” and “dove.”
Internal rhyme	Internal rhymes occur within a single line of poetry.	For example, “Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary.”
Slant rhyme	Slant rhymes occur when words have similar but not identical sounds.	For example, “head” and “said” or “love” and “move.”
Eye rhyme	Eye rhymes occur when words look like they should rhyme but are pronounced differently.	For example, “love” and “move.”
Masculine rhyme	Masculine rhymes involve a single syllable word at the end of two or more lines of poetry.	For example, “man” and “can” or “bat” and “rat.”
Feminine rhyme	Feminine rhymes involve two or more syllable words at the end of two or more lines of poetry.	For example, “turtle” and “purple” or “bottle” and “muddle.”
Identical rhyme	Identical rhymes are the use of the same word at the end of two or more lines of poetry	For example, “I took a look in the book, and there it was, the word ‘look.’
Assonance	Assonance is the repetition of similar vowel sounds within words.	For example, “The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain.”
Consonance	It is the repetition of consonant sounds within words.	For example, “Mike likes his bike.”
Alliteration	It is the repetition of initial consonant sounds in proximity.	For example, “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers”

Common/Everyday Examples of Rhyme

Type of Rhyme	Definition	Example
Nursery rhymes	This pattern is found in traditional children’s songs and poems.	For example, “Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.”
Songs	This is used in lyrics of popular songs.	For example, “Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are.”
Poems	This is found in poetic compositions.	For example in”Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” by Robert Frost, it is “The woods are lovely, dark and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep.”
Advertising jingles	This is used in catchy advertising slogans.	For example, “I’m lovin’ it” for McDonald’s.
Greeting cards	This is commonly used in greeting cards.	For example, “Roses are red, violets are blue, sugar is sweet, and so are you.”
Tongue twisters	This is used to create challenging phrases.	For example, “She sells seashells by the seashore.”

Literary Examples of Rhyme

“The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe	“Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary.”	Internal: Rhyming words appear within the same line, creating a rhythmic and melodic effect. In this line, “dreary” and “weary” rhyme internally.
“The Waste Land” by T.S. Eliot	“In the mountains, there you feel free / I read, much of the night, and go south in the winter.”	End: Rhyming words appear at the end of lines, creating a structured and patterned sound in the poem.
“Annabel Lee” by Edgar Allan Poe	“But we loved with a love that was more than love / I and my Annabel Lee.”	Exact: Rhyming words have the same sound, which creates a strong and harmonious connection between the words “love” and “Lee.”
“The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost	“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— / I took the one less traveled by.”	Slant: Rhyming words have similar sounds but are not identical, creating a subtle and nuanced rhyme between “by” and “by.”
“Sonnet 18” by William Shakespeare	“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? / Thou art more lovely and more temperate.”	Couplet: Two consecutive lines rhyme, often used to create a sense of closure or emphasis at the end of the sonnet.
“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T.S. Eliot	“And indeed there will be time / To wonder, ‘Do I dare?’ and, ‘Do I dare?’”	Irregular : The rhyming pattern is not consistent, as seen here where “time” and “dare” do not rhyme with each other. This irregularity can create a sense of unease and reflect the poem’s themes of uncertainty and hesitation.

These examples illustrate how different types are employed in poetry to achieve various effects, from emphasizing meaning and creating rhythm to adding depth and complexity to the poem’s themes and emotions.

Suggested Readings

1. Cushman, Stephen. Fictions of Form in American Poetry. Princeton University Press, 1993.
2. Fry, Stephen. The Ode Less Travelled: Unlocking the Poet Within. Gotham Books, 2006.
3. Gubar, Susan. Poetry After Auschwitz: Remembering What One Never Knew. Indiana University Press, 2003.
4. Reddy, Sravana, and Kevin Knight. “Unsupervised discovery of rhyme schemes.” Proceedings of the 49th Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics: Human Language Technologies. 2011.
5. Vendler, Helen. The Breaking of Style: Hopkins, Heaney, Graham. Harvard University Press, 1995.