Hey, this is Mr. Sato. Let's talk about rhyming.
These days, you can easily find rhymes online.
Here are links to rhymezone.com and wikirhymer.com.
There you go.
Is that all there is to say about rhymes? Well, obviously not. There are different kinds
of rhymes and different rhymes have different effects. There are different rhyme schemes
and ways you should and shouldn't rhyme. Here's what you're about to learn:
The basic kind of rhyme is called a perfect rhyme, which is two words that end with the
same sounds, beginning with the last accented syllable.
Example: "three" and "sea,""
"Setting" and "forgetting,"
or "terrible" and "wearable." Notice how the rhymes begin with the last
accented syllable? Like "SET-ting" and "for-GET-ing"
and "TER-rible" and "WEAR-able."
If you don't do that, you'll end up with words that
don't actually rhyme, like "setting" and "dancing."
Those words don't rhyme because the last accented syllable is "SET" not "ING."
So "dancing" doesn't rhyme and "for-GET-ting does."
It also might help to keep in mind that the farther
from the end of the word that last accented syllable is,
the harder it is to find a good rhyme.
For example, don't try to end a line with "federal" or "wonderful"
if you need it to rhyme.
So, for a perfect rhyme, the words must sound the same beginning with
the last accented syllable.
But if you really, really needed something that rhymed with "wonderful," you could try
a near rhyme. These are sometimes also called "half rhymes" or "slant rhymes."
Near rhymes are words that sound almost the same, but not exactly the same.
For example, I looked up "wonderful"
at wikirhymes and found that "invulnerable" is pretty close.
Wonderful, invulnerable. They almost rhyme. The rhythm is the same and
the vowel sounds are the same. So that's a near rhyme.
There are times when a near rhyme is actually preferable to a perfect rhyme.
Like if you're writing a song, you might not want it
to sound super-rhymey. It can come off as obvious and
clumsy, like rhyming "love" with "dove," especially if you're writing in couplets.
That's two consecutive lines that rhyme, like these.
Look at these lines from an old Neil Diamond song. "I am I said...to no one there.
And no one heard at all, not even the chair." C'mon, really?
He really could have used a good near-rhyme here.
But that's a question of taste. If you're writing something for school,
ask the teacher what he or she thinks about near rhymes.
What Neil Diamond eventually settled on ("not even the chair")
is what's called a forced rhyme.
In this particular line you can clearly see the meaning of the line was forced to
fit the rhyme. It's obvious that he used the word "chair" not because it's what he wanted
to say, but because it rhymed with "there." So, the challenge is to not only rhyme, but
to sound natural while doing it, which is actually a lot harder than it may sound.
The easiest words to rhyme are, or were at one time, called masculine rhymes.
The accented syllable in these is the last syllable. "Arrest" and "test."
Words that rhymed at a syllable other than the last one, like "basket" and "casket,"
were called feminine rhymes. I guess the idea is that a word that
emphasizes the last syllable (dog-fog)
is stronger than one that rhymes earlier (kitten-mitten).
It's terminology that belongs to a more sexist time, but I don't know
of any replacement for this distinction.
The reason I bring it up at all is because feminine rhymes
are great for humorous poems.
There's something funnier about a feminine rhyme. Maybe because they're a little
more musical. For example, here's a link to a rhymed narrative poem I wrote
for fun when I was a college kid a million years ago.
"Waffles" and "awful" sound a little silly, right? It's humorous, which fits the poem.
"Cakes" and "mistakes" wouldn't sound particularly funny.
So, if you're trying to write a funny poem, try to get some feminine rhymes in there.
They're a little harder to do, but they have
a tone that's a little lighter, a little goofier.
But if you're writing a funny poem, a really good rhyme to try is the mosaic rhyme. That's
when you rhyme a multisyllabic word with two or more small words, like "They put all the
trees in a tree museum, and charged people a dollar and a half to see 'em." See there,
"museum" is a longer, three syllable word and Joni Mitchell rhymed it with a three word
phrase, "to see 'em." I tried to do the same thing in "Gertrude" when I rhymed
"blender" with "end 'er" and "origin" with "porridge in."
OK, now rhyme schemes are the pattern in which the words rhyme.
Like limericks. Thheir rhyme scheme is A A B B A.
Here's an old one I like. You fans of Albert Einstein will like this, too.
There was a young lady named Bright. Who traveled much faster than light
She set out one day In a relative way
And returned the previous night.
Do you see how the rhymes marked with "A" all rhyme--Bright, light, night--and the two
rhymes marked with a "B" rhyme-- day, way?
So we say the rhyme scheme is A A B B A.
Combine with that distinctive rhythm, and you have a limerick.
The most common rhyme scheme is the use of couplets.
As I said a minute ago, that's two consecutive lines--
meaning one line right after another-- that rhyme, like in these
lines from Romeo and Juliet: "Did my heart love till now?
Forswear it sight!
For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night."
Two lines right next to each other that rhyme: sight, night.
So, it's a couplet, and beautifully done. But be aware that
nursery rhymes generally rhyme in couplets, too.
(Jack and Jill went up the hill,
or hickory dickory dock, the mouse ran up the clock),
so your poem could sound kind of young if your lines are too simple
or too short in terms of rhythm. Shakespeare's couplet is 5 beats long,
to use a term from music.
Did MY heart LOVE till NOW? ForSWEAR it SIGHT! 5 beats.
Jack and Jill uses only two: Jack and JILL went up the HILL.
Some of the worst poetry written in my classes is written in two beat couplets.
"I had a cat on a mat. He ate a rat."
You know what I'm talking about.
So, put in the effort, take the risk. Try to write something really good. If it fails,
it's still better than "I had a cat on a mat."
And the vast majority of English teachers will grade more generously
if they can see some effort.
Some rhyming poetry avoids the singsong rhymeyness by putting the rhymes
farther away from each other, like A B A B.
If you want a challenge, try writing a sonnet. Here's a link to my video on sonnets. The
most well known type rhymes A B A B - C D C D - E F E F - G G.
Or just make up your own rhyme scheme. It can be whatever you want
as long as it sounds good and is consistent from stanza to stanza.
(Stanzas are sort of like paragraphs for poetry.)
But even there, there are exceptions: the last lines of the sonnet
rhyme differently than the rest of the poem.
So it's hard to say there are any hard-and-fast rules in poetry.
Edgar Allan Poe made up this very complicated rhyme scheme
for his famous poem, "The Raven."
And every stanza follows this rhyme scheme exactly.
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore--
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
"'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door--
Only this and nothing more."
Crazy complicated, right? Here's a diagram of the rhyme scheme.
When Poe rhymes two words in the same line, like here and here, that's called
an internal rhyme. See how "dreary" comes in the middle of the line
and rhymes with "weary" at the end of the same line?
That's an internal rhyme.
But they don't have to be as old-fashioned or as formal as this. Rap music uses a lot
of internal rhymes, as well as near rhymes like these
old-school lines from Eric B and Rakim.
"My unusual style will confuse you a while If I were water, I'd flow in the Nile..."
(and you're gonna love this: the next two lines you have to say it in a NY accent or
it doesn't rhyme) "So many rhymes you won't have time to go for yours.
Just because of applause I have to pause.
Right after tonight is when I prepare To catch another sucker-duck MC out there.
My strategy has to be tragedy, catastrophe And after this you'll call me your majesty.
There are many examples of internal rhyme here--I put them in boldface type--but my
favorite has got to be those last two lines: "My strategy has to be tragedy, catastrophe
And after this you'll call me your majesty." Hear that? Strategy, has to be,
-- that's a mosaic rhyme --
tragedy, catastrophe, majesty. I think the percussive sound of that string of rhymes
is impressive. The rhythm is pretty amazing too: 1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2-3, and 1-2-3 / 1-2-3,
1, 2, 1-2-3. But rhythm is a topic for another time.
The last thing is a rhyme that really isn't a rhyme. I'm talking about "eye rhymes." An
eye rhyme is two words that look like they rhyme because of their spelling, but when
said out loud, don't actually sound the same. Like "love" and "move"
or "through" and "cough."
When it comes to rhyming, what matters isn't your eyes; it's your ears that count.
If, at this point, you want an assignment, you can try this. Write a rhymed narrative
poem that is at least 24 lines; that could be 6 four-line stanzas. Once you get going,
you'll find that that isn't very long. You're welcome to make it longer.
It's a narrative poem, so it must tell a story, not just express your thoughts or feelings.
Remember that a story has a clear beginning, middle, and end,
like my poem about Gertrude.
It should have regular rhythm and a consistent rhyme scheme.
Your rhythm and rhyme can be whatever you like,
but they should be consistent throughout the poem.
The most important thing, though, seriously, is to try to have some fun with it. The same
assignment can be a joy to one student and a chore to another. The trick is to approach
it with a sense of fun and creativity. Write the poem that you would enjoy reading.
That means it could be about a videogame character, your dog's daily adventures,
it could be goofy and grim, it could even be
a little teeny tiny bit beyond what is usually considered appropriate
for school, but check with your teacher about that.
The main thing is that you have some fun writing it. It might be hard work,
but hard work can be fun if you're doing something you like.
And if it's fun to write, it'll be fun to read.