How to identify a rhyme scheme of a poem

Shree Ganeshay Namah

How to find a rhyme scheme of a poem

Introduction

The poem is a piece of imaginative writing in verse form. It is a type of literature that is very popular because of its special features to express a wide variety of meanings in a few lines. Rhyming words are used to give rhythm to the poem and rhyming scheme is a very important feature of the popularity of the poem.

Master English language tenses for perfect English use here.

Now we will learn how to find the rhyme scheme of any poem.

How to find a rhyme scheme for a poem

First, we will see what is a rhyme scheme of a poem.

What is a rhyme scheme of a poem?

The representation of the rhyming pattern of any poem by a set of letters like abcdef is called as a rhyme scheme.

When two words end with the same sound, they are called rhymes in the poem.

For example

Cat-bat

Clever- never

Shower- tower

Dish- wish

Some poems do not have rhyming words at their end. They are called free verse and there is no rhyme scheme in such poems.

From the above discussion, you must have got a good idea about the rhyme scheme and rhymes of the poem.

Further, we will see the rhyming patterns of the poem.

What are the rhyming patterns of a poem?

Every poem with rhymes follows some specific sequence of rhyming words. It is called as the rhyming pattern of the poem.

what is aabb rhyme pattern?

When there are two consecutive lines with the same rhyme, then it follows aabb rhyme pattern.

Example

I like a cat

That chases a rat

I keep a watch

With a torch

Here rhyming words are as follows.

Cat-bat

Watch- torch

So the rhyme scheme is aabb.

What is abab rhyme pattern?

When the first line of a poem rhymes with the third line and the second line rhymes with the fourth line, then that poem follows abab rhyme pattern.

For example

Trees

Trees are friends

Which give food

Don’t make them less

For the greedy need of wood.

Here the first line rhymes with the third line and the second line rhymes with the fourth line. So the rhyme scheme is abab.

Now we will see important guidelines to find out or identify the rhyme scheme of any poem.

Guidelines to find out or identify the rhyme scheme of any poem.

1. Read the given poem carefully. If necessary read it twice or thrice.
2. Try to find out rhyming pairs and the stanzas of the poem.
3. Now focus on the last sound of the last letter of each line of the given poem.
4. Use abcd letters for marking the different sounds of the last letters of rhyming words of each line.
5. Mark first rhyming sound-letter with a. and next as bcdef…..
6. If the same rhyming sound letter is there at the end of the second line, then mark it as a , if there is a different sound letter, then mark it as b.
7. Normally rhymes are repeated in the first and second lines or first and third lines. They are aabb and abab rhyming patterns.
8. If rhymes are repeated in the first and third lines and in the second and fourth lines then the rhyme scheme pattern is abab.
9. In the same way, go on marking rhymes with letters abcdef…. .
10. If the same rhyme is repeated then mark it with the letter used for the first such rhyme.

For example

The first line’s rhyming word is cat, last letter’s sound is t. Mark it as a rhyme. Then there will be various rhymes and if the fifth line’s rhyme is t then again mark it as a.

Here are some of the specimen poems for the exercise of identifying the rhyme scheme.

Exercise of identifying a rhyme scheme of a poem

1)Poem number one.

Way down south where bananas grow,

A grasshopper stepped on an elephant’ toe

The elephant said with tears in his eyes,

Pick on somebody your own size.

Here rhyming words are grow-toe and eyes-size

So the rhyme scheme is aabb.

2) poem number two.

One little fish,

Swam in his dish,

He blew bubbles

And made a wish.

Here rhyming words are fish-dish-wish and bubbles is a rhyme with a different sound. So the rhyme scheme is aaba.

3) poem number three.

I like nights,

To see dreams.

When stars shine bright,

Sunrise here ends.

Here rhyming pairs are night- bright, and dreams-ends

So the rhyme scheme is aabb.

These are some of the poems for the exercise of identifying the rhyme scheme.

Conclusion

From the above discussion, we can conclude that the rhyme scheme is and rhyme pattern is

I hope you will find it helpful for identifying a rhyme scheme of a poem.

With love +respect from team learnhatkey.com