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Sunday, December 19, 2010

Day One of Poetry Week: Rhyming Poems

I feel that many people associate rhyming directly with writing poetry. later in the week, we will learn that poetry does not always need to rhyme. However, rhyming poetry does have a category all to itself and it's a big one. Rhymes can add rhythm and musicality so it is often noted in several songs or raps. It can also add a sense of playfulness to your work, like in nursery rhymes. But it can also be used in serious work as well.

For some people, rhyming comes quite naturally. Sometimes, on those off days, it might not. But, That's when you can tunr to a rhyming dictionary to help you. There are several additions in paperback for when you are on the go or you can find rhyming websites to save a penny or two.
Definition: Any type of poems which have the repetition of the same or similar sounds at the end of two or more words most often at the ends of lines.

Types of Rhyme Schemes…
Couplet: AA BB
Triplet: AAA BBB
Quadruplet: AAAA BBBB
Alternating/Cross: ABAB CBCB
Enclosed: ABBA CDDC
Simple 4-Line (one of my favorites): ABCB DEFE

Types of Rhymes…
Perfect: the ends rhyme perfectly and the words are the same number of syllables (cat/hat, true/blue)
Imperfect: the ends rhyme perfectly, but the words have a different number of syllables (love, above, very/unnecessary)
Sight/Eye/Visual: the spelling looks like it should rhyme, but they don’t (said/maid, contain/mountain)
Assonance: matching vowels (bake/hate, kite/like)
Consonance: matching consonants (babies/bobbers, butter/button)
Slant/Half: matching final consonants (vent/ant, want/can’t)
Alliteration: matching initial consonants (short/ship, think/thump)

These rhymes can also mix…
Think/Thank: both slant and alliteration rhyme.
Short/Shorn: both assonance and alliteration rhyme.

*****Examples*****

Why Are You Playing?
By: Aubrie Anne (2009)

Fearless is the game tonight, (A) (Couplet Rhyme Scheme)
A chance for blessing or of blight. (A)

Demand the correct cards to play. (B)
Be the hunter and not the prey. (B)

Free the weak of their diamonds and jewels. (C)
Break a mirror. Don’t follow the rules. (C)

See the man with the whiskers and cigarette? (Imperfect Rhyme)
He’ll lose his fortune on the second bet.

And the man at the bar with the Scottish accent?
He’s struggling everyday just to pay his rent.

Also, the woman with green eyes and butterfly tattoo?
She’s here to survive, just like you.

Hear them whisper which move to make. (Perfect Rhyme)
Follow the truth and not the fake.

The answer will echo through their teeth. (Assonance and Slant Rhyme)
You’ll win your life and the golden wreath.

See their faces, that question mark?
Your opponent’s mind, lost in the dark.

His hands must ache. The pressure’s straining.
His beat has slowed. The blue blood’s feigning.

Death will surely take him upon the waves,
To the shore full of many unmarked graves.

And in a second or a single dragonfly’s stride,
You’ll win the game if you haven’t also died.

Gambling with your life is the risk you are taking.
You are on the edge, the point of nearly breaking.

Yes, fearless is the game tonight. But it’s only a saying.
The truth is you’re hurting. So, why are you playing?

*****

They Trick and They Break
By: Aubrie Anne (2009) 

They try to push the boundaries (A) (Simple 4-Line Rhyme Scheme)
Between truth and trickery, (B)
Forcing others to see their sacrifices (C)
As something less than murder or blasphemy (B)

Perhaps you laugh now, (D)
But I doubt such a reaction (E)
When your number is called. (F)
That would be a greater infraction. (E)

For money or power,
To sicken or to heal,
They seem to drop the hammer,
Forgetting how to feel.

As a caravan of dealers,
They roam from village to town,
Trading pennies for lives,
Leaving once settled homes with frowns.

Your life is worth more than a fallen pear,
A fruit thought lost along with many. (Sight or Imperfect Rhyme)
Don’t hide among the sheep and fodder,
Similar copies organized in a library.

There will be a calling for you,
A mobile phone with an open line, (Assonance Rhyme)
To save you from their torrid pull,
Preventing you from joining their kind.

A fighter you may become,
If that’s the call you choose to take.
They will try and stop you.
Your faith, they’ll try to break.

*****Questions*****

What do you think?
Did you know about rhyming poetry?
Is there anything about it that you didn't know before?
Anything else you would like to add?
Do you ever write rhyming poetry?
If you do, please share some with us. Either copy and paste your poem in the comments, or leave us a link.

14 comments:

  1. Damn. I don't think I've ever written a rhyming poem in my entire life. Just trying to keep up with all those variants could give me a headache!

    BUT....you know me. Now I have to at least try, and maybe succeed in being accepted into the worst poetry in the world category!

    I couldn't rhyme
    if you gave me a dime.

    The world could end,
    and I still wouldn't bend.

    Pencil and paper
    and with poetry I'll caper,

    But force on me a rule
    and I'll look like a fool.

    Puppies and rainbows, dogs and cats
    I'll write about showtunes, robins and bats

    I'll ponder on wolf cubs that howl in the dark
    The beauty of trees and the roughness of bark

    I'll tell you the truth I'll tell you a lie,
    but making it rhyme? I think I'd die.

    ---------------------

    Or maybe this?

    Do you write alone in the dark?
    With a cup of rum?
    On a bench in the park?
    Or can you write only when glum?

    Do you write on the train,
    Where people abound,
    Or out in the rain
    With no one around?

    Do you write pretty words
    of romance and love?
    Or do you write about nerds
    and the geekiness thereof?

    Do you write about food
    and how yummy it tastes
    how bleak becomes your mood
    when it sometimes wastes?

    Or maybe, just maybe you write about rhyming
    searching the dictionary high and low
    for one perfect word to suit the timing
    unlike me since I obviously blow.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Marvellous examples and mini-lesson here Aubrie. And loved your poems too - is there no end to your talents - and still so young (damn you!! Only joking ;)

    I posted a few of mine too, to be found at the link: They are only short examples but some of my faves. Time-zones - damn - no one else has posted yet! And breathe. :) XX

    sthttp://wordsinsync.blogspot.com/2010/12/some-rhyming-poetry-for-aubries-week-of.html

    ReplyDelete
  3. Okay that link won't work - dah! Sorry. Try this instead -

    http://wordsinsync.blogspot.com/2010/12/some-rhyming-poetry-for-aubries-week-of.html

    Thanks. X

    ReplyDelete
  4. Rhyming poetry is pretty much the first type of poetry they teach kids in grade school, isn't it? I can't remember if it was on TV, a movie, or real life, but I once heard a bunch of kids say that someone's poem wasn't a poem because it didn't rhyme!

    Here are two rhyming poems I wrote when I was younger, probably 12 or 13. So they're not very long, and the rhyming wasn't for musicality or anything; it was just how I thought poems were written at the time.

    http://www.shortstorypoet.com/poems/poem4.html

    http://www.shortstorypoet.com/poems/poem5.html

    ReplyDelete
  5. Donna...I think your examples are great. The sarcasm, the light heartedness is great in rhyming poetry! I'm happy you wrote a few!

    Shah...Thank you very much! I just stopped by your blog and read your rhyming poetry. Very nice and thankyou for leaving links here for us to refer to!

    Sarah...I'm not sure if that is the first. I do remember learning poetry at one point in middle school, but we learned so many different kinds in the same day. I remember loving limericks the most and they were short rhyming poetry.

    In college, during my first creative writing class, we started with freeverse, no rhymes allowed. Our professor felt that starting with rhyming poetry can make your poetry sound forced, like you're focusing so much on making your poem rhyme that you are not paying attention to the message, or the movement of words all on their own. If I were to teach poetry, I'd do the same think, me thinks!

    I'm heaidng over to look at your poetry right now.

    ReplyDelete
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    ReplyDelete
  7. Interesting poetry and writings. im your newest follower here from Follow Me Monday. You can follow me back here http://www.gossipme.us/2010/12/aha-toy.html

    ReplyDelete
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    ReplyDelete
  9. Welcome one and all. Thanks for stopping by and introducing yourselves. Hopefully, I can get to know you all better from your own blogs. I'll certainly stop by and check things out. Please, feel free to join in on the discussions. I feel like new followers are afraid to just jump in, but don't be afraid. This is a two way street.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Truly fascinating and enlightening....I recently received an email from a publishing house; the editor told me that no one is interested in rhyming poetry and that my rhyming style is 80 years out of date....so I submitted some of my non-rhyming poetry and received an equally cryptic and unprofessional reply....

    ReplyDelete
  11. sharonlee...That is very interesting indeed! I would agree that rhyming poetry has lost its charm in many cases, but I think the blame lies in those who can't move on from what they were taught in school, those afraid of bending the rules a bit. Many are stuck in their true/blue phase and the end result comes out more comical. Sometimes, I will write a really serious poem with rhyme and when I finally get around the reading it, I'm like, "Why the he** is this fun?" Ever get that feeling?

    Anyway, it's sad to here that after sending in non-rhyming poetry you recieved such a disappointing and typical response. Some people just don't know what they want or what they are looking for. :(

    ReplyDelete
  12. There I go again!!!!! Someone come and slap up side the head for switching my here/hear around!!!!!

    ReplyDelete

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