Why poems rhyme

Rhyme is the musicality behind the words and the way the phrases come together. These two elements represent the framework of poems and the techniques that set poetry apart from other prose writing.

Rhythm creates the pattern of language in a line of a poem, marked by the stressed and unstressed syllables in the words. The most famous rhythm is iambic pentameter, which is found in most of Shakespeare's writing. Rhythm is essential to poetry because it is a mirror of life. Nature expects a rhythm, as evidenced by the change from day to night, or the order of the seasons. This contributes to the pleasure of the reader; rhythm is what we expect from music, from nature, and certainly from poetry.

Assisting in Memorization — One of the reasons why many early poems were penned with rhyme schemes can be traced back to low literacy rates and the desire to memorize verses. Adhering to Style Guidelines — Formal styles of poetry dictate not only the number of lines and the number of syllables within those lines, but also a strict rhyme scheme that must be adhered to.

In order to create classic, formal poetry, a poet must write verses that rhyme. Creating Symmetry — Symmetry among the verses of a poem can rely largely upon the way that a rhyme scheme is created by the poet. For this reason alone, some poetry purists refuse to entertain the notion of unstructured, asymmetrical free verse. Appealing to Younger Audiences — Kids are wild about poems that rhyme, making the creation of works that rhyme a wise literary and career move for poets hoping to appeal to a younger audience.

As a result, poetry collections marketed at the senior citizen audience almost always feature works with a defined rhyme scheme. Carrying On a Grand Tradition — The works of greats like Emily Dickinson and William Shakespeare rhymed, and there are those who believe that carrying on that grand tradition has far more artistic merit than more relaxed, informal free verse. Rising to a Challenge — Managing to adhere to formal poetry styles with an established rhyme scheme while remaining true to the inspiration behind the work of art without penning a contrived, forced or awkward poem is a very real challenge.

For those who value such a challenge, rhyming work is the only way to go. Lightening the Mood — Humorous poems, like limericks, often rely upon the clever turn of phrase and wordplay that comes with rhyming.

There exists a double feminine rhyme pattern ex. Those poets who do utilize rhyme have a number to choose from. Some of the rhyme schemes poets employ are as follows:. Alliteration is the repetition of the same consonant sounds, and is typically used at the beginning of each stressed syllable.

This technique is sometimes called head rhyme ex. The repeating sound creates harmony and unity within a poem.

Assonance is sometimes called vowel rhyme, and is the repetition of similar vowel sounds, A, E, I, O, U used with different consonant sounds in the stressed syllables ex.

Here an imitative harmony is created to give the poem a sense of fluidity. Consonance is the repetition of consonants in a rhyme scheme and typically occurs at the end of words ex. Generally, Consonance occurs at the end of words, Alliteration at the beginning, and Assonance takes the middle ground. Sight Rhyme is an imperfect pattern in a rhyme scheme and often uses words which have a similarity in spelling rather than sound ex.

This is also sometimes called eye rhyme. Slant Rhyme occurs when the rhyme scheme is inexact, distant, or virtual. The rhyme scheme blends and the sound matches, but imperfectly ex.