Rhyme is one of the poet’s tools available to set a tone and help deliver a message in a quality poem. Rhyme is used to create sound patterns in order to emphasize certain words and their relationships with others artistically. Often a poet will simply rhyme lines, rather the last word on each line will rhyme. We call this the perfect rhyme and it is the most common.
There are several types of Rhyme Schemes and to get good at them you should practice. The Perfect Rhyme Scheme is the classic ABAB where the 1st & 3rd lines rhyme, while the 2nd & 4th lines also rhyme as it is the easiest to master. Although you can vary this scheme any way you want, like with the ABCB scheme where only the 2nd & 4th lines rhyme. There is also the internal rhyme where words within a line will rhyme. Different poetic forms limit the type of rhyme associated with them, like sonnets, limericks and ballads. Also, you can explore different types and forms of rhyme.
Types of Rhyme
- Alliteration: Same initial consonant sound repeated in each word in a row… The fast, furious frog jumped the log.
- Assonance: Vowels in a line rhyme while there are different consonants as stressed syllables…
- Half Rhyme: Final consonants repeat…. Beat Meat Treat.
- Parahyme: Consonants match but not vowels…
- Partial Rhyme
- Imperfect Rhyme
- Reverse Rhyme: Rhyme comes at the beginning of the word…
- Slant Rhyme: Words with similar but not exact assonance and/or number of syllables…
- Eye Rhyme: Similar when read but do not rhyme when spoken or pronounced…
- Masculine Rhyme: Takes place between the final stressed syllables of two lines…
- Feminine Rhyme: Stressed and unstressed syllables rhyme respectively…
BTW: I am not an expert at rhyming yet, so that explains the lack of examples in the list above. If you the reader can come up with an example for the missing types, let me know in the comments and I’ll include them in the list.
Jonasson Enigmatic Nirvana 