Rhyme

RHYME

“ A rhyme is a repetition of identical or similar sounds in two or more different words and is most often used in poetry.”(Wikipedia.com) The sounds in two or more lines usually correspond.(Dictionary.com) Often, the last syllable of many words will be similar.

History

“To make rimes or verses, to versify.”(635 The Oxford English Dictionary) is the most prominent method of cleverly wording sentences in versification. The usage of rhymes began heavily in the sacred Latin poetry of the early Christian church. During the twelfth century rhyming became an outstanding metrical mark of poetry . Today two words are said to rhyme only when the sound of the final accented syllable of one word (placed usually at the end of a line of verse) agrees with the final accented syllable of another word. “When the vowels in the final accented syllables of the two rhyming words and the consonants (if any) succeeding the vowel have exactly the same sound, it is called perfect rhyme, e.g., shroud and cloud, mark and bark.” (Infoplease.com)The twentieth century began categorizing different types of rhymes.For example, when rhymes have one syllable or end in a consonant with no mute e following, such as sad and bad, they are said to be a single or masculine rhyme. However, When rhymes are not accented on the last syllable or end in a final mute e (able and cable), they are said to be weak endings, or feminine rhymes.

Works Cited

• [http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=rhyme;The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.]

• Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2005, Columbia University Press.

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