Rhyme Scheme

Literary/ Cultural Context Note

Litencyc Editors (Independent Scholar - Europe)

The Literary Encyclopedia. WORLD HISTORY AND IDEAS: A CROSS-CULTURAL VOLUME.

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The pattern made by placing words which end in similar sounds at the ends of lines. To mark out a rhyme scheme, letters, starting with a, are assigned to the first occurrence of a sound, such that line 1 is always a and the first occurrence of the next sound is always b and so on. For example, the pattern of the Shakespearean sonnet is three quatrains rhyming a b a b, c d c d, e f e f then a closing couplet rhyming g g. Viz:

Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore,So do our minutes hasten to their end;Each changing place with that which goes before,In sequent toil all forwards do contend.Nativity, once in the main of light,Crawls to maturity, wherewith being crowned,Crooked eclipses gainst his glory fight,And Time that gave doth now his gift confound.Time doth

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Citation: Editors, Litencyc. "Rhyme Scheme". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 01 November 2001 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=958, accessed 16 April 2024.]

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