Rhymes

Rhyming occurs in many places in literature, whether that be poems, stories, or lyrics to a song. Basically, the literal meaning is a Germanic term that means 'sequence'. The Old English meaning is 'series or numeral'.

Many people assume that there is only one kind of rhyme. This, however, is very incorrect. There are many types of rhyme that each have their own unique twist. The basic explanation is that if two word's final stressed vowel sounds identical and all following sounds are identical.

The first category of rhymes are called perfect rhymes. Such examples, like 'madness' and 'sadness', these have all syllables sounding exactly the same. There are three types of perfect rhymes. First, there is a masculine rhyme. This is a rhyme that emphasizes the last syllable for a word. An example of masculine are the words 'rhyme' and 'sublime'. The second type of perfect rhyme is called a feminine rhyme. This stresses the second to last syllable. An example of this rhyme is 'picky' and 'tricky'. Third, there is a dactylic. This perfect rhyme stresses the third to last syllable. An example of this is 'cacophonies' and 'Aristphanies'.

While not all words are perfect rhymes, there are other types of rhymes. There is a syllabic rhye, in which the last syllable sounds the same but doesn't have to contain the same vowels. For example, the words 'cleaver' and 'silver' are an example of syllabic rhyme. An imperfect rhyme is a rhyme that occurs between an unstressed and stressed syllable, like 'wing' and 'caring'. A semi rhyme is a rhyme that contains an extra syllable, like the words 'bend' and 'ending'. Slant rhymes are rhymes that don't have a consistent matching sound, like 'one' and 'thumb'.

An example of assonance, which are another variation of slant rhymes, is 'shake' and 'hate'. Consonance, which happens when consonants are matching, is a pair like 'rabies' and 'robbers'. A half rhyme occurs when the final consonants match, like 'cent' and 'ant'. Finally, alliteration, like 'short' and 'ship' occur when the first consonants match.

Another category of rhyme is called sight rhyming, in which words appear like they should rhyme but don't, like 'move' and 'love'. A tail rhyme, or end rhyme, is the most common type of rhyme. This occurs when the last syllable of two words rhyme. When a rhyme occurs in the middle of the line instead of the end of the line, this is called an internal rhyme. These are the basic rhyme patterns.

Wikipedia, Rhyme