Rhymes Common in English Verse
A talented, extraordinarily industrious fellow ‘netizen’-- who is tutored by some brilliant, selfless and equally diligent i-professor and i-assist professors and progressing by leaps and bounds in her classical Chinese poetry-writing skills within a short period of time -- inquired about the following:
< 請問英詩詞是否也有押韻規格？
例如 #1. 羨魚兄的：seen to been.
#2. 星河兄的: drizzling, boating and blossoming. >
"What are the rules and format of Rhymes in English poetry?"
(i'm glad it seems she's about to try her hand at some English poetry writing!)
Ah! The 2 'culprit translations' of the poem by
夜月星河 《春日西湖遊》 :) ;}
#1. "One Spring Day Boating on West Lake"
The three-mile long bank in
drizzles is mistily seen;
Boating on the crystal lake, I'm
drunk in the east wind.
Every willow leaf is fresh and
every leaf is green;
Each tree's red, each tree a peach
tree as it's always been.
(Rhyme scheme-- the pattern of rhyming lines in a poem --
This one is the Arch-Rhyme: abba)
#2. Misty is the three-mile long bank
due to drizzling;
Drunk in the easterly on the lake
while boating.
While leaves of every willow tree
are freshly green,
All flowering peach trees in red
are blossoming.
(Rhyme scheme: aaxa, a la the Chinese quatrain format. )
Starry River’s original Chinese poem under translation
:) 《春日西湖遊》夜月星河
十里長堤細雨濛，
翠湖舟泛醉東風；
絲絲新柳絲絲綠，
樹樹桃花樹樹紅。(aaxa)
Some ‘confessions’ first:
- I’m not really qualified to “tutor” or “enlighten” someone on the finer points of Rhymes in English Poetry. I had no formal training on this at all. (I did not major in Eng. Lit. in my undergrad years, though I’d love to study that. The harsh reality was 'jobs first, interests and girls later.') So, carry on reading this article 'at your own risk'!
- I’m typing out my ideas in English (on my tiny netbook) because my Chinese is so rusted now, I dread picking up the pen to write on the writing pad. (in any way, I can’t use my other computer to write in Chinese. one may have noticed that my ‘responses in Chinese’ are the product of ‘copy and paste’ only!)
- I was really hoping the ‘other guy’ -- a real poet in the full sense of the word in both the c n e languages -- would come to the rescue and give some satisfactory answer. (O where’s the cavalry?)
- For my own well-being (I have no heart problems, thank you and would like to keep it this way), I would be likely shunning any future questions. (aye, I’d be 'mute and deaf'.) Academic or technical questions should best be directed to the qualified ‘i-professor’ or ‘i-asst. professors’ on this forum (forum.hkej.com), please.
Yes, there are certainly Different Types of Rhymes in English Poetry.
A Rhyme, or Rime, refers to the Sameness of
Sound of the Endings of Two or More Words at the
Ends of Lines in a Poem or Verse. Basically, two elements are involved -- the Last Stressed Vowel and All The
Following Letters, which together create an obvious structure of degree (in an organized manner).
Here are The More Common Rhymes as far as I can gather, quite literally, from cyber space: (The following is intended as a general guide only. The boundaries among certain groupings are rather fluid and the groups shown are not necessarily mutually exclusive.)
A. Similarity in Sounds and Words
1. Full, Exact, True or Perfect Rhyme:
1.1. Vowel Rhyming
Matched by the Number of Syllables and Final Stressed Syllable.
Examples:
"hand, band"; "life, wife";
"tip, dip"; "dove, love";
"say, day, play"; "measure, pleasure."
Extract from Lord Byron's "Farewell to the Muse":
Farewell, my young Muse! since we
now can ne'er meet;
If our songs have been languid, they surely are few;
Let us hope that the present at least
will be sweet --
The present -- which seals our eternal Adieu.
(Rhyme scheme -- Cross-Rhyme: abab)
1.2. Consonant Rhyming
Pairing similar Consonants with different Vowels:
"limp, lump"; "lump, lamp";
"bit, bet."
Extract from Alfred Lord Tennyson's "The Deserted House":
Life and thought have gone away
Side by side,
Leaving door and windows wide:
Careless tenants they!
(Rhyme scheme -- Couplet Rhyme: aabb)
1.3 Imperfect, Slant, Half, Approximate or Near Rhyme
A. A rhyme between a Stressed and an Unstressed Syllable:
"wing, caring";
"fling, firing" (-- they end in "-ing").
B. Assonance --
Matching/similar Vowels, different Consonants:
"shake, hate"; "dip, dim".
C. Consonants -- Matching/similar Consonants, different Vowels:
"rabies, robbers".
Matching Final Consonants:
"bent, ant".
All Consonants Match (Para-Rhyme):
"hand, bind"; "tell, tall".
1.4 Weak, or Unaccented Rhyme
A rhyme between two sets of One or More
Unstressed Syllables:
"hammer, carpenter".
1.5 Rich Rhyme (from French rime riche):
A word rhyming with its Homonym:
"blue, blew"; "guessed, guest."
A word that Extends the Rhyming Sequences Backwards from the Last Stressed Vowels:
"right hánd, fright ánd".
1.6 Semi-Rhyme
A rhyme with an Extra Syllable on One Word:
"bend, ending".
1.7 Forced, or Oblique Rhyme
A rhyme with an Imperfect Match in Sound:
"green, fiend"; "one, thumb".
B. Rhymes in Stress Patterns (Cadence)
Words as well as Their Sounds that are
Remarkably Similar.
When the Last Stressed Vowels are in the Last Syllables the Rhyme is Stressed (this was formerly called 'Masculine Rhyme').
Examples: "hánd, bánd"; "cáre, bewáre".
When the Last Stressed Vowels are followed by One or More metrically Unstressed Syllables the Rhyme is Unstressed (or 'Feminine'). Examples: "hánding, stánding"; "Atlántic, gigántic".
C. Rhymes by Position in A Line/Stanza
End, or Terminal Rhyme
Initial, Head Rhyme (or Alliteration)
This is simply Matching the Initial Consonants.
Excerpt from my rendition of Moon Night
Starry River's "Spring Sentiments" 《春意》
夜月星河 :
'On the wind the white willow catkins ride'
for the 3rd line of his 28-Character Quatrain:
' 隨風柳絮飄飄白'
《春意》 夜月星河
四野昏黄暮色濃，
歸鴉點點過長空；
隨風柳絮飄飄白，
逐水桃花片片紅。
Internal Rhyme
Extract from William Blake's "From the Rossetti Manuscript":
I heard an Angel singing
When the day was springing.
"Mercy, Pity, Peace
Is the world's release."
(Rhyme scheme -- Couplet Rhyme: aabb)
Medial Rhyme
Broken Rhyme
D. Others
Identical, Null, or Auto-Rhyme
A Word rhyming with Itself, or Repeated Lines or Refrains that may vary slightly (as in ballads).
Example:
Emily Dickinson's "Because I Could not Stop for Death":
A Swelling of the Ground--
The Roof was scarcely visible--
The Cornice--in the Ground.
(Rhyme scheme -- Single-Rhyme: xaxa)
Another Excerpt from William Blake's "The Lamb":
Little Lamb who made thee
Dost thou know who made thee
Little Lamb I'll tell thee,
Little Lamb I'll tell thee!
(Rhyme scheme for the whole poem --
Couplet Rhyme: aabb)
Macaronic Rhyme
Verse uses More Than One Language (as in
medieval lyrics with Latin refrains).
A Modern Example from my rendition of
一老年人 《南歌子‧蓮》ci below regarding "炎炎夏日掛驕陽":
TUNE: Nan Gor Zi "Southern Song Singer"
TITLE: Lian "Lotus"
-- by 一老年人 'A Man of Advanced Years'
Chaud! Chaud! (French: Hot! Hot!)
Hanging Summer Sun's hot like so!
Eye, or Printer's Rhyme
Rhymes based on Similarity of Spelling rather than Sound.
Example:
"cough, bough, dough"; "love, move".
Mind Rhyme
Example:
That's right! They will sever
your 'write' hand!
There, will you just stare, shake and stand?
If in your mind you read "write" hand as "right" hand, this is Mind Rhyme. (The poem in question is about a Hong Kong newspaper editor who was hacked six times with a meat cleaver in a brutal
attack to silence him.)
Mosaic Rhyme
The Use of Multiple Words to Form a Rhyme. Example: "poet, know it".
Or of Rhyming Phrases.
Example: "you're the one, in the Sun".
Spelling Rhyme
Wrenched Rhyme, etc.
now, coming back to the initial question and the 2 translated pieces, it should be clear that the Rhymes used in:
Translation #1 above --
"seen, been" are Perfect Rhymes,
"wind, green" : Forced or Oblique Rhymes.
Translation #2 above --
"drizzling, boating, blossoming" are
Imperfect or Slant Rhymes.
O! 'Czarist' Russia and the powder-keg Crimea -- again!!
it's probably timely to re-visit Lord Tennyson's most famous poem here, from the Rhyming point of view:
Excerpt from Alfred, Lord Tennyson's "Charge of the Light Brigade":
Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
"Forward, the Light Brigade!
Charge for the guns!" he said;
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
"Forward, the Light Brigade!"
Was there a man dismay'd?
Nor tho' the soldier knew
Some one had blunder'd:
Their's not to make reply,
Their's not to reason why,
Their's but to do and die:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
from <wikipedia>:
< "The Charge of the Light Brigade" is an 1854 narrative poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson about the Charge of the Light Brigade at the Battle of Balaclava during the Crimean War. He was the poet laureate of the United Kingdom at the time of the writing of the poem.> ...
<The Crimea War ... (October 1853 – February 1856) was a conflict in which Russia lost to an alliance of France, Britain, the Ottoman Empire, and Sardinia.
While neutral, Austria played a role in stopping the Russians.>
it's probably timely to re-visit Lord Tennyson's most famous poem here, from the Rhyming point of view:
Excerpt from Alfred, Lord Tennyson's "Charge of the Light Brigade":
Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
"Forward, the Light Brigade!
Charge for the guns!" he said;
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
"Forward, the Light Brigade!"
Was there a man dismay'd?
Nor tho' the soldier knew
Some one had blunder'd:
Their's not to make reply,
Their's not to reason why,
Their's but to do and die:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
from <wikipedia>:
< "The Charge of the Light Brigade" is an 1854 narrative poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson about the Charge of the Light Brigade at the Battle of Balaclava during the Crimean War. He was the poet laureate of the United Kingdom at the time of the writing of the poem.> ...
<The Crimea War ... (October 1853 – February 1856) was a conflict in which Russia lost to an alliance of France, Britain, the Ottoman Empire, and Sardinia.
While neutral, Austria played a role in stopping the Russians.>
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