rhymes are sound repetitionsvocal or consonant (or both combined) that happen at regular intervals within a text. It is a sound resource widely used by poets. Alongside metrification, assonance and alliteration, rhymes are responsible for the musicality of poetic texts.
Generally, rhymes occur at the end of different verses, such as in this famous sonnet by Camões:
Love is a fire that burns without seeinger,
it's a wound that hurts, and it doesn'tloved;
it's a contentment discountloved,
it's pain that crazy without theer.
Note that the first verse rhymes with the last, as there is sound equality at the end of the last two words of each of these verses: “ver” and “doer”. The two verses in the middle also rhyme, as they both end with the same sounds: “feel” and “discontent”.
But the rhyme can also occur within the same verse. Let's look at this verse by the Brazilian Symbolist poet Alphonsus de Guimaraens:
how are they smellthe the first rsthe!
If we look at the words “smelling” and “roses”, we will see that, starting from the stressed syllable, both have the same sound. So they rhyme.
But there are internal rhymes that occur between different verses. Let's see this example taken from the poem “A Judia”, by the Portuguese romantic poet Tomás Ribeiro:
Angel without a country, fairy errbefore,
near or farbefore that from me you go,
I'll miss you infstill,
Hebrew lstill, who is sleeping.
See how "wandering" at the end of the first verse rhymes with "distant" which is in the middle of the next verse. The same happens in the third and fourth verses.
Besides these, there are many other types of rhymes. There is even a specific name for verses where there is no rhyme: white or loose verses.
types of rhyme
The classification is made according to four aspects: position (in the stanza and on the back), quality, sound and intensity.
1. Classification in relation to the position in the stanza and on the back
External rhyme (final)
The external or final rhyme is the one that occurs at the end of the verses. There are a few types of external rhymes, depending on their arrangement within the poem: parallel, opposite, alternate, mixed, and continued.
Parallel rhymes (paired): are those that occur in pairs, following the AABB scheme; that is: in the case of a quatrain (verse with four verses), the rhymes are between the first two verses (A) and between the last two (B).
Example:
My son, tower more high (THE)
Where does my love come from exalts. (THE)
Blue amphora, where the incenso (B)
of dreams rises fromenso. (B)“Recolta das Estrelas”, Cruz e Sousa
Opposite rhymes (interpolated): characterized by the combination of ABBA-type verses; that is: in the case of a quatrain, the rhymes are between the first and last verses (A) and between the two in the middle (B).
Example:
Away from the sterile turmoil of the rwow, (A)
Benedictine, write! in the shellego (B)
From the cloister, in silence and sossego, (B)
Work, and persist, and file, and suffer, and onlywow! (THE)“To a poet”, Olavo Bilac
Alternating rhymes (crosses): alternate or crossed rhymes are characterized by the ABAB scheme; that is: in the case of a quatrain, the rhymes are between the first and third verses (A) and between the second and fourth (B).
Example:
Like the child who bathed in pryears ago (THE)
Look for the earring that took her ryo, (B)
My soul wants to resurrect usyears ago (THE)
One of the lilies that withered the sky.yo. (B)“Minhalma is sad”, Casimiro de Abreu
Mixed (mixed) rhymes: mixed or mixed rhymes, unlike the other types of rhymes described above, do not follow a defined pattern.
Example:
I'm leaving for Pasargada
Here I am not happy
There existence is an adventure
So inconsequentialloved
May Joana the Madwoman of Spain
queen and false demloved
Comes to be counterloved
daughter-in-law I never had“I'm leaving for Pasárgada”, Manuel Bandeira
continued rhyme: it is the repetition of the same sound in a long passage or even in an entire poem.
Example:
For this bread to eat, for this floor to sleepgo
The certificate to be born and the concession to smilego
For letting me breathe, for letting me existgo
God bless you“God pay you”, Chico Buarque
see the meaning of stanza it's the Verse meaning.
internal rhyme
The inner rhyme can basically occur in two ways: within a single verse or between two verses. There are some types of internal rhymes: crowned, alliterative and chained.
crowned rhyme: is a type of internal rhyme that takes place within the same verse.
Example:
In the mess, what an enlourece, trainece want herthat...
“A dream”, Eugénio de Castro
alliterative rhyme: also called alliteration, characterized by the expressive repetition of consonant sounds in one or more verses.
Example:
THE sshoulder ofonlyultimateonlygriefs
"PANDEMONUM", Cruz e Sousa
see the Definition of alliteration.
linked rhyme: chained rhyme occurs when sound combinations occur at the end of a verse and in the middle of the next verse.
Example:
The soaring soul flowers bthey,
pure, singthey, dew, alive,
have more aromas, and are more formthe,
that the poor rthe in a captive garden.“Flowers of the Soul”, Tomás Ribeiro
2. Quality rating
poor rhyme: is one in which two words of the same grammatical class rhyme.
Examples:
- Noun with noun: pto the/melto the
- Verb with verb: go/sorrgo
- Adverb with adverb: practiceloved/lentamloved
rich rhyme: is one in which the rhymed words belong to different grammatical classes.
Examples:
- Noun with verb: rua/sua
- Adjective with adverb: silent/too much
- Verb with adjective: sit/believer
rare rhyme: also called precious, consists of an exceptional combination of words. This is an unlikely association, quite difficult to find.
Example:
The glory that guides us is so much
In our love of selection, deep,
That (I hear in the distance the oracle of Eleusis)If one day I were yours and you were mine,
Our love would design a world
And from your womb they would be born fromeuses...“Clay”, Raul de Leoni
3. rating in relation to sound
sounding rhyme: also called a consonant, is one in which the combination of sounds is complete. Virtually all of the rhyme examples listed above fit this classification.
Examples:
- positionthen/cimthen
- Row/prow
- Amnow/nnow
blunt rhyme: also called assonant, it is made of a partial combination of sounds: there is only correspondence between vowel sounds in the stressed syllable of words. This rhyme can be called an assonance.
Examples:
- MTheyah/fThego
- Luto/escuro
- aguandnt/tandmpo
Rhyme imperfect: Occurs when the sound combination is not perfect, that is, when the sounds combined are similar but not the same. For example: a combination of an open vowel ("céu") with a closed vowel ("learnandu").
Examples:
- Çme/aprendme
- Mulet/predilet
- Aurnow/sedutnow
4. Intensity rating
high rhyme: combination of oxytone words sounds.
Example:
Sun/hook
serious rhyme: combination of paroxytone words sounds.
Example:
Part/Mars
weird rhyme: combination of proparoxytone words sounds.
Example:
Plastic/elastic
See too:
- meaning of poetry
- meaning of poem
- Meaning of Figures of Language
- Everything you need to know about Figures of Language