Rhyme Scheme, Rhythm, and Meter

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Rhyme Scheme, Rhythm, and Meter

• Relax, your ears already know what youre about
  to learn!
• Words in this presentation that are hyperlinked
  will lead you to definitions you might not know.
  To have slides read aloud, click on the speaker.

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Rhyme Scheme

• Students often have trouble with rhyme scheme
  because of the word scheme. Outside of
  literature, one meaning of scheme is a plan for
  cheating or getting something illegally.
• Example The gangs scheme for breaking into the
  museum included disguises, a getaway car, and
  Krispy Kreme doughnuts to distract the guard.
• Scheme, though, has another definition a
  system of things or an arrangement.
• Example The scheme for the irrigation system
  included pop-up sprinklers, drip lines, and
  misters.
• Its the second definition that applies to rhyme
  scheme. When you think of rhyme scheme, think
  rhyme arrangement.

3
Understanding Rhyme Scheme

• Sonnet 65 by William Shakespeare
• Since brass, nor stone, nor earth, nor boundless
  sea,
• But sad mortality o'er-sways their power,
• How with this rage shall beauty hold a plea,
• Whose action is no stronger than a flower?
• O, how shall summer's honey breath hold out
• Against the wreckful siege of battering days,
• When rocks impregnable are not so stout,
• Nor gates of steel so strong, but Time decays?
• O fearful meditation! where, alack,
• Shall Time's best jewel from Time's chest lie
  hid?
• Or what strong hand can hold his swift foot back?
• Or who his spoil of beauty can forbid?
• O, none, unless this miracle have might,
• That in black ink my love may still shine bright.

• Finding the rhyme scheme is easy. Read the poem
  to the right. Notice the coloring of the words
  at the ends of the lines. All the words at the
  ends of the lines that have the same sound are
  shaded the same color.
• Now, if you were taking a test and asked to show
  the rhyme scheme of this sonnet, youd have to
  get out crayons or highlighters to show rhyme
  scheme this way. Thats not practical. There is
  an easier way to show rhyme scheme using the
  alphabet.

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Showing Rhyme Scheme

• Use the alphabet to show rhyme scheme, instead of
  using colors. Give every rhyme the same letter.
• A
• B
• A
• B
• C
• D
• C
• D
• E
• F
• E
• F
• G
• G

• Sonnet 65 by William Shakespeare
• Since brass, nor stone, nor earth, nor boundless
  sea,
• But sad mortality o'er-sways their power,
• How with this rage shall beauty hold a plea,
• Whose action is no stronger than a flower?
• O, how shall summer's honey breath hold out
• Against the wreckful siege of battering days,
• When rocks impregnable are not so stout,
• Nor gates of steel so strong, but Time decays?
• O fearful meditation! where, alack,
• Shall Time's best jewel from Time's chest lie
  hid?
• Or what strong hand can hold his swift foot back?
• Or who his spoil of beauty can forbid?
• O, none, unless this miracle have might,
• That in black ink my love may still shine bright.

• If you were given the question, What is the
  rhyme scheme of this poem and is it regular or
  irregular? youre answer would look like this
• The rhyme scheme of this poem is ABABCDCDEFEFGG.
  It is a regular rhyme scheme because the first
  and third line of each quatrain rhyme, as do the
  second and fourth. The final couplet also
  rhymes.
• You might be saying to yourself, OK, I get rhyme
  scheme, but what good does it do me? The
  answer, dear friend, is on the next slide.

5
Whats the Point of Rhyme Scheme?

• Think of rhyme scheme as a secret code that will
  help you unlock the poets meaning.
• A
• B
• A
• B
• C
• D
• C
• D
• E
• F
• E
• F
• G
• G

• Sonnet 65 by William Shakespeare
• Since brass, nor stone, nor earth, nor boundless
  sea,
• But sad mortality o'er-sways their power,
• How with this rage shall beauty hold a plea,
• Whose action is no stronger than a flower?
• O, how shall summer's honey breath hold out
• Against the wreckful siege of battering days,
• When rocks impregnable are not so stout,
• Nor gates of steel so strong, but Time decays?
• O fearful meditation! where, alack,
• Shall Time's best jewel from Time's chest lie
  hid?
• Or what strong hand can hold his swift foot back?
• Or who his spoil of beauty can forbid?
• O, none, unless this miracle have might,
• That in black ink my love may still shine bright.

• Shakespearean sonnets all follow the same form
• Each has 14 lines.
• There are 3 quatrains that express related ideas.
• There is the ending couplet that sums up the
  authors point or makes a conclusion.
• The rhyme scheme is almost always the same.
• The first quatrain (4 lines) points out that hard
  objects and even the sea are changed over time.
• The second quatrain gives more examples, such as
  sweet summer air, rocks, and steel, that decay
  over time.
• In the third quatrain he wonders how beauty can
  hide from Time.
• In the couplet, he hopes that this black inkthis
  sonnetwill preserve his partners beauty.

6
Ive Got Rhythm, Ive Got Music. Part 1

• If you caught the allusion in the title of this
  card, youre either older than most high school
  students or are a fan of Ethel Merman or Broadway
  musicals.
• Rhythm is the musical quality of language
  produced by repetition, especially in poetry
  (also called verse). Many literary elements
  create rhythm, including alliteration, assonance,
  consonance, meter, repetition, and rhyme.
• Meter is a generally regular pattern of stressed
  ( / ) and unstressed ( ) syllables in poetry
  or verse. Just as we can measure distance in
  meters, we can measure the beats in a poem in
  meter.
• Lets say that youre good at music and that Im
  not. I want you to create some music for me with
  a certain beat. This is the beat that I want
• lub-DUB lub-DUB lub-DUB lub-DUB lub-DUB
• It would get irritating after a while to have to
  keep saying lub-DUB every time I wanted to ask
  you to use this rhythm. Theres got to be an
  easier way. There is! Just go to the next
  slide.

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Ive Got Rhythm, Ive Got Music. Part 2

• In the beat below, notice that there are five
  different measures or units to it.
• lub-DUB lub-DUB lub-DUB lub-DUB lub-DUB
• Each unit or measure is made of two separate
  beats. That means that the whole line has 10
  total beats (5 x 2 10). The first beat is
  softer than the second beat. I can use markings
  to show the softer and harder (unaccented and
  accented) beats.
• lub-DUB lub-DUB lub-DUB lub-DUB lub-DUB
• Sometimes, though, Im going to want you to
  reverse the beat
• DUB-lub DUB-lub DUB-lub DUB-lub DUB-lub
• Still, having to do all those markings would take
  time. Too bad there isnt an easier way to talk
  about beats. There is! I could name them. I
  could name them anything I want. I could name
  lub-DUB Fred, and DUB-lub Barney. However,
  if everyone didnt use the same names to
  represent the same beats, it would get confusing.
  Well, these beats do have names, as you will see
  on the next slide.

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3
4
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Ive Got Rhythm, Ive Got Music. Part 3

• Iamb is the name of the meter lub-DUB as in the
  word convince. Notice that each syllable must be
  marked.
• Trochee is the name of the meter DUB-lub as in
  the word borrow.
• Other types of meter have their own names, too
• Anapest is the name of the meter lub-lub-DUB as
  in the world contradict.
• Dactyl is the name of the meter DUB-lub-lub as
  in the word accurate.
• Spondee is the name of the meter DUB-DUB as in
  the word seaweed.
• There are lots of other names for different
  meters, but thats enough for now.
• If a poem mostly has iambs, it is called
  iambic. Have you learned that Shakespeare
  wrote most of his plays and poems in iambic
  pentameter? The next slide will tell you what
  that term means.

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Ive Got Rhythm, Ive Got Music. Part 4

• Iamb is the name of the meter lub-DUB as in the
  word convince. Notice that each syllable must be
  marked.
• Pentameter begins with the prefix pent, which
  refers to the number 5 (e.g., pentagram and
  pentagon). The root word meter refers to
  measurement.
• Something in iambic pentameter has five
  measures of lub-DUB. Example
• But soft! What light through yonder window
  breaks?
• Read the above line aloud and put more stress on
  the syllables with the accent marks.
• If youre not sure if youve identified the meter
  in a line of poetry correctly, reverse the
  accented and unaccented syllables and then read
  it aloud. If it sounds wrong, you were right the
  first time. Give it a try with the line above.
  Stress the syllables with the unaccented marks.
  It should sound strange.

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Ive Got Rhythm, Ive Got Music. Part 5

• How does understanding meter help you understand
  a poem? If the meter is very simple, like that
  in a childrens book, that will help you know
  that the message or theme of the poem is probably
  humorous. A complicated meter might indicate a
  more complicated theme.
• Just as a poet might change the rhyme scheme for
  a specific purpose, a change in meter might
  indicate that the poet is trying to change the
  topic or make some other type of transition.
  Shakespeare usually had his noble characters
  (e.g., kings, queens, generals, etc.) speak in
  iambic pentameter, but his lower characters
  (e.g., servants and peasants) would speak in
  regular language.
• If youre wondering why Shakespeare chose to
  write in iambs, maybe its because the iamb is
  the rhythm of the heart beat!

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DefinitionsClick on the hyperlinks to return to
the slide you were reading.

• Alliteration the repeating of the same or very
  similar consonant sounds usually at the
  beginnings of words that are close together
• Examples Betty Botta bought some butter. But,
  said she, this butters bitter.
• Allusion a reference to a person, place, event,
  or thing from history, literature, sports,
  religion, mythology, politics, etc. to make a
  point
• Example I had a terrible game today. I shot
  like Shaq. This is an allusion because if the
  listener knows who Shaq is and how poorly he
  shoots free throws, then the listener will know
  just how bad the speaker is.
• Assonance the repeating of similar vowel sounds
  followed by different consonant sounds in words
  that are close together
• Example An abbot on an ambling pad.
• Consonance the repeating of final consonants
  after different vowel sounds in words that are
  close together
• Examples East and west dug the dog
• Couplet two adjacent lines of poetry that rhyme
• Quatrain a group of four lines unified by rhyme
  scheme
• Repetition the repeating of any words, phrases,
  or sounds
• Rhyme