A Poetic Problem
By: Danielle Johnson
“Cinderella dressed in yellow,
went upstairs to kiss her fellow,
by mistake she kissed a snake,
how many doctors did it take?”
Chances are you have heard this childhood rhyme on the playground, and although it was catchy back then, it is not exactly what you are looking for when you read poetry. Rhyming is not a must when writing poetry and many people often obsess over trying to make their poetry rhyme that the rhymes can often feel forced. In addition rhyming can also take away from the point of the work, when done incorrectly. In this article we will discuss the different types of rhyming and how to effectively use them in your poetry.
There are three main types of rhyming that we will be touching on in this article : slant rhymes, true rhymes, and eye rhymes.
Pure rhymes are the most common types of rhymes that everybody wants to use in poetry, they often tend to be the type of rhymes that feel the most forced. Examples of pure rhymes are know, low, glow, row, etc. These types of rhymes when overused or forced often take away from the poetry. Generally speaking this is the type of rhyming can be very distracting to the main point of the poem, and should be avoided unless you are confident that it will not distract the reader from the point of your work. An example of a pure rhyme is:
I am an ember,
watch me glow,
though you may not remember,
watch as my flame will grow.
Eye rhymes are words that look like they should rhyme but do not actually rhyme. Examples are through and thorough. This type of rhyming is best to use for visual pieces, or poetry not meant to be read aloud.
We are through,
but I just want to be thorough.
I have fallen out of love with you,
this I know to be absolute.
This rhyme looks very aesthetically pleasing and is a very clever and well thought out way to use rhymes that will not feel forced or be distracting to the reader.
Lastly, we come to slant rhymes. These are rhymes that almost rhyme but don’t quite rhyme. Like serenade and greed, or serenade and serendipity. They are the most clever types of rhymes and they definitely will not cause hangups with the reader. An example of this in poetry is:
A serenade on a quiet night,
watch them with a serene but keen interest.
Never forget my intent,
Darling you have to invest in me now.
Overall, it is generally best to avoid using true rhymes in poetry unless there are special circumstances in which the poem would not be the same without these rhymes. Hopefully this quick overview of rhyming has helped to show the different ways you can rhyme in poetry while also avoiding your work sounding like a nursery rhyme. With this information authors can try different ways of writing poetry that will not seem overdone, forced, or confusing to the reader.