Saturday, October 19, 2013

Poetry Prompt Day 19 - Rhyming Verse

Now I know many of you have been avoiding this but sooner or later we have to look at rhyme. It doesn't have to be scary, but it is a form of discipline. It can force you to work harder but it can also make your poetry better.

The simplest form of rhyming verse is just four lines and the last word of the second line rhymes with the last word of the fourth line.

I shoot the hippopotamus 
With bullets made of platinum
Cause if I use the leaden ones
His hide is sure to flatten them.
Hilaire Belloc

The next rhyming scheme is where the rhymes go a,b,a,b.

I hate doing laundry
But there is worse;
Like the difficulty
Of rhyming verse.
~Janet Parfitt

And then there are rhyming couplets that go a,a,b,b, etc.

Redundancy pay
Is not a bad way
To learn at last
You're a thing of the past.
 ~Reay Fuller

And then there is a form called the clerihew which is a four line poem in rhyming couplets but the first line must be someone's name.

Percy Bysshe Shelley
Shook like a jelly
When in the night time
His wife read him Frankenstein.
~Janet Parfitt

And finally, for those who like a bit of fun, there's always the limerick.

They tell of a hunter named Shepherd
Who was eaten for lunch by a leopard.
Said the leopard "Egad!
You'd have been tastier lad,
If you had been salted and peppered!"

So no matter what form you decide to go for or if you want to stick with blank verse the most important thing is to have fun with it!

Share your poetry with us by linking up. Make sure you visit your neighbors one or two before and after. If you are last on the list go back to the beginning of the list. If you are the first few on the list please go back to the day before and visit the last on the list if you haven't already. Have fun!

1. Steph Beth Nickel  13. Lady Whispers  25. Cara Valle  
2. Georgia aka Bastet  14. Lance Smith  26. Amy McGrath  
3. Ankit Sharma  15. Linda Roy  27. Esther Spurrill Jones  
4. Yeris from Team Netherworld  16. alfred booth  28. odhran  
5. Nimue  17. Sfurti Juztamom  29. Mark J - Fly in My Eye  
6. viv blake  18. Rhian Williams  30. Morgan Dragonwillow  
7. Misky  19. zoe  31. Philomel Chowdhury  
8. Aavika  20. snlkc  32. Kailynn- GingerSass  
9. Samantha F  21. Ron Potter  33. Anna Stewart  
10. Shah Scribbles  22. Made-Up Mask & You Brighten My Day  34. Nikita  
11. Payal Agarwal  23. Annis Cassells  35. Jenna Amundson  
12. yikici  24. Beth Camp  36. Andrea Moore  

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1 comment:

  1. Funny - I have tried to use rhyme in most of my poems and have succeeded with most. However, soon I will be posting some that don't rhyme.

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