09-09-2016, 10:05 AM
Rhyme scheme is as integral to the structure of a text as rhythm, meter and length of phrase. Yet the way this happens seems more ambiguous than the way rhythm shapes a text, for example. Even some seasoned writers have difficulty understanding precisely how the organization of rhyme contributes to the architecture of a poem or a song.
Basically, like the other elements of writing, rhyme scheme is used to manage flow, create and relieve tension & balance, and to highlight important ideas.
Writers may choose rhyme schemes in order to:
Control the speed & flow of the structure
Take control of the audience's expectations
Communicate an idea in the most effective way
Instead of choosing rhyme schemes haphazardly, writers can deliberately design the structure of rhyme to support their ideas.
Rhymes accelerate a text. The more times a line rhymes, the smoother the flow, and the faster it goes.
Take the most basic "AAAA" rhyme scheme for example:
There was a cat,
his name was Pat,
outside, he sat,
and boy oh boy was he fat!
When each line ends the same way, it is smooth, and can be read quickly. Because every line rhymes, the reader doesn't slow down anywhere when they read it. If the last line was supposed to be the punchline of the poem, so to speak, then it didn't really work, because the AAAA pattern kept them reading too fast to stop at the end.
Basically, like the other elements of writing, rhyme scheme is used to manage flow, create and relieve tension & balance, and to highlight important ideas.
Writers may choose rhyme schemes in order to:
Control the speed & flow of the structure
Take control of the audience's expectations
Communicate an idea in the most effective way
Instead of choosing rhyme schemes haphazardly, writers can deliberately design the structure of rhyme to support their ideas.
Rhymes accelerate a text. The more times a line rhymes, the smoother the flow, and the faster it goes.
Take the most basic "AAAA" rhyme scheme for example:
There was a cat,
his name was Pat,
outside, he sat,
and boy oh boy was he fat!
When each line ends the same way, it is smooth, and can be read quickly. Because every line rhymes, the reader doesn't slow down anywhere when they read it. If the last line was supposed to be the punchline of the poem, so to speak, then it didn't really work, because the AAAA pattern kept them reading too fast to stop at the end.