Stylistic classification of the english vocabulary

c) Rhyme

Rhyme is the repetition of identical or similar sound combinations of words.

Rhyming words are generally placed at a regular dis­tance from each other. In verse they are usually placed at the end of the corresponding lines. E.g.: say, day, play; measure, pleasure. So rhyme is most often used in poetry and performs different functions. One of the leading functions is to

make the expressions bright, easy to remember:

It was many and many a year ago,

In a kingdom by the sea.

That a maiden there lived whom you may

know

By the name of Annabel Lee;

And this maiden she lived with no other thought

Than to love and to be loved by me. (E. A.

Рое)

Here we have the following rhymed words: ago - know, sea — Lee.

With regard to the similarity of sounds we distinguish the following types of rhyme:

1. 
   full rhymes - the likeness between the vowel sound in the last stressed syllables and between all sounds which follow. E.g.: tenderly- slenderly; finding — binding.
   
2. 
   incomplete rhymes - they can be divided into two main groups: vow el rhymes and consonant rhy­mes. In vowel rhymes the vowels of the syllables in corresponding words are identical, but the consonants may be different as in flesh - fresh. Consonant rhymes, on the contrary, show concordance in consonants and disparity in vowels, as in worth - forth, tale - tool, treble — trouble, flung - lung.
   

Many proverbs, sayings and epigrams are based on the use of rhyme:

When the cat's away, the mice will play (away - play). Repetition is the mother of tuition (repetition - tuition).

Modifications in rhyming make one word rhyme with a combination of words; or two or even three words rhyme with a corresponding two or three words, as in upon her honour - won her; bottom - forgot'em - shot him. Such rhymes are called compound or broken. The peculiari­ty of rhymes of this type is that the combination of words is made to sound like one word - a device which gives a colloquial and sometimes a humorous effect to the utteran­ce.

Compound rhyme may be set against eye-rhy­me, where the letters and not the sounds are identical, as in love - prove, flood - brood, have - grave.

Many eye-rhymes are the result of historical changes in the vowel sounds in certain positions.

The rhymes are arranged in following models.

1. 
   Couplet rhyme - when the first and the second lines rhyme together. The rhyming scheme is symbolized as aa:
   

Away, away, from men and towns,

To the wild wood and the downs. (P.Shelley)

2. 
   Triple rhymes - when all the three lines rhyme together. Trie rhyming scheme is aaa.
   
3. 
   Cross rhyme - when the first and the third, the second and the fourth lines rhyme together. The rhyming scheme is abab:
   

Four seasons fill the measure of the year; There are four seasons in the mind of man: He has his lasty Spring, when fancy clear Takes in all beauty with an easy span. (J.Ke­ats)

Frame rhyme - when the first and the fourth, the second and the third lines rhyme together. The rhyming scheme is abba:
Love, faithful love recall'd thee to my mind- But how could I forget thee? Through what power

Even for the least division of an hour.

Have I been so beguiled as to be blind. (W.

Wordstock)

There is still another variety of rhyme which is called internal rhyme. A long line of verse is sometimes bro­ken into two shorter parts by an internal rhyme:

1. 
   I bring fresh showers for the thirsting flowers. (Shelley)
   
2. 
   Once upon a midnight dreary while I pondered weak and weary. (Рое)
   

There are so called rhyme combinations in the colloquial English. E.g.: harum-scarum (disorganized), hurry-scurry (great hurry), lovey-dovey (darling), mumbo- jumbo (deliberate mystification), namby-pamby (weakly). The function of these rhymes is to produce a jocular ef­fect, sometimes to give speech characterization (especially of children).

The functions of rhyme in poetry are very important: it signalizes the end of a line and marks the arrangement of lines into stanzas. Moreover, the most emphatic place in a poetic line - the end - receives greater prominence.