Half rhyme

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A half-rhyme or slant-rhyme, sometimes called near-rhyme or lazy rhyme, are rhymes created out of words with similar but not identical sounds. In most instances, either the vowel segments are different while the consonants are identical, or vice versa. This type of rhyme is also called approximate rhyme, inexact rhyme, off rhyme, analyzed rhyme, or suspended rhyme. [1][2]

Examples

The following example uses alternating half-rhymes (on—moon, bodies—ladies):

When have I last looked on
The round green eyes and the long wavering bodies
Of the dark leopards of the moon?
All the wild witches, those most noble ladies

(Yeats, "Lines written in Dejection")

American poet Emily Dickinson used half rhyme frequently in her works.[3] In her poem "Hope is the thing with feathers" the half rhyme appears in the second and fourth lines; in the following example the rhyme is soul—all.

Hope is the Thing with Feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all.

Hope is The Thing With Feathers-Emily Dickinson

See also

References

  1. ↑ Ian Ousby (23 February 1996). The Cambridge Paperback Guide to Literature in English. Cambridge University Press. p. 8. ISBN 978-0-521-43627-4. Retrieved 20 May 2013. 
  2. ↑ "Literary Terms and Definitions S". Web.cn.edu. Retrieved 2013-05-20. 
  3. ↑ Lilia Melani (February 24, 2009), Emily Dickinson: An Overview, Department of English, Brooklyn College, City University of New York, retrieved 2009-06-22 
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