Rhyme scheme

A rhyme scheme is the pattern of rhymes at the end of each line of a poem or song. It is usually referred to by using letters to indicate which lines rhyme; lines designated with the same letter all rhyme with each other.

An example of the "abab" rhyming scheme, from To Anthea, who may Command him Anything, written by Robert Herrick:

Function in writing

A basic distinction is between rhyme schemes that apply to a single stanza, and those that continue their pattern throughout an entire poem (see chain rhyme). There are also more elaborate related forms, like the sestina – which requires repetition of exact words in a complex pattern.

In English, highly repetitive rhyme schemes are unusual. English has more vowel sounds than Italian, for example, meaning that such a scheme would be far more restrictive for an English writer than an Italian one, as there are fewer suitable words to match a given pattern. Even such schemes as the terza rima ("aba bcb cdc ded..."), used by Dante Alighieri in The Divine Comedy, have been considered too difficult for English .

Examples

In hip-hop music

Hip-hop music and rapping's rhyme schemes include traditional schemes such as couplets, as well as forms specific to the genre,[1] which are broken down extensively in the books How to Rap and Book of Rhymes. Rhyme schemes used in hip-hop music include

Couplets are the most common type of rhyme scheme in old school rap[7] and are still regularly used,[2] though complex rhyme schemes have progressively become more frequent.[8][9] Rather than relying on end rhymes, rap's rhyme schemes can have rhymes placed anywhere in the bars of music to create a structure.[10] There can also be numerous rhythmic elements which all work together in the same scheme[11] – this is called internal rhyme in traditional poetry,[12] though as rap's rhymes schemes can be anywhere in the bar, they could all be internal, so the term is not always used.[11] Rap verses can also employ 'extra rhymes', which do not structure the verse like the main rhyme schemes, but which add to the overall sound of the verse.[13]

Number of rhyme schemes for a poem with n lines

Tale of Genji chapter symbols, including diagrams of the first 52 set partitions

The number of different possible rhyme schemes for an n-line poem is given by the Bell numbers,[14] which for n = 1, 2, 3, ... are

1, 2, 5, 15, 52, 203, 877, 4140, 21147, 115975, .. (sequence A000110 in the OEIS).

Examples: We find one rhyme scheme for a one-line poem (A), two different rhyme schemes for a two-line poem (AA, AB), and five for a three-line poem: AAA, AAB, ABA, ABB, and ABC.

These counts, however, include rhyme schemes in which some lines rhyme with no other line (e.g. a 4-line poem with pattern ABCB), and even the case in which rhyme is not employed at all (ABCD). There are many fewer rhyme schemes when all lines must rhyme with at least one other line; a count of these is given by the numbers,

0, 1, 1, 4, 11, 41, 162, 715, 3425, 17722, ... (sequence A000296 in the OEIS).

For example, for a three-line poem, there is only one rhyming scheme in which every line rhymes with at least one other (AAA), while for a four-line poem, there are four such schemes (AABB, ABAB, ABBA, and AAAA).

References

  1. ↑ Edwards, Paul, 2009, How to Rap: The Art & Science of the Hip-Hop MC, Chicago Review Press, p. 95-110.
  2. 1 2 Edwards, Paul, 2009, How to Rap: The Art & Science of the Hip-Hop MC, Chicago Review Press, p. 99.
  3. ↑ Edwards, Paul, 2009, How to Rap: The Art & Science of the Hip-Hop MC, Chicago Review Press, p. 100.
  4. ↑ Edwards, Paul, 2009, How to Rap: The Art & Science of the Hip-Hop MC, Chicago Review Press, p. 101.
  5. ↑ Edwards, Paul, 2009, How to Rap: The Art & Science of the Hip-Hop MC, Chicago Review Press, p. 101-102.
  6. ↑ Edwards, Paul, 2009, How to Rap: The Art & Science of the Hip-Hop MC, Chicago Review Press, p. 102-103.
  7. ↑ Bradley, Adam, 2009, Book of Rhymes: The Poetics of Hip-Hop, Basic Civitas Books, p. 50.
  8. ↑ Edwards, Paul, 2009, How to Rap Like A Star: The Art & Science of the Hip-Hop MC, Chicago Review Press, p. 97.
  9. ↑ Bradley, Adam, 2009, Book of Rhymes: The Poetics of Hip-Hop, Basic Civitas Books, p. 73.
  10. ↑ Edwards, Paul, 2009, How to Rap: The Art & Science of the Hip-Hop MC, Chicago Review Press, p. 107.
  11. 1 2 Edwards, Paul, 2009, How to Rap: The Art & Science of the Hip-Hop MC, Chicago Review Press, p. 104.
  12. ↑ Bradley, Adam, 2009, Book of Rhymes: The Poetics of Hip-Hop, Basic Civitas Books, p. 74.
  13. ↑ Edwards, Paul, 2009, How to Rap: The Art & Science of the Hip-Hop MC, Chicago Review Press, p. 103.
  14. ↑ Gardner, Martin (1978), "The Bells: versatile numbers that can count partitions of a set, primes and even rhymes", Scientific American, 238: 24–30, doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0578-24. Reprinted with an addendum as "The Tinkly Temple Bells", Chapter 2 of Fractal Music, Hypercards, and more ... Mathematical Recreations from Scientific American, W. H. Freeman, 1992, pp. 24–38.
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