DAY THIRTEEN ~ “Rhyming Poems” with an ‘A-B-A-B rhyme scheme’ for “30 Poems in 30 Days” #NationalPoetryMonth

Rhyming schemes: the use of end rhymes – last sound of the end word in one line of poetry rhyming with the last sound of the end word in another line of poetry.

There are several rhyming schemes in poetry but we are going to start with the most common:

a – b – a – b

This is where the words at the end of the first and third lines rhyme and the words at the end of the second and fourth line rhyme.

Your poem can be as many lines as you wish as long as you continue with the rhyming pattern throughout.

Here’s a couple of resources you can use to find rhyming words – just type in the word in the box, click and poof ~ a rhyming word appears:

http://www.rhymer.com/

http://www.rhymezone.com/

You should also try to keep the meters of lines ‘a’ the same as each other and the meters of line ‘b’ the same as each other. This can be done by counting syllables. In the little 4 line example I made up, you can see the end words in the first and third lines rhyme and they both have 5 beats (5 syllables). The end words in the second and fourth lines rhyme and they both have 6 beats (6 syllables).

Here’s an example of a rhyming poem with an A-B-A-B scheme written by Lousia May Alcott (it is in the Public Domain – so I can use it here)

To One Who Teaches Me
    by Louisa May Alcott 

"To one who teaches me               (A)
 The sweetness and the beauty      (B)
 Of doing faithfully                        (A)
 And cheerfully my duty."               (B)    

And here’s one that I wrote ~ just for fun:

I went to the store                       (A)
To buy a loaf of bread.                  (B)
I found something more                 (A)
“So typical,” I said.                       (B)

                      © Stephanie Abney 2011 
          (Seems silly to copyright such a simple little sample verse but there 

            you have it)

You can just do four lines or you can create a longer poem by making several stanzas of four lines each. Also, note that often times the very last stanza can vary, or not, but all previous stanzas should follow the pattern.

Your turn! Have fun!