Day 29 ~ “Rhyming Poems” with an ‘A-B-A-B rhyme scheme’ for “30 Poems in 30 Days” #NationalPoetryMonth

OK, second to last day ~ for those of you who LOVE rhyming poems ~ this is your lucky day!

There are NUMEROUS patterns to rhyming poems, the use of end rhymes where the 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.

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

Rhyming Dictionary

RhymeZone 

Today we are going to use the most common rhyming scheme:

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. 

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. 

Here’s an example of a rhyming poem with an A-B-A-B scheme written by Lousia May Alcott (it’s 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 on that I wrote ~ just for fun:

In this little 4 line example I made up, you can see the end words in the first and third lines rhyme and they both lines have 5 beats (5 syllables). The end words in the second and fourth lines rhyme and they both lines have 6 beats (6 syllables). 
 

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, always rhyming lines one and three as well as lines two and four.

Also, note that often times the very last stanza can vary, or not, but all previous stanzas should follow the pattern.

Just a heads up: for tomorrow, our last day – be thinking of some of your great family stories – we will base our last poem on family history.

If you need some ideas ~ TODAY IS ARBOR DAY - perhaps a rhyming poem about trees would be in order? Up to you!! Cheers!!

OK, off you go – rhyme away!!

PLEASE REMEMBER ~ any poetry found on this blog, written by me, is my personal property and may not be used without my permission, other than sharing it as an example in a lesson or to read it to someone. The same goes for any poems that are shared in the comments of this blog or elsewhere online as a result of this challenge. They are the creative property of the person who writes them. These poems are their original work and no one may use them without their permission. It is understood that they own the copyright for to them as soon as they post them. Thanks so much!

Also, if you choose to post your poems on your own blog ~ that’s awesome. But PLEASE don’t just copy and paste my daily instructions, but rather post your poem on your blog or you FB wall or wherever AND LINK BACK TO THIS BLOG POST for others to come here to read the instructions. I’ve spent considerable time researching the poetry forms and writing them up to share with you. Thanks for respecting my work.