Rhymes - More Information

It has come to my attention we should have discussed RHYME more specifically.  The definition "a word with an ending sounding the same as the ending of another word" does not give complete understanding of what rhymes and what doesn't. Maybe my use of the word "exact" is throwing us off the track. In some educational places I've found the word "true" used.  But I think I am going to just change it to RHYME and call everything else "Near" or "Not."

I also learned not all website rhyme locations provide good rhyme information.  One in particular indicates words that are "near rhymes" and "not even close to rhyming"  words. Stick with http://www.rhymezone.com/ even though there are times when even it will lead you astray.  In several cases, I find rhyme.zone too restrictive in what it considers rhyme.  And then in other places, it is obvious the pronunciation of the word is not the same as common American English.  But overall, its the best site I've found to keep the writer of poetry away from near rhymes or NOT.

Even though rhyme.zone is a good place to check whether or not a word rhymes with another or to find words to rhyme with a word you want to use, it is important for you, the writer of poetry, to train your ear to HEAR rhyme for yourself.

In addition, for a poem whose form requires several words that rhyme with each other; the writer must choose a word which has a lot of other words which rhyme with it.  Some words are very limited in this area.

When trying to determine whether one word rhymes with another, say the words out loud and over-emphasize the vowel sounds.  If it is two or more syllables, also emphasize the last syllable.  I hope this works for most words; I know there will be lots of exceptions when the rhyme determination is made in another manner. I'm having a little trouble explaining this in the written word.  Much easier by voice.

Here is an example of exact rhyme: pour, poor, more, door, shore, store.  All of these words are rhymes by benefit of the specific "o" sound and the "r" consonant at the end.  There are words which LOOK like they would rhyme with "pour." For example, the words "sour" and "hour" do NOT rhyme with "pour."  The "o" is pronounced differently.

Rhyming words for "hour" are limited.  Here are some of them: bower, dour, flour, flower, glower, how're, our, power,  scour, shower, sour, tower, devour, empower,

Haze rhymes with laze, phase, phrase, days, appraise, raise even though the last letters are not all the same.

Phone rhymes with shown, blown, known, prone, sewn, loan but does NOT rhyme with home, dome.

For words like "disdain," the second syllable is the part which is examined for rhyme.
Disdain, retain, campaign, profane, plane, train, restrain, contain, complain, abstain, retain, humane, butane - are all rhyme words. The "ain" sound is the same and, therefore, it rhymes.

Riot, quiet, diet.  "Quit" does NOT rhyme with "riot."

"Father" rhymes with bother, but does NOT rhyme with farther, mother, brother,  other, or rather. Fa-ther does not rhyme with bro-ther, mo-ther, o-ther because "a" in the the fa and the "o" in the others is not the same sound.  In "farther," there is the r sound to consider, same as with rather.

"Rather" rhymes with lather, but does NOT rhyme with later. Consider the "a" sound and the "er."

Master rhymes with faster, but does NOT rhyme with fluster, gesture. Consider the "a" sound and the "er."

Dead rhymes with head, lead, bed, instead, but does NOT rhyme with fade, laid, made.

Just because a word has the same ending letter or letters, does not mean that it rhymes with other words with the same ending.  The "er" alone in the words above does not make them rhyme with each other.

"ing" ending words do not all rhyme with each other.  You have to take into consideration the syllable right before the "ing."

Speaking rhymes with leaking, peaking, reeking, but does NOT rhyme with stalking, walking, talking.

Easy to rhyme words like "be" have a lot of words which rhyme with them besides one syllable words.  Here are some of them: agree, banshee, capri, coffee, debris, decree, esprit, foresee, goatee, marquee, trainee, trustee, whoopee, absentee, bourgeoisie, nominee, potpourri.

Although widely accepted by many writers, such words as "quantity" are not considered rhymes with "be" or "me."  The "t" sound is not considered the same as "e."  You may think this is a bit "nit—picky," but as I've said before "learn the rules so you can know how to break them."  In fact, don't ever in "exact" rhyme usage try to rhyme anything with "quantity."  I found only one word which rhymes with it, and I don't know the meaning of "conaty."

Another issue with which we have to deal when learning about rhyme is "how do you pronounce a word?"

Again to me is ah-gn.  To others it is a-gain as in "increase."  To gain something....  In this case, "again" would rhyme with pain, lain, seine, sprain.  However, what is commonly used is the measure of an exact rhyme.  Rhymezone.com likes the "gain" pronunciation, so in this case I would not use the words they offer to rhyme with "again."

Again rhymes with gin, been, chagrin, win, sin, but does NOT rhyme with lend, bend.

In developing your rhyme determining ear, try to use  rhymes and not near rhymes in your poems even though it can be difficult.  In the learning stages of writing poetry, try to use the strict nature of rhymes even though you will find many examples of near rhyme used by famous and not so famous writers of poetry – even me.