Overview
Rhyme is just one scheme of phonological parallelism out of many. Maybe I should expand upon this some for clarity. Phonological parallelism, in this sense, is when similar word sounds occur within or between lines of poetry. Rhyme is a form of this parallelism. For instance, take any rhyming lines of poetry:
Where'er you find "the cooling western breeze",
In the next line, it "whispers through the trees":
—From An Essay on Criticism by Alexander Pope
The rhyme between "
breeze" and "trees" here is a phonological parallelism between these two lines. Such parallelisms can occur within a line or between multiple lines, or even between stanzas or entire texts. What most people are familiar with, however, is the parallelism of rhyme between specific lines within a given stanza. In the example above, we refer to this parallelism as end-line rhyme, because the phonological parallelism is occurring between line endings.
Rhyme is just one such form of parallelism available from an array of phonological parallelisms. In this article, I explore with you some of the alternatives to rhyme that are available to you as a poet. Our primary focus is the monosyllabic (single syllable) phonological parallelisms, but we look at some disyllabic (two syllable) phonological parallelisms as well. What I hope you will do is take this information and allow it to influence your creative process when writing poetry. You should be able to devise and make use of, if you like, polysyllabic (three or more syllables) phonological parallelisms on your own once you have ingested the gist of this article by combing the various schemes discussed below.
Seven basic monosyllabic schemes
Including rhyme, there are seven basic monosyllabic phonological parallelisms at your immediate disposal. These are alliteration, assonance, consonance, reverse rhyme, frame rhyme, rhyme, and rich rhyme. Some of these terms will be instantly familiar to you, "alliteration" for instance. Let’s take one of the two lines quoted from Pope’s poem above and modify it slightly using end-line alliteration instead end-line rhyme.
Where'er you find "the cooling western breeze",
In the next it rarely frazzles golden braids.
As you can see, the effect of end-line alliteration is different from the effect of end-line rhyme, yet it still has a potency not unlike the potency of rhyme. And, you have an entirely new pool of words to draw from just in using end-line alliteration. Imagine the pool of words you have to draw from between all seven of these schemes.
In The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics, the article on "Rhyme" sets forth a schema by which the seven phonological schemes introduced above may be recognized and understood. On the accented syllable of a given word, there will often be an opening consonant sound, a medial vowel sound, and a closing consonant sound. This is schematized as C V C, where the first C is the opening consonant sound, V is the medial vowel sound, and the last C is the closing consonant sound. The individual sounds within a word represented by this C V C schema are called phonemes or phonemic clusters, which is how I often refer to them below.
The following table allows us to identify these schemes using the C V C schema. The C V C part or parts that relate to a given scheme will be underlined and bolded, followed by the name of that scheme and three or more illustrative words:
1) C V C – alliteration – "
bat", "boy", "barge", "binge"2) C V C – assonance – "bat", "cab", "fad", "man"
3) C V C – consonance – "bat", "grit", "spite", "fort"
4) C V C – reverse rhyme – "bat", "bag", "ban", "back"
5) C V C – frame rhyme – "bat", "bait", "bite", "boat"
6) C V C – rhyme – "bat", "cat", "rat", "flat"
7) C V C – rich rhyme – "vein", "vain", "vane"
All too often, information like this will be presented without actually exemplifying it further. I think it can be nice to see schemes such as these actually exemplified as they could be used in lines of poetry because this can help the information to sink in.
Exemplifying the seven basic schemes
The following examples illustrate these schemes one at a time. Each scheme is demonstrated within and between the example lines. So, phonological parallelisms occur within and between lines, at the very least. Understand that my examples are created to suit the purpose, invented off the top of my head and modified to make the best use of a given scheme. I have constructed the examples so that they can be followed and understood syntactically. Though they are intended specifically to illustrate the use of the schemes, I have attempted to make them as interesting and engaging as I can in a way that will hopefully demonstrate each scheme’s ability to convey meaning, invoke response, and affect the reader.
In the examples below the phoneme or phonemic cluster that relates to a given scheme is underlined.
Alliteration: C V C
I pared my heart with poisoned bloody sheers
Expressing raw the price of all my shame
Here there are three sets of alliteration, "
pared"/"poisoned" in the first line, "expressing"/"price" in the second line, and "sheers"/"shame" between the final syllables.
Note that, despite the different syllabic lengths of some of the words, the alliteration occurs between accented syllables. Alliteration can occur between accented and unaccented syllables, or between unaccented syllables, but this normally will greatly diminish the effect.
Such is the case for all of these schemes. These schemes are used primarily between accented syllables. Using them with unaccented syllables can create interesting effects, but it is a good idea to first practice and play around with each of these schemes between accented syllables only in order to gain some understanding of their effects and proficiency with their use.
Assonance: C V C
Silent
stars pierce steady darkness through to mornBright the sunrise sends a wonder now restored
Here there are four sets of assonance, "
stars"/"darkness" in the first line, "silent"/"bright" between the first syllables, "steady"/"sends" between the fifth syllables, and "morn"/"restored" between the final syllables.
Note that I underlined the "r" phoneme between "
stars"/"darkness" and "morn"/"restored" as part of the assonance. Although grammatically "r" is considered a consonant, phonologically it can act just like a vowel. Compare "dark"/"stars" to "dark"/"stab" or "dark"/"snob". The latter two sets just don’t assonate. The effect of the assonant sound similarity is lost between the words when the "r" phoneme is omitted. When you have a diphthong (‘diff thong), which is a combination of two or more vowel sounds, assonance is achieved by repeating the entire diphthong, as in "corn"/"bored". If only part of the diphthong is repeated, as in "corn"/"lode", this is what would be called partial assonance. Each of these schemes has a partial state, where only part of a particular phonemic cluster is repeated. I get into these partial schemes with detail later.
Consonance: C V C
We swim through the moments of countless years
And crash on the threshold of wanton cares
Here there are four sets of consonance, "
swim"/"moments" in the first line, "crash"/"threshold" in the second line, "countless"/"wanton" between the eighth syllables, and "years"/"cares" between the final syllables.
Note that here I underline the "r" phoneme between "
years"/"cares" as part of the consonance. The "r" phoneme is capable of fulfilling the role of a vowel or a consonant, depending on how and where it is used, especially where it modifies a consonant or consonant cluster. For instance, compare the "s" phoneme between "cares"/"face". The "s" phoneme is less pronounced in "cares", more pronounced in "face". Many vowel sounds are capable of affecting the way consonants sound; likewise, many consonants are just as capable of affecting the way vowels sound. It is up to you as a poet to decide where phonological parallels sound agreeable and where they don’t, when they suit your purposes and when they don’t. I would say that the words "cares"/"face" are consonant, but I may or may not use a pair such as this depending on whether or not I felt that the inclusion of the "r" phoneme in consonance with "cares" would better suit my purposes.
Reverse Rhyme: C V C
Such storms can bring you to the brink of all you fear
Restore what faith you can in faded hopes and feel
Here there are four sets of reverse rhyme, "
bring"/"brink" in the first line, "faith"/"faded" in the second line, "storms"/"restore" between the second syllables, and "fear"/"feel" between the final syllables.
Frame Rhyme: C V C
Each sturdy steed-like soldier ranked the field
With fearsome faces seldom seen defiled
Here there are four sets of frame rhyme, "
sturdy"/"steed" in the first line, "fearsome"/"faces" in the second line, "soldiers"/"seldom" between the sixth syllables, and "field"/"defiled" between the final syllables.
Rhyme: C V C
Though rhyme was spurned by those who burned for the simple
The time shall rise when most despise such a whimper
Here there are four sets of rhyme, "
spurned"/"burned" in the first line, "rise"/"despise" in the second line, "rhyme"/"time" between the second syllables, and "simple"/"whimper" between the final syllables.
Note that I have rhymed two words here that many would not consider rhymes, "
simple" and "whimper". These words do in fact rhyme. I touched on this above, but I want to make it especially clear here given the broad misconceptions of just what it is that makes a rhyme. There need only be phonological parallelism of assonance and consonance between accented syllables for rhyme to occur. If the following unaccented syllable does not share this concordance, this does not mean the word doesn’t rhyme, it just means that the rhyme is monosyllabic rather than disyllabic. For instance, pairs like "hunting"/"punter", "fainter"/"plaintive", and "silencer"/"piloting" are all monosyllabic rhymes. If the phonological parallelism carries over into the next syllable, for instance "canter"/"banter" and "filing"/"styling", then you have disyllabic rhyme. If the parallelism carries over into three or more syllables, then the rhyme becomes polysyllabic.
Rich Rhyme: C V C
What does it avail you to prevail in every affair
When nothing you’ve gained can be regained as spiritual fare
Here there are three sets of rich rhyme, "
avail"/"prevail" in the first line, "gained"/"regained" in the second line, and "affair"/"fare" between the final syllables.
As you can see, rich rhyme can occur between parts of words, as with "
affair" and "fare". It is not necessarily restricted to correlations between whole words, which is of course the same thing as paronomasia.
Of course, these schemes can be mixed and matched at will:
f
ight the fear and hold your gold with gripkeep your cool and never ever gripe
Here we have two sets of alliteration with "
fight"/"fear" in the first line and "keep"/"cool" in the second line, two sets of rhyme with "hold"/"gold" in the first line and "never"/"ever" (disyllabic) in the second line, and one frame rhyme with "grip"/"gripe" between the final syllables.
Partial schemes
As I touched on above, these schemes can sometimes be effective even when the phonological parallelisms aren’t precise. Whenever the phonemes of a scheme are only partially concordant, this can be considered a partial scheme. For instance, as I pointed out before, the assonant words "
corn" and "lode" represent a partial assonance through the "o" phoneme. Full assonance here would be achieved by including the "r" phoneme in the second word to make it "corn" and "lord".
For each scheme, the combinations of partial phonological parallelism are nearly endless, but I think it is worth demonstrating just a couple of combinations from each of the schemes, except rich rhyme. If an occurrence of rich rhyme is partial, then you actually have one of the other six schemes by default. In the examples, the phonemic clusters that relate to a given scheme are underlined while the specific phonemes or phonemic clusters that actually correlate are bolded.
Partial alliteration:
S
tars are shining like silent shrines of lightDreadful doubts will fade like floating clouds
Here there are four sets of partial alliteration, "
stars"/"silent" in the first line with the "s" phoneme, "fade"/"floating" and "floating"/"clouds" in the second line with the "f" and "l" phonemes, respectively, and "light"/"clouds" between the final syllables with the "l" phoneme again. So, the "l" phoneme here creates a partial alliteration between three words in all, "light"/"floating"/"clouds".
As you can see, the effect can still be quite striking despite the lack of exact alliterative parallelism.
Partial assonance:
This noise is a grave reminder of our grievous plight
The cries are enjoined with hazy din that drains us all
Here there are several combinations of partial assonance. Partial assonance is extremely prevalent in natural speech because there are only so many vowel sounds—hence vowel combinations—available. Some of the partial assonance here is likely to stand out very clearly to you, for instance the "r" phoneme between "
grievous"/""drives".
There is no need to point out all the combinations that I see myself between these two lines, but I’ll point out two sets that may not be so obvious. The first set is "
noise"/"reminder" (no eez)/(re ma een der) in the first line, where the brief "ee" phoneme provides the partial assonance. The second set is with the "ah" phoneme in "plight"/"all" (plah eet)/(all) between the final syllables.
As is the way with such things, now that you have seen partial assonance further demonstrated and described, it is possible that you’ll suddenly become aware of partial assonance everywhere.
Partial consonance:
Marble monsters stand like ghostly hosts
Beauty hard and cold in lifelike craft
Here there are five sets of partial consonance, "
monsters"/"stand" and "ghostly"/"hosts" in the first line with the "n" phoneme and the "st" phonemic cluster, respectively, "hard"/"cold" and "lifelike"/"craft" in the second line with the "d" and "f" phonemes, respectively, and "hosts"/"craft" between the final syllables with the "t" phoneme.
Partial reverse rhyme:
Str
iking words are tightened on the pagePhrases arc and fade from time and space
Here there are three sets partial reverse rhyme, "
striking"/"tightened" in the first line with the "t" phoneme, "phrases"/"fade" in the second line with the "f" phoneme, and "page"/"space" between the final syllables with the "p" phoneme.
Partial frame rhyme:
If you can trust that angels guide your life
Then you can treat your petty gold as fluff
Here there are three sets of partial frame rhyme, "
trust"/"treat" between the fourth syllables with the "t" phonemes, "guide"/"gold" between the eighth syllables with the "g" and "d" phonemes, and "life"/"fluff" between the final syllables with the "l" and "f" phonemes.
Partial rhyme:
My soul is damp and cold within the mist
My thoughts are trapped in cotton far from bliss
Here there are four sets of partial rhyme, "
soul"/"cold" in the first line with the "l" phoneme, "thoughts"/"cotton" in the second line with the "t" phoneme, "damp"/"trapped" between the fourth syllables with the "p" phoneme, and "mist"/"bliss" between the final syllables with the "s" phoneme.
Note that if you had partial assonance as opposed to partial consonance or alliteration in any of the last three schemes explored, this would change the scheme entirely. Partial alliteration allows for partial reverse rhyme; partial consonance allows for partial rhyme; and either or both allow for partial frame rhyme. For instance, if you were to take the partial rhyme between "
soul" and "cold" and change "cold" to "coil", making it partial assonance only, you end up with pure consonance instead. If you instead change "cold" to "coiled", then you end up with partial consonance instead of partial rhyme. This is part of the reason we can’t have a partial rich rhyme, because if you change anything, like the rich rhyme "vane"/"vain" to "vane"/"veins" or "vane"/"van", this ends up being pure reverse rhyme or pure frame rhyme, respectively. Rich rhyme is always in full concordance with C V C.
Disyllabic examples
All of these schemes can be extended beyond a single syllable, as I’ve alluded to above. The C V C schema can be made disyllabic by adding a lowercased v c to represent the unaccented second syllables that don’t begin with their own consonants and a lowercased c v c to represent the unaccented second syllables that do begin with their own consonants. Compare "
paddock" (C V C v c) to "padlock" (C V C c v c).
This table shows some disyllabic renditions of the seven basic schemes:
1) disyllabic alliteration
C V C c v c – "
2) disyllabic assonance
C V C v c – "
C V C c v c – "manhole", "lactose", "tax code", "backbone"
3) disyllabic consonance
C V C v c –"
C V C c v c –"mandate", "turncoat", "sunlight", "rainsuit"
4) disyllabic reverse rhyme
C V C v c – "
C V C c v c – "brainless", "bracelet", "brakeless"
5) disyllabic frame rhyme
C V C v c – "
C V C c v c – "mansion", "mention", "moonshine"
6) disyllabic rhyme
C V C v c – "
C V C c v c – "pension", "Kenyan", "tendon"
7) disyllabic rich rhyme
C V C v c – "
C V C c v c – "headman", "head-man", "head man"
As you can see from this table, disyllabic alliteration with the C V C v c schema would be equivalent to monosyllabic frame rhyme, so there was no point in providing an example of this since frame rhyme is exemplified above both in the C V C table and in an illustrative couplet.
The C V C schema is itself just a guideline to help mentally process and understand the phonemic correlations between words. Many words don’t fall strictly under the C V C schema or its disyllabic extensions listed above, yet the schema can still be used to talk about those words. For instance, "
at" and "bat" still rhyme under C V C, since the first C, not being underlined in bold, can be considered optional to the word in order to fulfill the parallelism. Same goes for any of the phonological schemes that have been covered or that you may devise for yourself using these elements.
What’s neat about having the schema charted out in this fashion is that you can suddenly see how different schemes can be blended together for different effects. For instance, you can blend primary (on the accented syllable) alliteration with secondary (on the unaccented syllable) rhyme:
C V C v c – "
fasting", "finding", "forcing", "fishing"
Or maybe you would like to blend primary consonance with secondary assonance:
C V C v c – "
random", "tendon", "founded", "attendant"
The possibilities are endless.
Applying alternative schemes
Any of these schemes can be used in place of or in conjunction with an end-line rhyme scheme. For instance, say you come across the rhyme scheme abba; you can assign the a to end-line consonance and the b to end-line alliteration. Or, if you like, you can assign the a to end-line rhyme and the b to end-line disyllabic frame rhyme. Wherever you come across a rhyme scheme for a given form, you can enrich and broaden your exploration of that form by using the various schemes introduced in this article in place of or in conjunction with the rhyme scheme.
As I said when I started this article, rhyme is just one scheme of phonological parallelism out of many. Just one. As you explore the alternative schemes presented here, the small subset of words that rhyme is suddenly opened up to many other subsets of words that can be used with other schemes.
In wrapping up this article, I would like for you to reflect for just a moment on one more thing. Did you see the term "slant rhyme" even once up to this point? No, you haven’t. There is a good reason for this. What is commonly called slant rhyme is in actuality either partial rhyme, consonance, or partial consonance. "Slant rhyme" and its brother, "near rhyme", are not terms that really mean anything.
Adding your comment:
some will tell you it's not a real sonnet, but you can always say felt inclined to improvise. 
