Rhyme Time

By: Mina Mazumder

Many authors and poets use rhymes in their work to create a more pleasant sound, although it isn’t an aspect of writing that is always easy to do. Many writers like myself face the challenge and struggle to properly and effectively integrate rhymes in our writing. Rhymes are mostly used in songs, books and poems to create a pleasant flow for the reader’s ears. It is also a great way for authors to introduce narrative and the imaginary world of a book to toddlers and children at an early stage of their lives (such as nursery rhymes). William Shakespeare commonly uses rhyming couplets to demonstrate the ending of a scene in a play. Rhyming correctly and effectively can take lots of practice for the writer but once we have perfected our rhyming skills, we are able to create many beautiful writing pieces. One of my favorite authors growing up who integrates rhymes in his work is Dr. Seuss, since he creates such creative stories and great rhymes in his work: “You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You're on your own, and you know what you know. And you are the guy who'll decide where to go.” – Dr. Seuss (Oh, The Places You’ll Go!) 

Below are my three favorite types of rhymes that I love using in my writing and that any other writer can benefit in using on their work: 

End Rhymes are one of the most common types of rhyme (rhyming of the final words of lines in a poem, song, and story). This is probably the easiest rhymes for anyone to use in a poem or any other literary work. I personally really like using this form of rhyme since it is straightforward and effective. Many writers, even beginner writers, use this form of rhyme in their work.

Internal Rhymes are another common type of rhymes but it is the rhyming of two words in a same line of poetry or story. A good example of this form would be a line from Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven: “Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,” I personally love using this form of rhyme since it is quite simple and it allows you to integrate two words that rhymes in one sentence. 

Rich Rhymes are a great type of rhymes since you use two different words that sound exactly the same (such as raise/raze or brake/break). I really love and appreciate this form of rhyme since it is quite fun to use in my writings. Many poets use this form since it can create puns and play on words for the reader.

Rhymes are always a great and interesting way to spice-up our writing while making it fun and interesting for the writer and for the reader. Practicing all the different forms of rhymes and reading literary work that contain various types of rhymes from different authors and poets increases our exposure and knowledge towards rhymes and forms of writing from writers.