Eye Rhyme in Poetry.

Eye Rhyme in Poetry.

Poetry and Rhyme

Rhyme is one of the most useful tools in poetry. It is the repetition of similar sounds in two or more words or phrases. Poets use rhyme to create sound patterns for many reasons, including musicality and emphasizing ideas or themes.Many poets like to stretch the utility of rhyme and use it in different ways. One such way is to use eye rhyme instead of exact rhyme. Eye rhyme occurs when words use the same spelling for a portion of the word, but the pronunciations are different.For example, look at the words cough andbough. On paper, they might look like they sound the same because the last halves of the words are spelled identically withough. But try saying them out loud. Do they sound the same? Do they rhyme? No, of course not. The two words have a different vowel sound. The spelling is the same, but the pronunciation is different and the words do not actually rhyme. This is eye rhyme.

Eye Rhyme in Poetry

Not all poets like to use exact rhyme. Some believe exact rhyme is too limiting or that it creates a singsong aspect to poems which takes away from the true theme or message. In this way, eye rhyme can be useful in poetry in allowing for more possibilities and changing the sound pattern to prevent predictability.

Last Rose of Summer

Let's look at an example of eye rhyme in the first stanza of the poem,
The Last Rose of Summer, by Thomas Moore.

'Tis the last rose of summer,
Left blooming alone;
All her lovely companions
Are faded and gone;

The final words of the second and fourth lines show eye rhyme.
Say alone and goneout loud.
Do they actually rhyme? No, they do not, but they are spelled the same. This is a great example of eye rhyme. Perhaps one of the reasons Moore chose to use eye rhyme was because of his subject matter. Moore is writing about summer fading with a lonely rose left while all the others have wilted, which creates a sad or depressed tone. If his lines rhymed and bounced like a children's song, the overall tone of the poem would be very different from what he is trying to elicit.

Sonnet 116

Another great example of eye rhyme occurs in the first four lines of William Shakespeare's Sonnet 116.

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments.
Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove

Again, lines two and four show eye rhyme in the words love and remove. Say each out loud. Clearly the two are spelled the same, but produce different sounds. Again, the topic of discussion is on the serious side. Shakespeare is discussing what defines true love; not exactly a lighthearted topic.

She Walks in Beauty

The next excerpt is the final stanza in Lord Byron's poem She Walks in Beauty.
Try to find the word pair with eye rhyme. Why do you think Byron used eye rhyme?

And on that cheek and oe'r that brow
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent, -
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent.
(eye rhyme = brow and glow)

Summary

Overall, poets use rhyme to create specific effects in their poetry. However, some poets find that exact rhyme can lead to dullness and predictability. In this case, eye rhyme, which occurs when words have the same spelling but different pronunciations, can allow for more diverse wording. Eye rhyme can be useful for poets writing about more serious topics and who want to avoid a singsong type of effect.