Penny's poetry pages Wiki

Template:Orphan Broken rhyme, also called Split rhyme, is a form of rhyme. It is produced by breaking a line in the middle of a word, so that the syllable(s) of the word left at the line end rhyme with the end word of another line.[1]

Examples[]

Gerard Manley Hopkins, for example, breaks the first line of his poem "The Windhover" in the middle of the word "kingdom", so that "king-" rhymes with the word "wing" ending the fourth line.

     I caught this morning morning's minion, king-
         dom of daylight's dauphin, dapple-dáwn-drawn Falcon, in his riding
         Of the rólling level úndernéath him steady áir, & stríding
     High there, how he rung upon the rein of a wimpling wing[2]

Hopkins is rare in using the device in a serious poem. It is more commonly found in comic or light verse, as in the sixth stanza of Edward Lear's "How Pleasant to Know Mr. Lear" -

     When he walks in a waterproof white,
     The children run after him so!
     Calling out, He's come out in his night-
     Gown, that crazy old Englishman, oh![1]

- or in Elizabeth Bishop's "Pink Dog":

     Tonight you simply can’t afford to be a-
     n eyesore. But no one will ever see a[3]

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 "Broken rhyme (literature)," Encyclopaedia Britannica, Britannica.com, Web, July 23, 2011.
  2. Gerard Manley Hopkins, "The Windhover," Selected Poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins, Representative Poetry Online, Web, July 23, 2011.
  3. "Fat Tuesday: Elizabeth Bishop's 'Pink Dog'", One Poet's Notes, Feb. 24, 2009, Blogspot, Web, July 23, 2011.
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