The rhyme is repetition of the phonemes (vowels or consonants) that come after the last stressed vowel, at the end of the last word of the verse.
For there to be rhyme, it is necessary that this repetition or coincidence take place in two or more verses within a poem or song.
In the example, the first and third verses end the same, the vowels and consonants that come after the stressed vowel (and) match:
rocking / sleeping
I was not only rockeding
to my child in my singing:
I went to Earth asleeping
the coming and going of the cradling.
Fragment of The nightby Gabriela Mistral.
The discipline that is responsible for the study of rhyme is metricswhich also studies the structure of verses and their combinations.
The function of rhyme is to provide a rhythm, a cadence to poetic compositions, which, in general terms, are created with the intention of being recited or sung.
The rhyme is also a verse composition, of the lyrical genre, commonly associated with the term poem. Some poems are known as rhymes, such as in the work Rhymes and Legends by Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer.
Types of rhyme
consonant or perfect rhyme
A consonant rhyme is one in which all the phonemes coincide, vowels and consonantsstarting from the last stressed vowel.
Examples of consonant rhyme
The heart of the h is mysteriousombre
like a gravestone without endombre.Ramon de Campoamor
It smells like a true worldero
the blue flower of romero.Jorge Guillén
Assonant or imperfect rhyme
The assonant rhyme is one in which only the vowels match starting from the last stressed vowel.
In the first example, the words “with me” and “five” share the same vowels (io).
When the last word is esdrújula, only the stressed vowel and the last syllable are taken into account, so “bird” and “song” would form an assonant rhyme.
In the case of diphthongs, only the strong or stressed vowel (“honey” and “chess”) is taken into account.
Examples of assonant rhyme
It’s a shame you’re not with meYogeither
when I look at the clock and it’s o’clockYonceither.Mario Benedetti
I am a worm that dreams… and itsandñeither
see me one day flying in the skyandnteither.Leon Felipe
See also:
Rhymes for children
Nursery rhymes are poems designed for children. The harmony, rhythm and sound generated by the rhyme makes it easy to memorize.
The rhyme in these poems also functions as a playful element of language, which serves to establish new relationships between words.
Gabriela Mistral, Federico García Lorca and Rubén Darío are some of the great authors who have written nursery rhymes.
Examples of rhymes for children
Take the Tarara
a green dress
full of ruffles
and bells.
Federico García Lorca
With their diadems and wings,
small as lilies,
there were fairies that were good
and there were fairies that were bad.
Ruben Dario
The body, another round,
as big as a barrel,
and in it is drawn now,
a lady’s skirt, […]
Gloria Fuertes
Drinking a dog in the Nile
at the same time he ran.
“Baby still,” I told him.
a devious crocodile.
Felix Maria de Samaniego
See also