An Appreciation of Rhyme       

There are virtues in a rhyme that have to do, I believe, with something in our nature. Or, rather, in our relationship with language. Why do children love rhymes? I’ve given some examples below, and there are hundreds, in all languages. Rhyming pleases something in a child. It delights. Perhaps, by its ability to connect, it provides some sense of order for them. It’s often used to impart a moral message or as a teaching tool (I know the year when America was “discovered” because of “In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue”).

Baa, baa, black sheep

Have you any wool?

Yes, sir, yes, sir

Three bags full

 Hey diddle, diddle
 the cat and the fiddle.
 The cow jumped over the moon.
 The little dog laughed to see such sport,
 and the dish ran away with the spoon.

 Mary had a little lamb
 Its fleece was white as snow.

 And everywhere that Mary went
 The lamb was sure to go.

     

            Are we, as adults, so far removed from this early urge? I think not. Rhyming is a most necessary aspect of song lyrics — lyrics meant for adults. Without the rhyme, there is no song. Run the classics — the standards — through your minds, and you will find rhymes.

In olden days a glimpse of stockings
Was looked on as something shocking
Now heaven knows
Anything goes

A fine romance, with no kisses.
A fine romance, my friend, this is.
We should be like a couple of hot tomatoes.
But you're as cold as yesterday's mashed potatoes.

Once I built a railroad, made it run
Made it race against time
Once I built a railroad, now it's done
Brother can you spare a dime?

Hello darkness, my old friend

I've come to talk with you again

Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence

           Rhyming, for modern poets is a thing of the past. When it went out of style would take more research than I’m prepared to give. No doubt it was a gradual weaning, influenced by some trailblazers who defied the rule.

            I can see their reasoning behind this rejection. A poet with a rhyming dictionary by their side is not a very lofty image. And why the imperative to wrangle out words that rhyme? — it restricts freedom of expression.

Still . . . It was used in the past, and, in the hands of masters, to great effect.

When April with his showers sweet with fruit

The drought of March has pierced unto the root

And bathed each vein with liquor that has power

To generate therein and sire the flower

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate:

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,

And summer’s lease hath all too short a date

The sun was shining on the sea,

        Shining with all his might:

He did his very best to make

        The billows smooth and bright —

And this was odd, because it was

        The middle of the night.

Whose woods these are I think I know. 

His house is in the village though;  

He will not see me stopping here  

To watch his woods fill up with snow.

___

In closing, a personal note.

Keats  used rhyme. In “Ode to a Grecian Urn” he contemplates how the scene and the characters depicted on the ancient urn are immune to Time’s onslaught. I have omitted the final rhyming line because I wished things to end where they do here.

Ah, happy, happy boughs! that cannot shed

        Your leaves, nor ever bid the Spring adieu;

And, happy melodist, unwearied,

        For ever piping songs for ever new;

More happy love! more happy, happy love!

        For ever warm and still to be enjoy'd,

                For ever panting, and for ever young;

 For Karen