Rhyme is quite easily explained,
because there are two types of rhyme. There are what we call a 'perfect rhyme',
and there is what we call an 'imperfect rhyme'. The imperfect rhyme is divided into
two types of rhyme, which we call a 'consonance rhyme';
and an 'assonance rhyme'. It's as simple as that. Here's the examples of them. A perfect rhyme is where the rhyme is perfect.
Nothing complicated there. So a perfect rhyme is
'cat' rhymes with 'hat', 'cat' rhymes with 'bat',
'cat' rhymes with 'mat'. Those are perfect rhymes.
No problems for anyone there. Now, an imperfect rhyme,
often called a half-rhyme, but an imperfect-rhyme I think is the
best way to describe it , because that's what it is -
it's not perfect. An imperfect rhyme is where we hear
an acoustic connection between two words, but it doesn't sound perfect. Remember, a rhyme is just that.
An acoustic connection between words. The words sound the same. If the ending of the word sounds exactly the same,
that's when we get a perfect rhyme. If the ending of the word sounds nearly the same,
that's when we get an imperfect rhyme. So, the two types of imperfect rhyme
are an 'assonance rhyme', which rhymes on the last vowel.
So 'cat' rhymes with 'map'. I tried teaching this once, and someone said well,
'cat obviously doesn't rhyme with map'. Well, close your eyes and hear it. 'Cat', 'map'.
The 'a' sound in it is the same. It's not perfect,
I'm not saying it is. I'm saying that it is an assonance rhyme,
which rhymes on the vowel sound. 'Cat' rhymes with 'map'. The other type of imperfect rhyme is
what we call a 'consonance rhyme' which rhymes on the
last stressed consonant. So 'cat' rhymes basically with
anything that ends with a 't'. 'Cat' rhymes with 'bought', 'cat' rhymes with 'brought',
because it ends with a 't'. That is not a perfect rhyme.
'Cat', 'brought'. You hear the acoustic similarities
at the end of it. Now, if you get perfect rhymes
it often makes a poem more solid. Amongst doing other things,
it can make a poem more comic, actually. And it can sometimes stamp something shut.
Make a point very definitely. Imperfect rhymes usually suggest that
there is something slightly off in the poem itself,
in what is being related. The way the poet writes the poem
imitates what he's writing about, and if there is something slightly off
in the rhymes that he is using, sometimes we think there is
something slightly off in the poem. So we get loads of this, 'park', 'work', 'noises', 'nurses',
'men', 'afternoon', 'talkers', 'jitters',
'indoors', 'chairs',. These are all half-rhymes,
and Larkin is an expert at using half-rhymes in both 'Toads Revisited'
and 'Toads itself. But note the way the poem ends,
with this perfect rhyme. When the lights come on at four
At the end of another year? Give me your arm, old toad;
Help me down Cemetery Road. 'Toad' and 'road'
are perfect rhymes. And it's as if the Larkin persona of the poem
has reached a definite conclusion by the of the poem. This 'my rebellion against the job that I've done,
or my acknowledgement that I want to rebel against the job that I do,
but I'm not strong enough to do so' is over. Now he just acknowledges that he's going
to do that job until the end of his days. Give me your arm, old toad;
Help me down Cemetery Road. Stops.