Rhymes in Time (We Know!)

To me, the art of choosing rhyme words is less about finding a word at the end of a line that says what you want to say and, to boot, sounds a lot like another word in an earlier line. It's more about finding the word that does do that, but also sets you to thinking.

I was looking earlier today at a poem about someone getting a new knife. It's great song-like poem that has a nice twist, and it explores that twist a little.

One end word was "glint." The poet didn't rhyme that word (though he did others), but he could have, thought I. He could have chosen "hint," "tint," "stint," for instance. Each of the words would have ended up dramatically changing the course of the poem's meaning.

For that particular poem, it would have been a bad idea. But that's not always the case.

Sometimes choosing a rhyme that ends up changing the entire course of the poem can make something run-of-the-mill a lot better. I've found that it can improve the entire poem, in fact.

The idea is to stick with good rhyme sounds at the start, ones that give you the most possibilities. In other words, stick with rhyme sounds with the most words in standard English.

"Glint" i'nt one of 'em. So the poet did the right thing in that case.

Words that (merely) end in "-ing" or "-ion" don't count. There are reasons for that, and I'll go into why another time.

You can get a rhyming dictionary to help you find those good rhyme sounds.

Or, you can refer to a book I've mentioned earlier. It's one you might have: a copy of the sonnets of Shakespeare.