to Rhyme or Not to Rhyme…

Yes, that is, indeed, the question…

The utilization of rhyme, in patterns; and there are a myriad of “patterns,” established, or waiting to be created; allowing us to mentally access the information presented within that rhyme form more easily; it’s called a “mnemonic”—a mental touchstone, if you will. Used, probably since before man pressed wedge-sharpened sticks into mud patties and called the language representation: cuneiform. Until only fairly recently in history, the common man was either not advanced enough to read, or was suppressed from reading; the primary transmittal of information being auditory recall, often in song or verse by traveling bards or minstrels. Songs or verse utilize rhyme, to be more easily recalled.

Simple, couplets, interrupted (alternating) couplets, triplets, quatrains, ballade, cinquain, enclosed, thorn lines (as in a rubaiyat or Spenserian stanza), etc. …the list of established rhyme patterns is long, even complex. But each of these (and other) patterns add recall ability, memorability to a poem. Like rhyme? want to see strong, yet not pushy rhyme in action? Take a tip-toe through Poe’s the Raven…whooowhe!

Tap your foot for a moment and think: the bards involved these rhyming “lines” with music. Music, being nothing more than an interesting, repeated meter or meter pattern applied to an instrument or variation in voice, thus enhancing the recall ability of the information. To paraphrase Robin Williams in Dead Poets’ Society: What good is a poem is you can’t dance to it!?”

Don’t want or like to write in rhyme…? Ok. Drop the rhyme, or obvious rhyming characteristics (the piece then becomes “blank verse”.) But if one still wants to have their works more easily called to mind, easier to read and recite, consider, at least, maintaining a recognizable meter pattern. Think for a moment, some prose and verses that most easily come to mind: “We shall fight them on the beaches…” Winston Churchill; “I have a dream…” Dr. Martin Luther King; “Ask not, what your country can for you…” John F. Kennedy; and lest we, not, forget “To be or not to be…” from ol’ Bill Shakes’ Hamlet. All of these speeches, monologues, especially the more memorable parts, are written primarily in specific, strong, consistent meter patterns. And they are truly memorable.

          A little inside info: read Hamlet’s “To be…” soliloquy carefully. You will notice, Shakespeare did not abandon all rhymes—he simply wove them so skillfully into the well metered verse, one does not consider the piece a “rhyming” representation. Doesn’t get much more memorable than that…

Rhyming occasionally, Max tdc