Divorce by Dennis Allen Lange

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Divorce:
When Siamese twins who were joined for life
By loving each other, then not, get the knife.

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photo by Billy Frank Alexander at http://www.rgbstock.com/photo/2dRW0jn/Broken+Heart

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© Dennis Allen Lange and thebardonthehill.wordpress.com, 2019.

 

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Heroic Couplets by Dennis Lange

Iambic are those two successive lines.
Pentameter in count is what defines
The length their feet walk ere they make a turn
And walk another line from stem to stern.
The couplet like a man and wife both chime,
As one paired mate, together in a rhyme.
Great Chaucer used them, but it took a Pope
To make them popular in use and scope.

 

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heroic_couplet

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examples:

The poem above is an example of heroic couplets. 

https://thebardonthehill.wordpress.com/2015/03/13/on-donnes-poetry-by-samuel-taylor-coleridge/

https://thebardonthehill.wordpress.com/2015/06/08/a-prayer-in-spring-by-robert-frost/

https://thebardonthehill.wordpress.com/2013/06/06/vice-by-alexander-pope/

https://thebardonthehill.wordpress.com/2015/08/25/to-the-right-honorable-william-earl-of-dartmouth-by-phillis-wheatley/

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© Dennis Lange and thebardonthehill.wordpress.com, 2015.

 

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Near Rhyme by Dennis Lange

                  Near Rhyme

When rhyme is near (let us be clear),
   The distance is not meant.
For, “near” and “clear” are rhymes – not near,
   Though they share common fence. 

The near is “meant” and “fence” though far
   Apart – not in one line.
The reason that they’re near or half
   Is difference we find. 

In both my stanzas, my step-rhymes
   Match in the vowel sound.
But ending consonant is changed
   Like waves can change the sand. 

And now I’ve switched, my lines enriched
   To near rhyme’s other breed.
The consonants are much the same –
   New vowel is now the bride. 

So near rhymes (half rhymes) aren’t exact.
   They’re close to please the hearer.
But I don’t like to write or read them –
I want my rhymes much nearer.

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My first two examples (lines 2 and 4 in stanzas 1 and 2) are near rhymes that are assonance.  The vowel sound is repeated but the consonants are not the same.  “Enough” with “love” is another example.  My second two examples (lines 2 and 4 in stanzas 3 and 4) are examples of near rhyme consonance.  The consonants correspond but the vowel sounds are different.  Other examples are “grope” with “cup” and “conquered” with “drunkard”.  Near rhyme is also called half rhyme, slant, or oblique rhyme.  (source: A Handbook To Literature by Harmon and Holman).

Examples in poems of near rhymes:

“I Fear A Silent Man” by Emily Dickinson
2^nd and 4^th lines in both stanzas
https://thebardonthehill.wordpress.com/2013/12/26/i-fear-a-silent-man-by-emily-dickinson/  

“To A Waterfowl” by William Cullen Bryant
4^th stanza – 2^nd and 4^th lines
https://thebardonthehill.wordpress.com/2013/11/18/to-a-waterfowl-by-william-cullen-bryant/ 

“To His Coy Mistress” by Andrew Marvell
Lines 7 and 8
https://thebardonthehill.wordpress.com/2013/03/19/to-his-coy-mistress-by-andrew-marvell-2/ 

“Spring” by Thomas Nashe
3^rd stanza – line 2 with 1 and 3
https://thebardonthehill.wordpress.com/2013/03/14/spring-by-thomas-nashe/ 

“How Sweet I Roamed From Field To Field” by William Blake
1^st stanza – lines 1 and 3
https://thebardonthehill.wordpress.com/2013/03/12/how-sweet-i-roamed-from-field-to-field-by-william-blake/ 

“Where Worth Lies Waiting” by Dennis Lange
Last stanza – lines 2 and 4
https://thebardonthehill.wordpress.com/2012/09/10/where-worth-lies-waiting-by-dennis-lange/ 

I gave one example above from Emily Dickinson but she used near rhyme more than any other poet I’ve read.  Check here on this blog under “Poems Of Other Poets” (C-D) and you’ll find a number of her poems with even more examples.

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© Dennis Lange and thebardonthehill.wordpress.com, 2014.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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