What is a rhyme scheme?
What is an internal rhyme scheme?
» What is an external rhyme scheme?
The Rhyming Raven’s Challenge!
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External Rhyme Schemes The word external means “outside.” So an external rhyme scheme is a pattern of words that rhyme on the “outside.” edge of the poem – the last syllable in the last word of each line in a stanza. An easy way to see a poem’s external rhyme scheme is to assign each sound at the end of a line a letter – the first sound you come to is given an A, the second a B, and so on. If the same sound occurs in a later line, you simply write the letter you gave that sound when you first heard it. Using stanza 10, for example:      Take a moment to review this chart.
Like internal rhyme schemes, external rhyme schemes use sound to help reinforce ideas or themes in a poem. But while internal rhyme schemes are unique to the stanza – the rhyming words usually reinforce something that’s happening within that small part of the poem – an external rhyme scheme usually applies to the entire poem. This is especially true for “The Raven” because Poe relies so heavily on the “or” sound (notice all the “B’s” in the sequence ABCBBB). See if you can figure out what meanings Poe is using the rhyme schemes to reinforce. You can go stanza by stanza (using the internal rhymes), or look for themes that cross the poem as a whole. You might want to think about the Raven, the emotions the narrator is going through, or his feelings for Lenore. Are you ready to take The Rhyming Raven’s Challenge? |