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{{Short description|Pattern of rhymes at the end of each line of a poem or song}}
A '''rhyme scheme''' is the [[pattern]] of [[rhyme]]s at the end of each line of a [[poem]] or [[song]]. It is usually referred to by using letters to indicate which lines rhyme; lines designated with the same letter all rhyme with each other.

An example of the ABAB rhyming scheme, from "To Anthea, who may Command him Anything", by [[Robert Herrick (poet)|Robert Herrick]]:

{|
|-
|Bid me to weep, and I will weep   || style="width: 2em;" |  || A
|-
|While I have eyes to see          || || B
|-
|And having none, yet I will keep  || || A
|-
|A heart to weep for thee       || || B
|}

== Function in writing ==

These rhyme patterns have various effects, and can be used to:

* Control flow: If every line has the same rhyme (AAAA), the stanza will read as having a very quick flow, whereas a rhyme scheme like ABCABC can be felt to unfold more slowly. 
* Structure a poem's message and thought patterns: For example, a simple couplet with a rhyme scheme of AABB lends itself to simpler direct ideas, because the resolution comes in the very next line. Essentially these couplets can be thought of as self-contained statements. This idea of rhyme schemes reflecting thought processes is often discussed particularly regarding sonnets.
* Determine whether a stanza is balanced or unbalanced.
* Help to reinforce the feeling being expressed: If the writer wants to express stubbornness, they may use tight structured rhyme schemes, whereas if one was writing about feeling lost, then perhaps the stanza would only have one rhyme (XXAXXXA).

A basic distinction is between rhyme schemes that apply to a single [[stanza]], and those that continue their pattern throughout an entire poem (see [[chain rhyme]]). There are also more elaborate related forms, like the [[sestina]] – which requires repetition of exact words in a complex pattern. Rhyming is not a mandatory feature of poetry; a four-line stanza with non-rhyming lines could be described as using the scheme ABCD.

==Notation and examples==

Notation used below:
* ABAB – Four-line stanza, first and third lines rhyme at the end, second and fourth lines rhyme at the end.
* AB AB – Two two-line stanzas, with the first lines rhyming at the end and the second lines rhyming at the end.
* AB,AB – Single two-line stanza, with the two lines having both a single [[internal rhyme]] and a conventional rhyme at the end.
* aBaB – Two different possible meanings for a four-line stanza:
** First and third lines rhyme at the end, second and fourth lines are repeated verbatim.
** First and third lines have a [[feminine rhyme]] and the second and fourth lines have a [[masculine rhyme]].
* {{not a typo|A<sup>1</sup>abA<sup>2</sup> A<sup>1</sup>abA<sup>2</sup>}} – Two stanzas, where the first lines of both stanzas are exactly the same, and the last lines of both stanzas are the same.  The second lines of the two stanzas are different, but rhyme at the end with the first and last lines.  (In other words, all the "A" and "a" lines rhyme with each other, but not with the "b" lines.)
* XAXA – Four lines, two unrhymed (X) and two with the same end rhyme (A)

Other notation examples:
* Indicating the number of [[stressed syllable]]s in certain lines: AA<sup>4</sup>B<sup>2</sup>CC<sup>4</sup> or AA<sub>4</sub>B<sub>2</sub>CC<sub>4</sub>
* Some publications use lowercase or have punctuation to separate lines or stanzas, e.g. {{not a typo|abba cdcd}} or {{not a typo|a-b-b-a,c-d-c-d}}. (These variations are not used elsewhere in this article, for clarity.)

Notable rhyme schemes and forms that use specific rhyme schemes:
* [[Ballad stanza]]: ABCB
* [[Ballade (forme fixe)|Ballade]]: Three stanzas of ABABBCBC followed by BCBC
* [[Balliol rhyme]]: AABB
* [[A Boy Named Sue#Structure|Boy Named Sue]]: AABCC(B, or infrequently D)
* [[Bref double]]: AXBC XAXC AXAB AB and other schemes, where "X" represents unrhymed lines
* [[Burns stanza]]: AAABAB(B) or AABCCCB
* Canopus:<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://poetscollective.org/poetryforms/tag/ababcbc/|title=ababcbc – Poetry Forms|website=poetscollective.org|language=en-US|access-date=2017-11-15}}</ref> ABABCBC
* [[Chant royal]]: Five stanzas of {{not a typo|ababccddedE}} followed by either {{not a typo|ddedE}} or {{not a typo|ccddedE}} (capital letters represent lines repeated verbatim)
* [[Chastushka]]: ABAB, ABCB, or AABB
* [[Cinquain]]: ABABB{{fact|date=August 2018}}
* [[Clerihew]]: AABB
* [[Couplet]]: AA, but usually occurs as AA BB CC DD ...
* [[Décima]]: ABBAACCDDC
* [[Double dactyl]]: XXXA XXXA
* [[Enclosed rhyme]] (or enclosing rhyme): ABBA
* [[Englyn]]: complex structure
* "Fire and Ice" stanza: ABAABCBCB as used in Robert Frost's poem "[[Fire and Ice (poem)|Fire and Ice]]"
* [[Keats]]ian Ode: ABABCDECDE used in Keats' [[Ode on Indolence]], [[Ode on a Grecian Urn]], and [[Ode to a Nightingale]].
* [[Klon (poetry)|Klin]]: complex structure
* [[Limerick (poetry)|Limerick]]: AABBA
* [[Lutherstrophe]]: ABABCCB or ABABCCX
* [[Mâni]]: AABA
* [[Monorhyme]]: AAAAA... an identical rhyme on every line, common in Latin and Arabic
* [[Octave (poetry)|Octave]]: ABBA ABBA
* [[Onegin stanza]]s: {{not a typo|aBaBccDDeFFeGG}} with the lowercase letters representing [[feminine rhyme]]s and the uppercase representing [[masculine rhyme]]s, written in [[iambic tetrameter]]
* [[Ottava rima]]: ABABABCC
* A [[quatrain]] is any four-line stanza or poem.  There are 15 possible rhyme sequences for a four-line poem; common rhyme schemes for these include AAAA, AABB, ABAB, ABBA, and ABCB.{{fact|date=August 2018}}
* "[[The Raven]]" stanza: ABCBBB, or AA,B,CC,CB,B,B when accounting for internal rhyme, as used by [[Edgar Allan Poe]] in his poem "The Raven"
* [[Rhyme royal]]: ABABBCC
* ''The Road Not Taken'' stanza: ABAAB as used in Robert Frost's poem ''[[The Road Not Taken (poem)|The Road Not Taken]]'', and in Glæde over Danmark by [[Poul Martin Møller]].<ref>[http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/gl-de-over-danmark/ Glæde over Danmark] – [https://archive.org/stream/bookofdanishvers00friiiala#page/62/mode/2up English translation]</ref>
* [[Rondeau (forme fixe)|Rondeau]]: ABaAabAB (capital letters represent lines repeated verbatim)
* [[Rondelet]]: AbAabbA (capital letters represent lines repeated verbatim)
* [[Roundel (poetry)|Roundel]]: {{not a typo|abaB bab abaB}} (capital letters represent lines repeated verbatim)
* [[Ruba'i|Rubaiyat]]: AABA or AAAA
* [[Sapphic stanza in Polish poetry]] – various
* [[Scottish stanza]]: AAABAB, as used by [[Robert Burns]] in works such as "[[To a Mouse]]"
* [[Sestain]]: AABBCC, ABABCC, AABCCB, AAABAB, and others
* [[Sestet]]: various schemes depending on the country
* [[Sestina]]: ABCDEF FAEBDC CFDABE ECBFAD DEACFB BDFECA, the seventh stanza is a tercet where line 1 has A in it but ends with D, line 2 has B in it but ends with E, line 3 has C in it but ends with F
* [[Sestuplo-nel-quintetto]]: Any quantity of stanzas of AABCCB, occasionally followed by either a repeating pattern of BCCB, or AA, plainly.{{fact|date=January 2022}}
* [[Sicilian octave]]: ABABABAB
* [[Simple 4-line]]: ABCB
* [[Sonnet]], 14 lines:
** 4 + 4 + 3 + 3 lines:
*** [[Petrarchan sonnet]]: ABBA ABBA CDE CDE or ABBA ABBA CDC DCD
** 4 + 4 + 4 + 2 lines
*** [[Shakespeare's sonnet|Shakespearean sonnet]]: ABAB CDCD EFEF GG
*** [[Spenserian sonnet]]: ABAB BCBC CDCD EE
* [[Spenserian stanza]]: ABABBCBCC, where the last line is an [[alexandrine]] line
* ''[[Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening]]'' form: AABA BBCB CCDC DDDD, a modified Ruba'i stanza used by Robert Frost for the eponymous poem
* [[Tail rhyme]]: B lines appear intermittently
* [[Tanaga]]: traditional [[Tagalog people|Tagalog]] tanaga is AABB
* [[Terza rima]]: ABA BCB CDC ..., ending on YZY Z; YZY ZZ; or YZY ZYZ
* A [[tristich]] or [[tercet]] is any three-line stanza or poem; common rhyme schemes for these are AAA (triplet) and ABA (enclosed tercet).  The only other possibilities for three-line poems are AAB, ABB, and ABC.  Multiple tercets can be combined into longer poems, as in the terza rima form.
* [[Traditional rhyme]]: ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH...
* [[Triolet]]: ABaAabAB and others (capital letters represent lines repeated verbatim)
* Triplet: AAA, often repeating such as: AAA BBB CCC DDD...
* [[Trova (poetry)|Trova]]: XAXA
* [[Villanelle]]: {{not a typo|A<sup>1</sup>bA<sup>2</sup> abA<sup>1</sup> abA<sup>2</sup> abA<sup>1</sup> abA<sup>2</sup> abA<sup>1</sup>A<sup>2</sup>, where A<sup>1</sup> and A<sup>2</sup>}} are lines repeated exactly which rhyme with the "a" lines

==In hip-hop music==
[[Hip-hop music]] and [[rapping]]'s rhyme schemes include traditional schemes such as [[couplet]]s, as well as forms specific to the genre,<ref>Edwards, Paul, 2009, ''[[How to Rap]]: The Art & Science of the Hip-Hop MC'', Chicago Review Press, pp. 95–110.</ref> which are broken down extensively in the books ''[[How to Rap]]'' and ''[[Book of Rhymes]]''. Rhyme schemes used in [[hip-hop music]] include 
*[[Couplet]]s<ref name="Edwards, Paul 2009, p MC">Edwards, Paul, 2009, ''[[How to Rap]]: The Art & Science of the Hip-Hop MC'', Chicago Review Press, p. 99.</ref>
*Single-liners<ref>Edwards, Paul, 2009, ''[[How to Rap]]: The Art & Science of the Hip-Hop MC'', Chicago Review Press, p. 100.</ref>
*Multi-liners<ref>Edwards, Paul, 2009, ''[[How to Rap]]: The Art & Science of the Hip-Hop MC'', Chicago Review Press, p. 101.</ref>
*Combinations of schemes<ref>Edwards, Paul, 2009, ''[[How to Rap]]: The Art & Science of the Hip-Hop MC'', Chicago Review Press, pp. 101–102.</ref>
*Whole verse<ref>Edwards, Paul, 2009, ''[[How to Rap]]: The Art & Science of the Hip-Hop MC'', Chicago Review Press, pp. 102–103.</ref>

[[Couplet]]s are the most common type of rhyme scheme in [[old school rap]]<ref>Bradley, Adam, 2009, ''[[Book of Rhymes]]: The Poetics of Hip-Hop'', Basic Civitas Books, p. 50.</ref> and are still regularly used,<ref name="Edwards, Paul 2009, p MC"/> though complex rhyme schemes have progressively become more frequent.<ref>Edwards, Paul, 2009, ''[[How to Rap Like A Star]]: The Art & Science of the Hip-Hop MC'', Chicago Review Press, p. 97.</ref><ref>Bradley, Adam, 2009, ''[[Book of Rhymes]]: The Poetics of Hip-Hop'', Basic Civitas Books, p. 73.</ref> Rather than relying on [[end rhymes]], rap rhyme schemes can have rhymes placed anywhere in the bars of music to create a structure.<ref>Edwards, Paul, 2009, ''[[How to Rap]]: The Art & Science of the Hip-Hop MC'', Chicago Review Press, p. 107.</ref> There can also be numerous rhythmic elements which all work together in the same scheme<ref name="Edwards, Paul p MC">Edwards, Paul, 2009, ''[[How to Rap]]: The Art & Science of the Hip-Hop MC'', Chicago Review Press, p. 104.</ref> – this is called [[internal rhyme]] in traditional poetry,<ref>Bradley, Adam, 2009, ''[[Book of Rhymes]]: The Poetics of Hip-Hop'', Basic Civitas Books, p. 74.</ref> though rap rhymes schemes can be anywhere in the bar, they could all be internal, so the term is not always used.<ref name="Edwards, Paul p MC"/> Rap verses can also employ 'extra rhymes', which do not structure the verse like the main rhyme schemes, but which add to the overall sound of the verse.<ref>Edwards, Paul, 2009, ''[[How to Rap]]: The Art & Science of the Hip-Hop MC'', Chicago Review Press, p. 103.</ref>

==Number of rhyme schemes for a poem with ''n'' lines==
[[File:Genji chapter symbols groupings of 5 elements.svg|thumb|[[The Tale of Genji|''Tale of Genji'']] chapter symbols, including diagrams of the first 52 [[partition of a set|set partitions]]]]
The number of different possible rhyme schemes for an ''n''-line poem is given by the [[Bell number]]s,<ref name="mg">{{citation
 | last = Gardner | first = Martin | author-link = Martin Gardner
 | doi = 10.1038/scientificamerican0578-24
 | journal = [[Scientific American]]
 | pages = 24–30
 | title = The Bells: versatile numbers that can count partitions of a set, primes and even rhymes
 | volume = 238
 | year = 1978}}. Reprinted with an addendum as "The Tinkly Temple Bells", Chapter 2 of ''Fractal Music, Hypercards, and more ... Mathematical Recreations from Scientific American'', W. H. Freeman, 1992, pp. 24–38.</ref>
which for ''n''&nbsp;=&nbsp;1,&nbsp;2,&nbsp;3,&nbsp;... are
:1, 2, 5, 15, 52, 203, 877, 4140, 21147, 115975, .. {{OEIS|A000110}}.

Examples: We find one rhyme scheme for a one-line poem (A), two different rhyme schemes for a two-line poem (AA, AB), and five for a three-line poem: AAA, AAB, ABA, ABB, and ABC.

These counts, however, include rhyme schemes in which [[blank verse|rhyme is not employed at all]] (ABCD). There are many fewer rhyme schemes when all lines must rhyme with at least one other line; a count of these is given by the numbers,
:0, 1, 1, 4, 11, 41, 162, 715, 3425, 17722, ... {{OEIS|A000296}}.
For example, for a three-line poem, there is only one rhyming scheme in which every line rhymes with at least one other (AAA), while for a four-line poem, there are four such schemes (AABB, ABAB, ABBA, and AAAA).

==References==

{{reflist|2}}

==External links==
{{Portal|Poetry}}
* {{Wikiversity-inline|Rhyme schemes by set partition}}

{{Poetic forms}}
[[Category:Rhyme]]
[[Category:Stanzaic form]]

[[hu:Rímképlet]]