Feminine rhyme

Feminine rhyme

A feminine rhyme is a rhyme that matches two or more syllables, usually at the end of respective lines, in which the final syllable or syllables are unstressed.

Contents

Feminine rhyme in poetry

English

Feminine rhyme is relatively rare in English poetry and usually appears as a special effect. However, the Hudibrastic relies upon feminine rhyme for its comedy, and limericks will often employ outlandish feminine rhymes for their humor. Irish satirist Jonathan Swift used many feminine rhymes in his poetry.

William Shakespeare's Sonnet number 20 makes use of feminine rhymes:

A woman’s face with nature’s own hand painted,

Hast thou, the master mistress of my passion;
A woman’s gentle heart, but not acquainted
With shifting change, as is false women’s fashion...
But since she prick’d thee out for women’s pleasure,
Mine be thy love and thy love’s use their treasure.

Edgar Allan Poe's poem The Raven employs multiple feminine rhymes as internal rhymes throughout.

French

In French verse, a feminine rhyme is one in which the final syllable is a "silent" e, even if the word is masculine. In classical French poetry, two feminine rhymes cannot occur in succession.

Feminine rhyme in music

Hip hop

In hip hop music, especially since the 1990s, the use of feminine rhyme in rapping (often referred to by the colloquial terms "multis" or "multirhymes" — a contraction of "multisyllabic rhymes") is considered a sign of technical skill, and rap artists (such as Canibus, Big Pun, Big Daddy Kane, Rakim, Big L, Kool G Rap, Tech N9ne, Pharoahe Monch, Nas, and Redman) have been known to string together large sequences of complex rhyme patterns.

Eminem made extensive use of the technique in his early work, for example, It's OK; (rhymes are marked in bold for clarity):

"Praying for sleep,

Dreaming with a watering mouth,
Wishing for a better life for my daughter and spouse,
In this slaughtering house, caught up in bouts
With the root of all evil.
I've seen it turn beautiful people cruel and deceitful,
And make them do shit illegal

References

See also


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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Feminine rhyme — Feminine Fem i*nine, a. [L. femininus, fr. femina woman; prob. akin to L. fetus, or to Gr. qh^sqai to suck, qh^sai to suckle, Skr. dh[=a] to suck; cf. AS. f[=ae]mme woman, maid: cf. F. f[ e]minin. See {Fetus}.] 1. Of or pertaining to a woman, or… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • feminine rhyme — Pros. a rhyme either of two syllables of which the second is unstressed (double rhyme), as in motion, notion, or of three syllables of which the second and third are unstressed (triple rhyme), as in fortunate, importunate. Also called female… …   Universalium

  • feminine rhyme — noun : double rhyme in verses with feminine endings (as motion, ocean) * * * ˌfeminine ˈrhyme 7 [feminine rhyme] noun uncountable, countable …   Useful english dictionary

  • feminine rhyme — rhyme where the final syllable is not emphasized, unstressed rhyme …   English contemporary dictionary

  • feminine rhyme — fem′inine rhyme′ n. pro a rhyme either of two syllables of which the second is unstressed (double rhyme), as in motion, notion or of three syllables of which the second and third are unstressed(triple rhyme) as in fortunate, importunate[/ex] •… …   From formal English to slang

  • feminine rhyme — /fɛmənən ˈraɪm/ (say femuhnuhn ruym) noun a rhyme of two syllables of which the second is unstressed, as motion, notion (double rhyme), or of three syllables of which the second and third are unstressed, as fortunate, importunate (triple rhyme) …  

  • feminine rhyme — noun A disyllabic rhyme that occurs on an unaccented final syllable …   Wiktionary

  • feminine rhyme — noun Prosody a rhyme between stressed syllables followed by one or more unstressed syllables (e.g. stocking/shocking) …   English new terms dictionary

  • Feminine (disambiguation) — Feminine, or femininity, normally refers to qualities positively associated with women. Feminine may also refer to: *Feminine (grammar), a grammatical gender *Feminine cadence, a final chord falling in a metrically weak position *Feminine rhyme,… …   Wikipedia

  • Feminine — Fem i*nine, a. [L. femininus, fr. femina woman; prob. akin to L. fetus, or to Gr. qh^sqai to suck, qh^sai to suckle, Skr. dh[=a] to suck; cf. AS. f[=ae]mme woman, maid: cf. F. f[ e]minin. See {Fetus}.] 1. Of or pertaining to a woman, or to women; …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

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