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Tips for rhyming in poems?



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Sat May 26, 2012 12:36 am
ShortBus says...



I'm brand new to writing poetry. I've just written my very 1st one today. I do need some tips on the actual words I use for rhyming. I don't mean to pimp my poem but I think it would be helpful if you read my poem and then read Kyllorac's review of it. work.php?id=95523

I replaced a few words with the same relative meaning in order for it to rhyme. I'm not sure if I misplaced the context or if it was inturpeted wrong.

For instance, I used brawl instead of fight. I cannot move even though I want to brawl. I understand that a brawl is more of a fist fight or a struggle. Fight doesn't neccesairily mean it has to be physical. However, a brawl can be a fight and a fight can be a brawl. Is it OK to use for, the sake of rhyming, even though it might not be correct?

Another word I used was, unwind. (Again if you read that link it will be a lot clearer of what I'm getting at.) I meant for it to mean "relax". It definitely didn't come accross that way.

I don't know if synonyms will suffice. The words mean the same thing but they are all slightly askew from one another. I'm just trying to not subject the reader with something I didn't intend to say.

Again, I'm new to this. I am probably jumping ahead of myself because I don't even know what a stanza is, but I still think that it's an issue and should be adressed.

Thanks ☺
  





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Sat May 26, 2012 1:03 am
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Kale says...



Is it OK to use for, the sake of rhyming, even though it might not be correct?

Correctness > Rhyme

Always.

You should never, ever compromise the meaning of the poem for a rhyme. It's like taking out a vital support for a building just because it didn't look pretty. What are the point of words if not to convey what you mean? Rhyming for rhyming's sake, especially if you disregard meaning, accomplishes nothing. It actually destroys the poem.

The thing about words is that they have both denotations (dictionary definitions) and connotations (associations from usage). While two words can have the same denotation, they can also have completely different connotations, which give different words different shades of meaning. When writing poetry, you have to pay particularly close attention to both the denotations and connotations. The differing shades of meaning have very different effects, just as different shades of color have very different effects on a painting. It's just like if you painted the leaves of trees blue on a sunny day; it looks completely wrong because, although blue is by definition a color, blue is a completely different shade than green, so long as you aren't colorblind.

A poet who ignores the connotations of words is like a colorblind painter; their finished work may look fine to them, but to a reader who can tell the difference, the difference is obvious.

The best way to learn how to rhyme effectively is to read poems and poets that excel with rhyming. Robert Frost and Emily Dickinson are two of my personal favorites, though my all-time favorite rhyming poem is John Masefield's Sea Fever.

Reading and analyzing poetry are the best ways to learn how to write poetry, period, and I strongly recommend you read as many poems from as many great poets as you possibly can. Try to figure out why the poems and poets are so great, and then try to apply your findings to your own work.

Also, there are a lot of great resources on the internet devoted to the various technical aspects of poetry, such as devices and forms. There's no excuse for not knowing what a stanza is when you can easily learn the answer with a quick Google search.
Secretly a Kyllorac, sometimes a Murtle.
There are no chickens in Hyrule.
Princessence: A LMS Project
WRFF | KotGR
  





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Sat May 26, 2012 1:09 am
ShortBus says...



Kyllorac...


You are awesome.
  





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Mon Jun 25, 2012 11:28 am
tiffany says...



Get a piece of paper and write down the word you want to rhyme. Think of all the possible words that rhyme and then choose the most suitable one for you poem. Hope that answers your problem
  








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