Introduction to the Sonnet IX: Rhyme Schemes

So I previously mentioned that a sonnet is a poem with a rhyme scheme. However, that definition is useless unless a rhyme scheme is in turn defined, which I intend to do here. I will begin by defining a rhyme scheme in general and then turn to rhyme schemes and the sonnet.

A rhyme scheme is any organization of the final sounds in a poem. Theoretically this includes rhyme schemes without any rhyme (Ezra Pound springs to mind) but as a practical matter there must be rhymes; and usually at least as many rhymed lines as unrhymed (ABCB is a common ballad rhyme scheme for instance, and the previous post mentioned the ABABCDCDEFEFGG rhyme scheme of an English sonnet). A rhyme scheme expressed in this manner (with letters standing in for different rhyme sounds ending lines) is a useful tool for seeing how a poet has organized a poem, particulary as regards sound, flow, and interaction between lines.

Sonnets have certain traditional rhyme schemes (the Italian and English sonnet styles, with their 8/6 and 4/4/4/2 splits between similarly patterned sections are the two major ones) and certain conventions regarding what is and is not acceptable outside of those traditions. For instance, all the lines should rhyme with at least one other line; no ABCB unless there's another A and C rhyme in there later or earlier. Also, usually (but less rigorously), these rhymes should be close together; it is vanishingly rare to see more than 4 lines between a rhyme sound and its nearest rhyme, and most common to see 0, 1 or 2. Couplets (AA) are acceptable, triplets (AAA) rare and any longer string basically nonexistent; couplets are rarely followed by another couplet, unless locked into something like the Italian ABBAABBA. AABBCCDDEEFFGG is only arguably a sonnet; interlocking of rhymes is highly prized within the form, as it forces the poem's lines out of hermetically sealed little rhyme boxes into a larger poem-as-a-whole form. If one does flout that convention, enjambment is a practical necessity; seven heroic couplets do not a sonnet make. Finally, repetition of rhyme sounds is perfectly fine (as an "English" sonnet going ABABCDCDEAEADD) so long as it does not turn into long strings of the same sound (once more, no AAAA). Within these rules there is great flexibility, as I hope is demonstrated by at least some of the sonnets I post here.