Rhythm and Rhyme Schemes …and the wonderful world of Limericks
Rhythm The pattern the words and syllables make “The beat” Made up of unstressed and stressed syllables Unstressed syllables are marked with a small “u” and stressed syllables are marked with a “/”
Iambs Also known as “feet” One Iamb is one unstressed syllable and one stressed syllable NOT ALL RHYTHMS USE IAMBS!!!
Rhyme Words that have similar ending sounds Near rhymes usually have a similar vowel sound - orange & porridge
Rhyme Scheme The order in which the last word in each line of a stanza rhyme with other last words in each line of the stanza Marked by lower-cased letters (same letter=rhyming words)
Limericks Five-line poem Humorous and usually crude First published in Ireland in the 1840s Rhythm: u//u//u// - u//u//u// - u//u/ - u//u/ - u//u//u// OR u/uu/uu/ - u/uu/uu/ - u/uu/ - u/uu/ - u/uu/uu/ Rhyme scheme: aabba
Hickory, Dikory, Dock Hickory, dikory, dock The mouse ran up the clock The clock struck one The mouse ran down Hickory, dikory, dock
Example 2 There was an old man from Peru, u/uu/uu/ who dreamed he was eating his shoe. u/uu/uu/ He awoke in the night u/uu/ with a terrible fright, u/uu/ and found out that it was quite true. u/uu/uu/
About A Certain Limerick Writer A limerick writer of wonder u//u//u// Pens humor he brews from Down Under. u//u//u// When he sends a zinger u//u// His joke seems to linger u//u// Exploding like lightening and thunder. u//u//u//