Rhyme scheme

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 used below: Other notation examples: Notable rhyme schemes and forms that use specific rhyme schemes: Hip-hop music and rapping's rhyme schemes include traditional schemes such as couplets, as well as forms specific to the genre,[3] which are broken down extensively in the books How to Rap and Book of Rhymes.

[12] There can also be numerous rhythmic elements which all work together in the same scheme[13] – this is called internal rhyme in traditional poetry,[14] though rap rhymes schemes can be anywhere in the bar, they could all be internal, so the term is not always used.

[15] The number of different possible rhyme schemes for an n-line poem is given by the Bell numbers,[16] which for n = 1, 2, 3, ... are 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.