ABCB rhyme is a common rhyme scheme used in English-language verse. It is sometimes called "Simple 4-Line" rhyme.[1]
Description[]
ABCB rhyme is most commonly found in quatrains, although it can be used in any stanza with a multiple of 4 lines, or (in a variation) in any stanza with an even number of lines. In such a stanza, only the even-numbered lines rhyme.
A
B
C
B
The ABCB rhyme scheme can be used with any meter, but is most often identified with ballad meter. A key difference between ballad meter and common meter is that the former uses ABCB rhyme while the latter uses cross rhyme.
Ballad meter seems to have derived from rhyming heptameter couplets, which explains why the odd-numbered lines did not have to rhyme.
Examples of ABCB rhyme[]
- "Romance Novel," translation of Arthur Rimbaud's "Roman"
- "There is no frigate like a book, by Emily Dickinson
References[]
- ↑ What is an ABCB rhyme scheme, Answers.com. Web, Aug. 9, 2014.
External links[]
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