Sydney Poetry

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To Rhyme or not to Rhyme?

I know it's all the rage these days to write poetry that does not rhyme. In fact I've had some people tell me that rhyming poetry is 'oh so amateurish!'... It reminds me of the aesthetic arguments re. 'pure form' versus 'experential continuity'. As with most things, I see merit in both sides of the argument and can never really be an advocate for a sole perspective. That's why, when I write poetry, I mix it up a bit.

Dorothy Porter's 'The Monkey's Mask' is a must-read for poets in my opinion. Perhaps you've already read it but in case you haven't, grab a copy and take a look. She has constructed an entire novel in poetic form...It didn't rhyme...and I loved it.

But who can go past magnificent rhyming classics like 'The Pied Piper of Hamelin' by Robert Browning or 'The Man From Snowy River' by good 'ol Banjo? I know I can't.

What do you guys think? And perhaps someone can enlighten a novice such as myself, why the shunning of the 'rhyme'?

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Permalink Reply by Lee Wilde on August 25, 2012 at 19:58

"Rhyme makes the message sound better but the message is still the same."

That may be true of the poems you write, Stephanie, but in many cases rhyme does not merely dress up a message... rhyme delivers a message in a more penetrative way.

For reasons we still don't really understand, going way back to the first humans jumping up and down around a fire at night, beckoning spirits and chanting themselves into a delirious state.... rhyme gets into our marrow in a way nothing else can.

But no, poems certainly do not have to rhyme.

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Permalink Reply by Stephanie Esther on August 25, 2012 at 20:55

Ummm this is so stupid I feel embarressed explaining things to you. Rhyme is a necessary part of poetry. If it doesn't rhyme then it is blank verse. If rhyme gets to our marrow in a way nothing else can then it must be a fundamental characteristic of Poetry. Everyhting else is just that something else. Chants,spells,Haiku are just failed attempts at Poetry because they failed to rhyme.

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Permalink Reply by Lee Wilde on August 25, 2012 at 21:26

Chants,spells,Haiku are just failed attempts at Poetry because they failed to rhyme.

hahah ahah ahhahaaa.a.. ahhahhaa..... OMG...ahhaaha.... sorry.... ahahahah a ahaaha.... sorry, I'm trying to stop..ahahahahah ah a ahahahah... Oh no, I think I just peed..... hang five, I have to go change my panties..a.ahahha hahaaa..... .Oh Lord.....haha ahhaaa.... I'm being PUNK'D right? ahhaaa... ASHTON IS THAT YOU????? AHHAHAHAHAAA A AHAH HAHAA....... GOOD ONE!!!!! YOU GOT ME A BEAUTY!!!!!!! AHHA AAAHAHAAAH A...

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Permalink Reply by Stephanie Esther on August 26, 2012 at 9:06

I'll stop trying to educate you now. You are clearly unstable.Try taking your medicine sweetie. It might help.

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Permalink Reply by Geoffrey W Graham on August 26, 2012 at 15:37

Girls, girls, please, it's getting catty now. Perhaps poetry could be something with style and rhythm, which may or may not have rhyme depending on whether it’s poetry like Lawson wrote or Bretonic, Villanue, non-rhyming , blank , free etc. The beauty is often in the words used, their emphasis, brevity and the emotions. I get enough flak from people who say rhyming verse is not real poetry, and though I mostly write with rhyme I can appreciate some non-rhyming. Each to his own.

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Permalink Reply by Lee Wilde on August 26, 2012 at 15:59

Geoffrey, I have been saying all along that there are no rules about poetry having to rhyme.

If you want to comment on Stephanie's assertions that poetry MUST rhyme, please address her directly.

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Permalink Reply by Tim Entwisle on August 26, 2012 at 14:40

I think it is a great question. The answer is that there is not an answer.

Poetry should be judged on whether it is meaningful, beautiful, lyrical, emotional, funny ... essentially whether it moves you one way or another. If rhyme helps use it if it doesn't don't.

Those that say you need rhyme are just as wrong as those that say you shouldn't. Those that make such statements as rules should perhaps be writing legislation rather than poetry. Those that believe in dogmas, rules and fashion have always been the enemies of writers, poets and artists, or is that too strong!

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Permalink Reply by Lee Wilde on August 26, 2012 at 15:59

That is spot on, Tim.

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Permalink Reply by Leigh Lemay on November 24, 2012 at 20:22

Hi Tim....Wow, it's been two years since I posted this question and almost as long since I have visited this site. How brilliant that the thread still lingers and that people feel strongly no matter which stance they take. Over the past two years I have written poetry here and there...some of it rhymes...some of it doesn't. However, I am on the verge of completing a fine arts degree so have been making art more than anything else. I truly do love poetry though, and still entertain fantastical notions of falling in love with a poet and living in an abandoned house somewhere...lol. Looking forward to venturing once more through the online realm that is 'Sydney Poetry'... :)

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Permalink Reply by Leigh Lemay on November 4, 2013 at 16:11

Awesome response Tim. I'm only just reading this now. I posted this question 3 years ago, yesterday and I'm only here once every six months or so when the world leads me back this way. In the past 3 years, I have learned a lot about being an artist (just completed fine arts degree). I have learned that pleasing everyone is impossible. That some people will like what you have to offer and some will think you are crap. That if you concern yourself with what others may think, you will lose your connection to self and the things you yearn to express. I have learned to believe in myself. Rock on fellow poets. Let's flood the world with words!