Prompted by a bout of bad
poetry on
Facebook recently, I propose a new
definition of rhyme:
Rhyme, n. Correspondence of similar sounds at the end of two words or verses which have the same number of syllables.
My
friends seem to get the idea that
poems are supposed to rhyme but forget everything else they know about the subject. Perhaps if we change the definition of rhyme they will also get an idea about
meter, or better yet, drop the matter entirely.
Standing at the site
I held my sister’s hand
And To the right
The cross was being put in the land
Complete disregard of meter,
rhyme scheme, and anything else - but hey, it rhymes! And this is one of the better examples. Now, I love
free verse, but this terrible
mash-up of the two must be stopped.