Poetic Structure

Poetic Structure

Poetic Terms

Form

The physical structure of a poem: the length of the lines, their rhythms, and their system of rhymes and repetition.

Rhymes

• When a poem has rhyming words at the end of the line, these are called 'end rhymes'

Rhyme Scheme

A 'rhyme scheme' is a way of describing the pattern of end rhymes in a poem. Each new sound at the end of a line is given a letter, starting with "A", then "B", and so on.

If an end sound repeats the end sound of an earlier line, it gets the same letter as the earlier line.

Rhyme Scheme: AABB

My cat is nice [A]

My cat likes mice [A]

My cat is fat [B]

I like my cat [B]

Rhyme Scheme: ABAB

My cat is nice [A]

My cat is fat [B]

My cat likes mice [A]

I like my cat [B]

Rhyme Scheme: ABCB

My cat is gray [A]

My cat is fat [B]

My cat is cute [C]

I like my cat [B]