Light rhyme

Light rhyme designates a weakened, or unaccented, rhyme that pairs a stressed final syllable with an unstressed one.[1][2] A rhyme of this kind is also referred to as a wrenched rhyme since the pronunciation of the unstressed syllable is forced into conformity with the stressed syllable of its rhyme mate (eternity/free).[3] Light rhymes are commonly found in music where words are sung with an unnatural emphasis on the final syllable.[2]

Examples

In the 1917 poem “Preludes” T.S. Eliot used the light rhyme to evoke the uneasiness felt by an individual isolated from society in a modern urban setting.

The winter evening settles down
With smell of steaks in passageways.
Six o'clock.
The burnt-out ends of smoky days.
And now a gusty shower wraps
The grimy scraps
Of withered leaves about your feet
[…]

See also

References
  1. Merriam-Webster’s Encyclopedia of Literature. Merriam-Webster. 1995.
  2. Davis, Sheila (1988). Successful Lyric Writing.
  3. New Oxford Rhyming Dictionary. Oxford University Press. 2012.
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