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Q&A Are rhymes bad in prose?

What rhymes? None stand out in that piece. Prose is full of words that rhyme with each other, but you only notice when they occur in the same rhythmic position, as they do in poetry. It takes rhyth...

posted 7y ago by Mark Baker‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#4: Attribution notice removed by user avatar System‭ · 2020-01-03T20:41:52Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/26670
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T06:06:03Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/26670
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T06:06:03Z (almost 5 years ago)
What rhymes? None stand out in that piece. Prose is full of words that rhyme with each other, but you only notice when they occur in the same rhythmic position, as they do in poetry. It takes rhythm to make rhyme.

EDIT: To demonstrate what I mean, since Neil disagrees:

> Old Mrs Smith went to the post office and sent her nephew letter.

There are two pairs of words that rhyme in this sentence. went/sent and letter/her. You are highly unlikely to notice either one of them because nothing calls your attention to them.

> Old Mrs Smith to the post office went  
> And to her nephew a letter she sent

Put the same thought into verse, however, and the rhyme jumps out at you because the rhythm throws it in your face.

There are all kinds of rhyming pairs scattered through ordinary prose. They don't surface as rhymes until something in the rhythm of the piece pairs them up.

Note some other pairs in this post that you did not notice reading it, and I did not notice writing it: surface/piece, notice/office, what/that/at, none/one, stand/and, words/kinds, with/Smith, other/either, highly/unlikely, nothing/rhyming/something/writing/reading.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2017-02-11T12:22:01Z (over 7 years ago)
Original score: 10