Rhyme, rhythm and metre · Kindergarten
Poems and songs are made to be heard. Rhyme repeats the same sounds at the ends of words, and rhythm is the pattern of strong and weak beats. Together they make a poem musical and easy to remember. All the verses here were written for Calcali.
Key facts
- Words rhyme when they end with the same sound: cat and hat. The spelling can be different (snow, go), and words can look alike without rhyming (love, move).
- A rhyme scheme shows which lines rhyme, using letters: the first ending sound is A, the next new one B, and so on. Common schemes are AABB, ABAB, ABCB and ABBA.
- A syllable is one beat of a word: but-ter-fly has 3 syllables. In every word, one syllable is stressed (stronger).
- Rhythm is the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables. Metre is a regular rhythm: iambic is da-DUM, trochaic is DUM-da.
- Iambic pentameter has five da-DUM feet in a line: 10 syllables and 5 stressed beats. Shakespeare used it in his plays and sonnets.
Worked examples
Example 1
Which word rhymes with said: paid or bed?
Answer: bed
Example 2
What is the rhyme scheme? The river runs beneath the hill, / It sings a song of stones and rain; / And when the summer days are still, / It hums its way along the lane.
Answer: ABAB
Example 3
Which pattern of beats? The rain came softly down upon the town
Answer: iambic pentameter
Other years
- Rhyme, rhythm and metre · Grade 1
- Rhyme, rhythm and metre · Grade 2
- Rhyme, rhythm and metre · Grade 3
- Rhyme, rhythm and metre · Grade 4
- Rhyme, rhythm and metre · Grade 5
- Rhyme, rhythm and metre · Grade 6
- Rhyme, rhythm and metre · Grade 7
- Rhyme, rhythm and metre · Grade 8
- Rhyme, rhythm and metre · Grade 9
- Rhyme, rhythm and metre · Grade 10