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

• Rhyme