“Among those today who believe that modern poetry must do without rhyme or metre, there is an assumption that the alternative to free verse is a crash course in villanelles, sestinas and other such fixed forms. But most... are rare in English poetry. Few poets have written a villanelle worth reading, or indeed regret not having done so.” BelieveDoneTodayFormCoursesReadingWrittenModernPoetRegretAlternativesFixedAssumptionVersesCrashRhymeWorth ReadingFree VerseModern PoetryEnglish Poetry Author:James Fenton
“In rap, as in most popular lyrics, a very low standard is set for rhyme; but this was not always the case with popular music.” CasesLowsStandardsRapRhymePopular Music Author:James Fenton
“A glance at the history of European poetry is enough to inform us that rhyme itself is not indispensable. Latin poetry in the classical age had no use for it, and the kind of Latin poetry that does rhyme - as for instance the medieval Carmina Burana - tends to be somewhat crude stuff in comparison with the classical verse that doesn't.” KindDoeEnoughUseAgeStuffInstanceComparisonPoetry IsLatinVersesRhymeIndispensableGlancesMedievalCrude Author:James Fenton
“Generally speaking, rhyme is the marker for the end of a line. The first rhyme-word is like a challenge thrown down, which the poem itself has to respond to.” FirstsEndsChallengesLinesThrownRhymeMarkers Author:James Fenton
“"Love" is so short of perfect rhymes that convention allows half-rhymes like "move". The alternative is a plague of doves, or a kind of poem in which the poet addresses his adored both as "love" and as "guv" - a perfectly decent solution once, but only once, in a while.” KindMovingPerfectLove IsHalfPoetSolutionsAlternativesDecentAddressesConventionsRhymePlagueDove Author:James Fenton
“My feeling is that poetry will wither on the vine if you don't regularly come back to the simplest fundamentals of the poem: rhythm, rhyme, simple subjects - love, death, war.” IfsWarFeelingsSimpleSubjectsFundamentalsRhythmRhymeSimplestVinesLove Death Author:James Fenton
“The basic rhymes in English are masculine, which is to say that the last syllable of the line is stressed: "lane" rhymes with "pain", but it also rhymes with "urbane" since the last syllable of "urbane" is stressed. "Lane" does not rhyme with "methane".” DoePainLastsLinesRhymeMasculineStressedLanesSyllablesMethane Author:James Fenton
