Lesson video

Hello, and welcome to this lesson on poetry, with me, Miss Krzebietka.

Today, we're going to focus on rhyme scheme, and we're going to think about how poets use rhyme in order to create meanings in their poems. Before we get started, can we make sure that any distractions are out of the way, including mobile phones, please turn them off or put them on silent or put them somewhere else, and make sure that you're somewhere quietly and can do the best learning possible.

Please can you also make sure that you've got a pen and something to write on.

Okay, let's get started on looking at rhyme scheme.

Before we move into the main part of the lesson, I'm just going to tell you exactly what we're going to be covering.

So, first of all, we're going to do a recap task to see what you remember about structure.

Then we're going to look at an introduction to rhyme.

Some of you might have looked around before.

Some of you might know about rhyme, we're just going to remind ourselves exactly what rhyme is.

Next, you're going to become experts at identifying rhyme schemes, and then we're going to explore why poets might use different rhyme schemes.

And finally, you're going to review your knowledge with a quiz.

So first of all, let's see what you remember about structure, before we move on to rhyme.

So on the screen, there are five statements.

What I'd like you to do is to read through the five statements and to decide which of them are true and which of them are false with regard to structure.

Pause now, read through them very carefully, and then we'll go through the answers in a moment.

Off you go.

Brilliant job if you said that one and three are false statements about structure.

Number one, structure is to do with the words poets use.

We know that structure isn't mainly to do with the words poets use at all, actually it's to do with how the poem is organised, it's to do with stanzas, it's to do with the openings and the endings, all of those things, rather than looking specifically at words.

Number three, structure doesn't link to the meanings and ideas in poetry.

We know that that's false.

We know that structure is really, really important to the meanings and ideas in a poem.

Two, four and five, stanzas are a key part of the poem structure, yes, that's definitely true.

Number four, structure means the way a poem is organised.

Yes, again, we know that's true.

And number five, openings and endings of poems are a really important part of structure.

Yes, that is correct.

They are really significant to our understanding of the poem's structure.

So onto today's main learning topic, which is rhyme.

Let's find out a bit about rhyme first of all.

So rhyme is to do with sound.

It's to do with the way words or parts of words sound to us, okay.

So when words rhyme, they end with the same sound.

So here are some examples, the words cat and hat rhyme because they both end with the same sound.

The word sound and pound rhyme too.

The worm and storm are something called a half-rhyme, which might be a new term to you.

So if you want to pause, and write down the following notes on half-rhyme, then that will be a really good idea.

So a half-rhyme is when we have two words that almost have the same sound, but not quite, okay.

But later on, when we're looking at the rhyme schemes in poetry, you'll see that these half-rhymes often count as part of a poem's rhyme scheme.

So keep that in mind, okay.

And that's a new term for you, half-rhyme.

Okay, let's do a quick test then to see if you can tell which pairs of the words on the screen rhyme fully.

I'm going to read them out and then we're going to pause, and I want you to choose which pairs of words rhyme fully.

Enough and cuff, feet and boot, near and far, pair and share, care and occur, life and knife, and fruit and shoot.

Pause now, read through them again if you'd like to, and then we'll go through the answers.

Brilliant job if you said that enough and cuff, pair and share, life and knife, and fruit and shoot, all rhyme fully with each other.

Now, what this shows really well is that actually rhyme is all to do with sound.

Because if you look at enough and cuff, for example, they aren't spelled in the same way.

However, they share that same sound uff.

And that's how we know that they rhyme, okay.

So it's really important when you're looking for rhyming words you don't just use your sight on what they look like, because they might not look the same.

But in fact, you use your sense of sound and you think about what they sound like to tell if they rhyme, okay.

Now we've reminded ourselves a little bit more about rhyme.

We're going to put our poetry detective hats back on, and we're going to dig a little deeper into why rhyme is important.

So rhyme is a very important part of the poems' structure, okay.

Some poems as we know, contain rhyme, and some don't contain any rhyme.

We've talked about that a lot.

When you do include rhyme though, we can see the poem has a rhyme scheme, and you're going to become experts at identifying rhyme schemes later on in this lesson.

So that's what we call it, when a poem follows a particular pattern of rhyme, we call it a rhyme scheme.

Now, we know that there are very many important elements of structure in a poem.

We've already talked about some of them, and now we've got an additional thing to add to that list.

So, we've got the opening of the poem.

We know that's really important.

We've got how the poem ends, we know that's really important.

We've got the stanza lengths in the poem.

We know that that can be really important in helping us to understand the meaning of the poem and the emotions and ideas in the poem.

And we've got whether the poem has a volta.

Now, remember a volta is a turning point, perhaps where the mood of the poem changes, or a feeling in the poem changes, or time in the poem changes, whatever it might be.

If we can identify that turning point from one thing to another, that's something important that we talk about in terms of structure.

And finally, to add to our list of important elements of structure, we have rhyme scheme.

Okay, so that's really important to know, it's part of the poem's overall structure.

So, let's have a very quick review of what you've learned about what's important when we're thinking about a poem's structure.

So on the screen, there are four options.

What I'd like you to do is to read through them very carefully, and to decide which of them you think is not an important element of a poem's structure.

Pause now, read through them carefully and then decide which one you think is not an important element of a poem's structure.

Off you go.

Amazing job if you said the option four, figurative language, is not an important element when we're looking specifically at a poem's structure.

When we are looking at structure, we look at openings and endings.

We look at rhyme scheme and we look at stanza length.

And we look for the patterns that we can see in those things, rather than the words, or figurative techniques that the poet has chosen to use specifically, okay.

So brilliant work if you've got that right.

Okay, so I promised earlier that we would become experts at identifying rhyme schemes in poetry.

So that's what we're going to try and do now.

So, I'm going to just bring up a poem on the screen so that you can all see that clear enough.

When we're exploring rhyme scheme, we use letters to show which lines rhyme.

You'll be able to see in the poem that there are some letters at the ends of the lines.

And I'll explain why they're there in a moment.

So for example, the rhyme scheme for two lines that rhyme are written like this, AA, BB, CC, et cetera.

And this indicates that the first two lines rhyme with each other, the two A words.

The next two lines rhyme with each other.

For example, the two B words, and then the next two lines rhyme with each other.

For example, the two C words.

So let's read through this poem, and see if we can identify in here where those rhyming words are.

There is a glossary, I'll just quickly read through that for you.

So we have the word progged in here, which we don't really use anymore, but it means poked or prodded.

And we've got the word teats, which means the nipple of a female mammal from which milk is sucked by young, okay.

Listen here carefully though.

"I found a ball of grass among the hay", written in 1832 by John Clare.

I found a bowl of grass among the hay and progged it as I passed and went away.

And when I looked I fancied something stirred, and turned again and hoped to catch the bird, when out an old mouse bolted in the wheats, with all her young ones hanging at her teats.

So as we can see, the A at the end of the first two lines is to show us that hay and away are a pair of rhymes together.

The B's at the end of the third and fourth line are to show us that stirred and bird are two rhyming words together.

And the C at the end of the final two lines are to show us that wheats and teats are two rhyming words together.

So what those letters do is help us to identify the words that rhyme together in a poem.

On the screen is another poem.

I'm going to read it, and then I want you to pause.

And I want you to look at the four options that you have in the purple box.

And I want you to decide, which rhyme scheme from the four options does this poem follow? Okay, listen very carefully.

"The Passionate Shepherd to His Love" by Christopher Marlowe.

A gown made of the finest wool which from our pretty Lambs we pull, fair lined slippers for the cold, with buckles of the purest gold.

Having listened to the poem, do you think that this poem follows the AABB rhyme scheme, the ABABCC rhyme scheme, the ABAB rhyme scheme, or the AABBCC rhyme scheme? So look very carefully at the words that rhyme, and then decide which rhyme scheme you think it follows.

Pause, have a think, and then decide.

Brilliant work if you said it follows number one, the AABB rhyme scheme.

Don't worry at all if you didn't say that yet, because this may be the first time you have ever seen something like this.

So I will talk through it now, so that it's really clear why is that number one.

So, a gown made of the finest wool, we would label wool A, because that's the first word that rhymes.

Which from our pretty Lambs we pull, we label that A because that rhymes with wool, which was the first word that we labelled as A.

Fair lined slippers for the cold, we label that as B, because that's a new rhyming word that has been introduced.

With buckles of the purest gold, we label that B because that rhymes with cold that we labelled as B, and they both rhyme together, so they both become B.

So we follow the AABB rhyme scheme.

Like I said, don't worry, if that's quite confusing for you at the moment, 'cause hopefully, with a few more examples, it'll become clear.

Okay, so which rhyme scheme from the four options does this poem follow? "Love", 1633, George Herbert.

Love bade me welcome, yet my soul drew back guilty of dust and sin.

But quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack from my first entrance in, drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning if I lacked anything.

Okay, slightly different sound there, you will have noticed.

So, if you look very carefully, if you pause, and you look very carefully, the rhyming words in this poem, would you say it's one, two, three, or four in terms of the rhyme scheme that it follows? Have a very careful think about it.

Look at the poem again, read it out loud, and then we'll go over the answer.

Great job if you said that it follows number two, the ABABCC rhyme scheme.

So the rhyming word at the end of the first one, rhymes, not with the rhyming word at the end of the second line, but with the rhyming word at the end of the third one, back and slack.

The rhyming word at the end of the second line rhymes with the word at the end of the fourth line, sin and in.

So they both become B.

So it follows the ABAB rhyme scheme up until that point, but then we have an introduction of two new rhyming words, questioning and anything.

So, because we've got two new rhyming words that don't rhyme with the A's or the B's that we've had so far, we call those new rhyming words C.

So we have an ABABCC rhyme scheme.

Again, don't worry if you didn't get that right this time, this is quite a complex thing to get your head around.

If you did, you've done absolutely brilliantly.

A final practise then before you have a go on your own.

So, which rhyme scheme from the four options does this poem follow? "I Started Early-Took my Dog", 1862, by Emily Dickinson.

I started early, took my dog, and visited the Sea.

The Mermaids in the Basement came out to look at me.

Does that follow the AABB, the ABABCC, the ABCB or the AABBCC rhyme scheme? Pause now, read it through again.

Remember what we've learned about the other poems that we've looked at so far and then have a go.

Amazing job if you said that this poem follows the ABCB rhyme scheme.

If we look again, I started early, took my dog, we don't see another word that rhymes with dog in that stanza of the poem.

So we don't have another A to go with that A.

So we go straight to B.

So we have, and visited the sea, which is the B, and that rhymes with the final line of the stanza, which is me.

So they both become the B rhymes, and the Mermaids in the Basement is a completely different word altogether.

Basement doesn't rhyme with dog or sea or me, so that gets the letter C.

And if we found another word later on that rhymed with dog, then we'd label that A.

If we found another word later on that rhymes with basement, then we'd label that C.

So we know that those rhyming words go together.

Okay, so it's all about labelling the rhyming words.

So we know which ones rhyme together.

That's all those letters are used for, okay.

Great job if you got that right.

Again, I really want to reassure you that if you didn't this time, that's absolutely fine.

Let's see what you can do with a little bit more of practise.

So what I'd like you to do now is to pause the video to complete your task.

So you've got a work sheet, which has got some more poems. In fact, you probably will recognise these poems. And what I'd like you to do is to see if you can work out the rhyme scheme of those poems, okay.

So think very carefully about what we've learned, read through those poems, write down the letters at the ends of the lines, where you spot rhymes, and you spot rhymes that fit together.

So if you spot two words that rhyme together, you'd call those both your A's.

And if you spotted another two words that rhymes together, but they don't rhymes with your A's, they'd be your B's, et cetera.

So have a look through those poems now and see if you can identify the rhyme schemes.

Okay, pause and off you go.

Okay, number one then, "The Tyger" by William Blake.

Flash read through and see if you identify the right rhyme scheme, because it is that AABB rhyme scheme.

Tyger Tyger, burning bright, in the forests of the night.

What immortal mortal handle or eye, could frame thy fearful symmetry? In what distant deeps or skies, burnt the fire of thine eyes? On what wings dare he aspire? What the hand, dare seize the fire? And what shoulder, and what art could twist the sinews of thy heart.

And when thy heart began to beat, what dread hand? And what dread feet? So by the rules of identifying rhyme scheme, we would have identified that bright and night rhymed together.

They are both words that rhyme together.

So they both become A rhymes.

Now, if we look at eye and symmetry, they don't seem to rhyme fully.

But remember, earlier in the lesson, we covered the idea of a half-rhyme.

And I said that they do count as rhymes, and they do count in the rhyme scheme.

So actually eye and symmetry, although they're not full rhymes, would actually count as rhyming words.

So it does follow the AABB rhyme scheme.

It's a little bit clearer in the next stanza because that symmetry might have thrown you off there 'cause it is a half-rhyme with eye.

Okay, let's have a look at this one then.

"You are Old, Father William" by Lewis Carroll.

"You are old, Father William," the young man said, "and your hair has become very white.

"And yet you incessantly stand on your head.

"Do you think, at your age, it is right?" "In my youth," Father William replied to his son, "I feared it might injure the brain, "but, now that I'm perfectly sure I have none, "why, I do it again and again." Okay, a funny little poem there.

And so if we look carefully, why is this ABAB in terms of rhyme scheme? Well, it's because if you look at the word said, that fits with the third line, the word head, okay.

It doesn't fit with the word at the end of the second line, white.

So we can't label white A, because they're not a rhyming pair together.

But said and head are, so they both become A, and white and right are, so they both become our B's.

And therefore it follows the AABAB rhyme scheme.

Let's see if that fits with stanza two.

Son rhymes with none.

I know, again, that could be considered a half-rhyme, because we might say none, some of us might say none.

Some of us might say none, but son and none, AA, and then brain and again, BB.

So it follows the alternate ABAB rhyme scheme.

Brilliant work if you've got that right, okay.

Finally then, "Verses to a Child" by Emily Bronte.

This was a very difficult rhyme scheme to identify.

So I am super, super, super impressed if you got this right.

So let's have a look.

Just then thou didst recall to me, a distant long forgotten scene, one smile, and one sweet word from thee dispelled the years that rolled between, I was a little child again, and every after joy and pain seemed never to have been.

Tall forest trees waved over me to hide me from the heat of day.

And by my side a child like thee among the summer flowererets lay.

He was thy sire, thou merry child.

Like thee he spoke, like thee he smiled, like thee he used to play.

So a very sort of complex poem there in terms of the language that she used actually.

And it's quite difficult to understand, so well done for having a really good go at that.

But let's focus on the rhyme scheme.

So, the end of the first rhyme, the word there, me, rhymes with end of the third line, thee.

I'm hoping we can all see that.

So we label both of those A, 'cause they are two rhyming words that fit together.

And scene and between, the end of the second and the fourth line fit together.

They both rhyme together, so we call those our B rhymes.

And then we have a little difference.

So we have, I was a little child again, and every after joy and pain.

Now there are two new rhyming words that we haven't seen so far in that stanza.

So they become CC, and they're there as a pair, so we label those C and C.

And then been rhymes back with those B words that we've already had before.

So that can be labelled as a B.

So actually this follows the ABABCCB rhyme scheme.

Okay, and that is quite a complicated thing to get your head around.

So well done if you've got that right.

I'm really, really impressed with that.

So before we move on, what I'd like us to do is to just put our poetry detective hats back on, because we're going to explore why poets might use rhyme.

To finish us off for this lesson.

So rhyme is often linked to the meaning or action in the poem.

The reasons for using specific rhyme schemes might be different for each poet, just like their meanings in every single poem will probably be quite different.

But here are some possible effects of rhyme to look for.

So the sound effects created by rhyme are really important to look for.

So for example, rhyme might give a poem a musical quality, or a harsh or soft effect.

A rhyme scheme might place emphasis on important words.

So for example, if the words at the end of the line are really important, which often they are, if they rhyme, our attention is drawn to those words.

And so the poet will put the most important words at the end of the lines so that we can see they are really important.

Isn't this amazing, rhyme can link lines and stanzas together, and therefore, link their meaning.

Okay, so it links lines within a poem and stanzas together, like we saw, when we were looking and we saw that maybe it went ABAB.

It was that sort of rhyme scheme.

Then even though you get two A aren't lines together, they are linked together because of the rhyme scheme that she used.

And that's really, really important to remember.

Rhyme creates a pattern that can help the poem flow in a certain way.

So for example, it might be a fast, bouncy pace, or a slow, staggered pace, depending on what rhyme scheme it was.

So the rhyme scheme, for example, of Lewis Carroll's poem was quite a lot quicker than the one from Emily Dickinson.

And that was because Emily Dickinson's rhyme scheme was totally different.

It was that ABABCC rhyme scheme, which slows the sort of pace of the poem down slightly than the AABB, okay, or the ABAB where it's quite a lot quicker.

So just to finish us off then, which of these is not a reason why poets might use rhyme? Read through the options very carefully, then pause, and then we'll go through and see if you've got the answer correct.

Brilliant job if you said the option three, to show that they know lots of rhyming words, is incorrect.

We know that poets use rhyme to make a certain sound, to help link lines and stanzas in their poems, to create patterns that will help the poem to flow in a certain way.

But they're not just showing off that they know lots of rhyming words.

That's not why they use poetry, okay.

Well done if you got that right.

It's okay if you missed to get it.

Brilliant work in this lesson, we've covered sort of really complex content, and you have done amazingly well.

If you would like to show off what you've been doing, which if I were you, I would, then ask your parent or carer to share your work Instagram or Facebook or Twitter tagging @OakNational, and using the hashtag #LearnwithOak, If you don't want to share it online, but you'd like to share it with your teacher, then why not ask a parent or carer to do that for you so that they can see the amazing things that you've been doing too? Finally, can you complete the quiz that's attached to this lesson so that we can see just how brilliantly you have done and you can test your knowledge for the final time.

Great work today, bye.