: How to avoid repetition of rhymes in poetry, yet maintain the rhythm? I do very well in writing short stories but when it comes to poetry I'm faced with the problem of repeating the same rhymes. I always want my poems to

Vote Up Vote Down   0 Reactions

Login to give Reaction!

Every verse in a poem should be carefully constructed. If on the first try you write a verse that matches the above verses, then you should revise and think of a different verse. Maybe a different way to express yourself.

Use a thesaurus. Let's say you want to have a word to rhyme with way. There are lots of words that rhyme with way. Hey, hay, gray, may, say, etc.
Use inversion. Sometimes, you may have a verse that ends with orange. It's hard to find anything that rhymes with orange, so you switch the verse around. This may change the emphasis of the verse or the meter of the verse.
Think metaphorically. If the current verse is not working for you, then you may revise and start thinking more metaphorically. By thinking metaphorically, you may compare the concept to something else, and that something else may be easier to find words for.
Read aloud. Poetry is meant to be read aloud for rhyme and meter. English is a stress-timed language. Other languages may be syllable-timed. If your native language is syllable-timed, then you may need a native English speaker to read aloud for you. You may alternatively write a poem in your native language and translate the poem yourself, sacrificing some aspect of the original poem. Even if you ask a native English-speaking buddy who also speaks your native language natively or at a very high level, then something of the original poem must be sacrificed to sound good in the English version. Poetry is one of those untranslatable things, because it relies on the linguistic properties of the source language, which may not exist in the target language.