feminine rhyme

It has been suggested that Multisyllabic rhymes be merged into this article or section. (Discuss)

A feminine rhyme, in English prosody, is a rhyme that matches two or more syllables at the end of the respective lines. Usually the final syllable is unstressed. Shakespeare’s Sonnet number 20, uniquely among the sonnets, makes use exclusively of feminine rhymes:

A woman’s face with nature’s own hand painted,

Hast thou, the master mistress of my passion;

A woman’s gentle heart, but not acquainted

With shifting change, as is false women’s fashion...

But since she prick’d thee out for women’s pleasure,

Mine be thy love and thy love’s use their treasure.

Feminine rhyme is relatively rare in English poetry and usually appears as a special effect. However, the Hudibrastic relies upon feminine rhyme for its comedy, and limericks will often employ outlandish feminine rhymes for their humor.

In French verse, a feminine rhyme is one in which the final syllable is a “silent” e, even if the word is masculine. In classical French poetry, two feminine rhymes cannot occur in succession.

In hip hop music, especially since the 1990s, the use of feminine rhyme in rapping (often referred to by the colloquial terms “multis” or “multirhymes” — a contraction of “multisyllabic rhymes”) is considered a sign of technical skill, and some rappers have been known to put together large strings of complex rhyme patterns. A well known example of this type of lyricism is that of Eminem, as demonstrated in his 1995 song Infinite:

My pen and paper cause a chain reaction

To get your brain relaxin’, a zany actin’ maniac in action

A brainiac in fact son, you mainly lack attraction

You looking insanely wack with just a fraction of my tracks spun

See also

• Masculine rhyme

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