What is the rhyme scheme in this excerpt from the poem “The Voice” by Thomas Hardy? Can it be you that I hear? Let me view you, then, Standing as when I drew near to the town Where you would wait for me: yes, as I knew you then, Even to the original air-blue gown! Or is it only the breeze, in its listlessness Travelling across the wet mead to me here, You being ever dissolved to wan wistlessness, Heard no more again far or near? Thus I; faltering forward, Leaves around me falling, Wind oozing thin through the thorn from norward, And the woman calling. aabb abab abba abca

Respuesta :

In this particular excerpt, the rhyming scheme is "abab"

That is because the first and the third lines rhyme and the second and the fourth lines rhyme.

B.) abab


The way to tell what a poem’s rhyme scheme is is to look at the last words in the poem’s lines and mentally assign a letter. The first pair of rhyming words is assigned “a”; the second pair is assigned “b”; the third pair is assigned “c,” etc. Let’s look at an example:


I like cats

I like dogs

I sit on logs

On my head sit hats


Now, let’s assign the letters to the rhyming pairs:


I like cats (a)

I like dogs (b)

I sit on logs (b)

On my head sit hats (a)


Thus, the rhyme scheme for this little poem is abba.


Now, let’s look at the poem you mentioned, and place letters at the end of each line to indicate the scheme.


Can it be you that I hear? Let me view you, then, (a)

Standing as when I drew near to the town (b)

Where you would wait for me: yes, as I knew you then, (a)

Even to the original air-blue gown! (b)


Or is it only the breeze, in its listlessness (c)

Travelling across the wet mead to me here, (d)

You being ever dissolved to wan wistlessness, (c)

Heard no more again far or near? (d)


Thus I; faltering forward, (e)

Leaves around me falling, (f)

Wind oozing thin through the thorn from norward, (e)

And the woman calling. (f)


Thus the rhyme scheme for these stanzas is abab cdcd efef .


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