How to Write a Poem That Rhymes

A lot of you may have wanted to write poetry but have held yourself for the fear it may not turn out to be one of your masterpieces. Now, the only way to write a good poem that rhymes well, and fits into all the 'requirements' of good poetry, is to actually sit down and write it. So, your first few lines may be:

I started writing to sound funny,
And thought of making lots of money,
But my work turned out to be a dud,
And my dream was nipped in the bud.

This poem may not make sense to you, but it is a start. This is how you will learn to make words rhyme. As you keep practicing, you will find that your poetry begins to make sense, and that it rhymes appropriately too. Now there are certain 'rules' to rhyming, which you have to keep in mind before you end up writing poetry that rhymes, and that makes sense. We will discuss these rules here.

Writing Poems that Rhyme

There are a lot of reasons why using rhymes to write a poem make sense. For one, rhyming helps create a greater impact on the reader. Connecting together two rhyming words provides greater depth to the poem, be it romantic, sad, or funny. What you fail to say in a couple of regular sentences, you can effectively put across in a rhyming couplet. Rhyming also makes a read more entertaining. It induces a musical element that is often enjoyed by the readers.

The most popular and common form of rhyme is true rhyme, where two words sound exactly similar to each other. Let's take the aforementioned example into consideration. The terms 'funny' and 'money' rhyme exactly, in that they have the exact syllables toward the end. The same can be said for the terms 'dud' and 'bud'. It is not only important for two words to rhyme, it is also important for them to connect well. So when you write poetry, keep the following in mind.

• Have an idea about what you want to write. Do you want to write a romantic poem, a funny poem, a sad poem, or a general poem that highlights things we generally ignore?

• Once you decide on the idea, start penning down lines or adjectives that you think are suitable to describe your poem. Say you have decided to write about summer. Start writing down words that describe it best: heat, breeze, warmth, sunlight, grass, water, etc.

• Then move on to generating these ideas into a poem, by choosing words that rhyme well with each other. You will use a rhyme scheme to write down a properly rhyming poem. Your poem could then look something like this:

The dew drops that glisten under the sunlight,
Make my day fresh and bright,
Yet another beautiful summer's day I will seize
And bask in the warmth of the summer breeze.

Not every poem needs to have only such a rhyme scheme, and there are several rhyme schemes you can employ when writing a rhyming poem. Let's take a look that these.

Using a Rhyme Scheme

Poems use a rhyme scheme that is described in terms of the letters 'A', 'B', 'C' and 'D'. Each letter represents a set of words that rhyme with each other. For instance, the following lines follow the rhyme scheme AABB:

It is difficult to explain the way I feel, (A)
You have penetrated this heart of steel. (A)
On this stone face you carved a smile, (B)
For me, you have always gone that extra mile. (B)

This is not the only rhyme scheme, and you may experiment with some that consist of the rhyme scheme ABAB, ABBA, or ABCB. Let's take a look at some more examples.

I was the princess of his kingdom, (A)
Of his garden the most beautiful rose. (B)
He shielded me from every challenge, (C)
From each problem that life posed. (B)

This example makes use of the rhyme scheme ABCB. In some lines, you may have only one rhyme scheme such as AAAA, BBBB, or CCCC. For instance:

A man once told me I was pretty, (A)
That I was charming, and I was witty. (A)
That I never saw him again is such a pity, (A)
But to him I dedicate this ditty. (A)

In essence, to be able to write a poem that rhymes, you have to be creative, choose a subject that you want to write about, and use an appropriate rhyme scheme to make your point. There are some dedicated websites that provide you with a list of words that rhyme with another, and make the job simpler for you. However, before you head to such websites, think of something on your own. Rack your brain a little, and use it to come up with some simple rhymes. As you keep trying, you will not need the help of other rhyming dictionaries and the like. Good luck with coming up with your rhyming poem!