ABPA - Australian Bush Poets Association

It's been quite here for a few days so thought I pose this question.

There are certain words though spelt differently, are pronounced exactly the same, but their meaning is quite different - so are they a rhyme?

Her's some for an example
SEA - SEE,
FREE - THREE,
FOUR - FOR and so on.

Terry

G/day Marty,
I should have added that they are rhymes of course but would they be acceptable in say a comp?

Terry

Terry I think I read or heard that they are not rhymes. Although spelt differently, they sound the same. It may have been some notes from Kym. Can't recall.

That didn't help really did it?

Heather

Ok, found those notes. Kym uses the example seen and scene. It would have to have a different consonant to be a rhyme eg seen and been.

That help?

Heather

See Kym, I did learn something!

This is one of those occasions where people seem to want to choose a side and draw swords. Some believe that "same" rhymes are no-no's, while others believe they are perfectly legitimate rhymes.

I did accidentally use a same rhyme in one of my poems long, long ago and I received my poem back with judge's writing on, commenting that they are not acceptable rhymes. It was just one of those proof-read-it-a-thousand-times-but-just-didn't-see-it sort of things, and I was very surprised to see that I had done that! To me, personally, I find them jarring when reading a poem so I avoid them in my own work.

I suppose the best answer is "if in doubt, leave it out".

But "free" and "three" ARE good rhymes. F and TH are different sounds. Close, but different.

Good girl Heather, you were listening!!!

Thanks Kym & Heather,
It's a fine line at times isn't it, what brought this to my attention was, that like you Kym, I had inadvertently used (in my case SEE and SEA) and it was only when I was going through what I had written that I noticed it. It didn't look right so I changed it, but thought it might make a good discussion point as there are quite a few similar words that look the same.
What is also interesting now that you point it out, is how that subtle difference in THREE and FREE make those words acceptable.

Terry

Terry,

According to Stephen Fry ( The Ode Less Travelled,2005) words which are spelled differently but sound the same are called Rich-rhyme. And Marty is quite right, there are examples around of people who have used these words deliberately to create an effect in a poem. ( I'll see if I can find one if you really want to know )

A. Examples would be..eye/I, maid/made, blue/blew,

B. Rich rhyme also includes words the look the same but are said different,
examples...bow ( bow down )/bow ( bow tie ) lead ( lead the dog )/ lead ( lead pipe )
I think these are also called sight rhymes. Some dispute the legitimacy of these, but technically, they are correct rhymes..

If any judge of a poetry competition marks these as incorrect rhyme, they are incorrect, .

Hi Neville thanks for the comment.
I keep learning something interesting all the time. So much knowledge, so little space to store in.
Out of curiosity I checked Rhymezone on the net and they have SEE & SEA as a rhyme.
I suppose though as Kym said it pays to stay safe and if you think it's iffy, use something else instead.
Think of the poor judges having to wade through a mountain of literature and even then having to decide on what interpretation to go with.
In the end the judge will make his or her decision and technically right or wrong that decision will be the end of it.

No wonder migrants struggle with English, when we who were brought up with it still can't really understand it.

Cheers Terry

G/day Matt,
The trout season opens here on the 1st of Sept. I was just sitting outside on this beautiful balmy afternoon and watching the termites hatch, they were everywhere. Love to be down on a stream or one of the dams, every trout would be rising.

Speaking of the Sea, There's a sea of mud up where I should be, a belt of rain has saturated the area, the mining company can't even move any machinery at the moment.

Must admit I was getting a bit twitchy watching those termites.

Terry