Masculine rhyme

A masculine rhyme is a rhyme that matches only one syllable, usually at the end of respective lines. Often the final syllable is stressed.

English

In English prosody, a masculine rhyme is a rhyme on a single stressed syllable at the end of a line of poetry. This term is interchangeable with single rhyme, and is often used contrastingly with the terms "feminine rhyme" and "double rhyme."

In English-language poetry, especially serious verse, masculine rhymes comprise a majority of all rhymes. John Donne's poem "Lecture Upon the Shadow" is one of many that utilise exclusively masculine rhyme:

Stand still, and I will read to thee

A lecture, love, in Love's philosophy.

These three hours that we have spent

Walking here, two shadows went

Along with us, which we ourselves produced.

But now the sun is just above our head,

We do those shadows tread,

And to brave clearness all things are reduced.

French

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

See also

• Feminine rhyme
• Masculine ending

External links

• Guide to Verse Forms
• Rhyming dictionary