A perfect rhyme — also called a full rhyme, exact rhyme, or true rhyme — is a rhyme in which the later part of the word or phrase is identical sounding to that of another.
The following conditions are required for a rhyme to be perfect:
- The vowel sound in both words must be identical. — e.g. "sky" and high"
- The articulation that precedes the vowel sound must differ. "leave" and "believe" is an imperfect rhyme, whereas "green" and "spleen" are perfect rhymes.
Word pairs that satisfy the first condition but not the second (such as the aforementioned "leave" and "believe") are technically identities (also known as identical rhymes or identicals). Homophones are sometimes classified as identical rhymes, though the classification isn't entirely accurate.
Read more about Perfect Rhyme: See Also
Famous quotes containing the words perfect and/or rhyme:
“DEAR FRIEND: ——
If I was sure of thee, sure of thy capacity, sure to match my mood with thine, I should never think again of trifles in relation to thy comings and goings. I am not very wise; my moods are quite attainable; and I respect thy genius; it is to me unfathomed; yet dare I not presume in thee a perfect intelligence of me, and so thou art to me a delicious torment. Thine ever, or never.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“I’ll rhyme you so eight years together, dinners and suppers
and sleeping-hours excepted.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)