Towards a theory of sporadic rhyming

Roi Tartakovsky*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

3 Scopus citations

Abstract

A surprising amount of 20th-century (and earlier) English-language poetry employs rhyme, but not the rhyme we normally think of, which marks the end of the line in metrical poetry, but a kind of half-intentional half-accidental rhyme that can appear anywhere within the text. This type of rhyming, which I term 'sporadic' and distinguish from 'systematic,' has illuminating potential as it relies on, but also departs from traditional rhyme functions. As such, it asks for a new theorization. In this essay I elaborate the core characteristics of sporadic rhyming, and then exemplify and qualify these through a series of readings.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)101-117
Number of pages17
JournalLanguage and Literature
Volume23
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - May 2014

Keywords

  • Jakobson
  • Modern
  • poetry
  • retrospectivity
  • rhyme
  • sound
  • sporadic
  • systematic

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