Slant Rhyme

Definition of Half Rhyme

Half rhyme is one of the major poetic devices. It is also called an
imperfect rhyme, slant rhyme, near rhyme or oblique rhyme. It can
be defined as a rhyme in which the stressed syllables of ending
consonants match, however the preceding vowel sounds do not
match.
For instance, in words such as shape/keep the consonance is very
strong. The final consonant sounds remain similar but the ending
vowel sounds are different in half rhyme. Similar to these two words,
moon and run and in the words hold and bald the ending
consonant sounds are similar, whereas vowel sounds are different.
It is generally used to give an inharmonious feeling in a rhyme
scheme. Poets can bring variations in their choice of words by using
half rhymes. It is also known as an imperfect, near or off or sprung
rhyme. Half rhyme is exclusively used as a poetic device in poetry
only.
Difference with Para Rhyme and Assonance
Half rhyme is not a perfect rhyme. And it must not be confused with
para-rhyme and assonance. Although these two literary devices are
(to some extent) similar to half rhyme, there is a slight difference
between them. In para-rhyme, the ending and beginning consonant
sounds are similar such as in the words rod and red, while in
assonance the vowel sounds are similar such as in shot and lot.
Examples of Half Rhyme in Literature
Henry Vaughan was the first English poet who used half rhyme in his
poetry. However, half rhyme was not commonly used in literary
works before Gerard Manley Hopkins and W. B. Yeats. They
introduced this device in their works. Slant/half rhyme became very
popular among the literary writers and English poets since then.
They started using this poetic device extensively in their works
specifically in the 20th century.
Let us have a look at some examples of half rhyme:
Example #1
If love is like a bridge
or maybe like a grudge,
and time is like a river
that kills us with a shiver,
then what have all these mornings meant

but aging into love?

What now is straight must have been bent;
what now is whole must have been rent.
My hand is now your glove.
(To My Wife, by George Wolff)
The poet throws a subtle curve ball in first two lines of this stanza,
bridge and grudge. These two do not rhyme completely. They
are perfect example of half/slant rhyme.
Example #2
When have I last looked on
The round green eyes and the long wavering bodies
Of the dark leopards of the moon?
All the wild witches, those most noble ladies
(W. B. Yeats Lines written in Dejection)
Here in the first and third lines the half-rhyme is used in words
on/moon.
Example #3
That is no country for old men. The young
In one anothers arms, birds in the trees
Those dying generations at their song,
The salmon-falls, the mackerel-crowded seas,
Fish, flesh, or fowl, commend all summer long
Whatever is begotten, born, and dies.
Caught in that sensual music all neglect
Monuments of unageing intellect.
(W. B. Yeats, Sailing to Byzantium)
The rhyme scheme of this poem is ABABABCC, there is an altered
irregular rhymes and following a couplet. If Yeats had not used the
altered half rhyme style in this poem, Sailing to Byzantium, it
would have become the Italian form which is used specifically for
heroic epics.
Example #4
Not any higher stands the Grave
For Heroes than for men
Not any nearer for the Child
Than numb Three Score and Ten
(Emily Dickinson, Not any Higher Stands the Grave)
The words men and ten rhyme and show us an example.
Therefore, it is a perfect rhyme in the first stanza. But, if we
compare this stanza to the next in order to understand slant or
imperfect rhyme then, poet goes on:

This latest leisure equal lulls

The beggar and his queen;
Propitiate this democrat
By summers gracious mien.
(Emily Dickinson, Not any Higher Stands the Grave)
Function of Half Rhyme
Half-rhymes help a poet create an unusual range of words to give a
variety of rhyming effects, particularly when they are used with
other poetic devices and rhyming schemes. They help poets avoid
using the typical sing-song chiming effects of full rhymes and give
them creative freedom. Furthermore, half-rhymes have provided a
subtle discordant note (which does not give absolute harmony), that
offers variation in tone while reading and creates good impact on
the readers. When they are used with other poetic devices, they
give shocking effects to the reader about the actual rhyme scheme.

Examples of Half Rhyme:

Bald/Held
Wall/Mail
Shore/Mare
Long/Swing
Examples of Half Rhyme in Poetry:
From Yeats' "Lines Written in Dejection":
When have I last looked on
The round green eyes and the long wavering bodies
Of the dark leopards of the moon?
Also from Yeats' "Sailing to Byzantium":
That is no country for old me. The young
In one another's arms, birds in the trees
-Those dying generations-at their song,
From Emily Dickenson's "The Thing With Feathers":
"Hope" is the thing with feathersThat perches in the soulAnd sings the tune without the wordsAnd never stops-at allSlant Rhyme in Poetry: Definition, Examples & Quiz
In this lesson, we'll explore slant rhymes, which are sometimes
called half rhymes or near rhymes. After we look at a formal
definition and some examples of slant rhyme, there is a short selfassessment quiz that you can take.
Slant Rhymes
Have you ever read a poem or heard a song that uses two words

that don't quite rhyme? It can be difficult to switch from a perfect

rhyme scheme to one that has words that barely sound similar. This
type of rhyme scheme is known as a slant rhyme.
Let's take a look at the rhymes in two different stanzas from Emily
Dickinson's 'Not any Higher Stands the Grave.'
'Not any higher stands the GraveFor Heroes than for men--Not any
nearer for the ChildThan numb Three Score and Ten--' (1-4)
Notice how 'men' and 'ten' rhyme perfectly? This, of course, is a
perfect rhyme. Compare this to the next stanza, which uses the
same rhyme scheme:
This latest Leisure equal lullsThe Beggar and his QueenPropitiate
this DemocratA Summer's Afternoon.' (5-8)
Along with her reclusive nature, many readers originally found the
slant rhyme in the poetry of Emily Dickinson odd.

It's quite obvious that 'queen' and 'afternoon' both end with similar
sounds but don't rhyme. This imperfect rhyme is a slant rhyme,
sometimes called a half rhyme or near rhyme. A more technical
distinction between a full rhyme and a slant rhyme is that a full
rhyme has a repetition in both the final consonant and the
proceeding vowel or consonant, while a slant rhyme has a repetition
in the final consonant but not in the proceeding vowel or consonant.
You won't find much slant rhyme in poetry that came before the mid
19th century, but it is very common in the poetry of the 20th
century. Contemporary poets frequently use slant rhyme to give
themselves a greater range and freedom in the words that they use,
as well as to produce a desired feeling in the poem.
Examples
While it's fair to say that Emily Dickinson was famous for using slant
rhymes, it was W. B. Yeats and Gerard Manley Hopkins who made
them particularly popular. Here is an example from Yeats's 'Easter
1916.'
'I have met them at close of dayComing with vivid facesFrom
counter or desk among greyEighteenth-century houses.' (1-4)

Slant Rhymes Demystified

So, here we are. We know what a rhyme is, but a slant rhyme? Hard
for the layman to put his or her finger on. Fear not, gentle reader,

for here is a simple definition, with examples to follow. Slant rhymes

(also known as near rhymes, half rhymes, and by several other
epithets) are everywhere, especially in modern music. We take them
for granted, and generally only when we look closely do we realize
that this doesnt really rhyme, does it? Slant rhymes occur when
two words share a final consonant sound or a final vowel sound, but
not both. So, while park and dark are conventionally endrhymed, since they share the short a sound and the twoconsonant combination, -rk, the words park and cart are slant
rhymed. Those two words share the short a sound, and the r is
present, but the change from rk to rt is too far away to be called
an end rhyme. Instead, we call it a slant rhyme. Some examples
of other slant rhymed pairs of words: sing and song, there and
here, soul and all, on and moon, and so on.
Slant Rhymes in Action
Poets, for years, have leaned on slant rhymes. As we said earlier,
this wasnt because they couldnt think of a better rhyme, but
rather, using slant rhymes gives poets more choices for how to say
what they want to say. For example, if you use the word love in a
poem or song lyric, the only rhymes are above, dove, glove,
of, and shove, or variations thereof. You see what we did there?
However, when you add in the possibility of slant rhymes for love,
you can choose any word that ends with the consonant v sound or
with the short u vowel sound (regardless of whether it is an o or
a u making that sound). So, the words move, cave, weave,
and thrive are all slant rhymes for love, as are the words but,
cusp, drug, and rust. NOW do you see why poets like slant
rhymes?
The Romantics and Slant Rhymes
The poets of the Romantic Period (ca. 1800-1850) were quite fond of
slant rhyme, as are all poets. Since the poems of that period tend to
be longer in form, with longer stanzas, poets had a greater need
than ever before (or since) to find as many possible rhymes as
possible. Here is an example of slant rhyme in action from Percy
Bysshe Shelleys most famous poem, Ozymandias: I met a traveller
from an antique land Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand, Half sunk, a shatterd
visage lies, whose frown And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold
command You can learn more about the Romantic poets, but for
now, let us look at how Shelley used slant rhyme: Lines one, three,
and five are conventionally end-rhymed (land, sand, and
command), but lines two and four are clearly slant rhymed, since
stone has a different vowel sound than frown, even though the
sound comes from the same vowel. No, Shelley didnt intend you to
pronounce frown so that it rhymes with stone, in case you were
wondering. He wasnt making a mistake here, he was using slant
rhyme to give himself a greater choice of words.

Songs That Slant

And of course, many (if not most) songs have slant rhymes in them.
It would be hard to find one that did not, to be honest. The classic
folk song, The Rock Island Line, often thought of as a childrens
song, gives us several examples in the chorus alone: Now the Rock
Island Line, its a mighty good road. The Rock Island Line, its the
road to ride. The Rock Island Line, its a mighty good road. Well, if
you ride, You got to ride it Like you find it On that Rock Island Line.
Lines one and three are slant-rhymed with lines two and four (road
and ride), with the most pungent slant rhyme embedded in lines
five and six, with ride it slant-rhymed with find it. Generations of
children and adults have sung along to this, entranced by the lyric,
never once complaining that ride it and find it dont exactly
rhyme. You can learn more about songwriting in this online course,
and about writing for children here. It might also be worthwhile to
take a look at Tiffany Tays blog post on the craft of songwriting,
while youre at it.
Use in hip hop/rap[edit]
See also: Rapping Rhyme
Half rhyme is often used, along with assonance, in rap music. This
can be used to avoid rhyming clichs (e.g. rhyming "knowledge"
with "college") or obvious rhymes, and gives the writer greater
freedom and flexibility in forming lines of verse. Additionally, some
words have no perfect rhyme in English, necessitating the use of
slant rhyme.[3] The use of half rhyme may also enable the
construction of longer multisyllabic rhymes than otherwise possible.
In the following lines from the song "N.Y. State of Mind" by rapper
Nas, the author uses half rhyme in a complex cross rhyme pattern:
And be prosperous, though we live dangerous
Cops could just arrest me, blamin us, were held like hostages