Question

Identify the rhyme scheme in the following verse:
Promise me no promises,
So, I will not promise you:
Keep we both our liberties.
Never false and never true:
Let us hold the die uncast,
Free to come as free to go:
For I cannot know your past,
And of mine what can you know?
a) Ababcdcd
b) Abbacddc
c) Abbacdcd
d) abcdabcd

Answer 1

Hint: Rhyme scheme refers to the pattern of rhyme towards the end of each line of a poem of a song.

Complete answer:
Let us find the rhyming words and the pattern of rhyming words in each line of the given stanza. For every unique rhyming word, we’ll assign an alphabet. E.g., the last word of the first line ‘promise’ would be represented by the letter ‘a’. Now any word that rhymes with ‘promises’ would also be represented by ‘a’. Similarly, we will assign different alphabets to different rhyming words. The last word of the second line is ‘you’ which does not rhyme with ‘promises’ so, it would be the letter ‘b’ as it doesn’t rhyme with ‘a’. The last word of the third line in the given stanza is ‘liberties’, which rhymes with ‘promises. Both have that ‘es’ sound towards the end so, ‘liberties’ would be assigned ‘a’. The last word of the next line of the stanza is ‘true’ which rhymes with the word from the 2nd line ‘you’ so, it would be assigned ‘b’. The last word of the 5th line ‘uncast’ rhymes neither with ‘a’ nor with ‘b’; therefore, we would assign it a different alphabet, ‘c’. Coming to the last word of the 6th line, ‘go’; it again doesn’t rhyme with ‘a’, ‘b’, or ‘c’ so, we will represent it by another different alphabet, ‘d’. The last word of the 7th line ‘past’ rhymes with ‘c’ and from the 7th line, the last word, ‘know’ rhymes with ‘go’ so, it is ‘d’. The final rhyme scheme is ‘ababcdcd’ which matches the option ‘a’. Therefore, the option ‘a’ is the correct answer. Option b, c, d, are incorrect.

Note:
While writing the rhyming scheme it’s important to assign different alphabets to different rhyming words but remember to assign the same alphabet to the ones which sound the same.