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What Is a Rhyme Scheme? Learn the Patterns With Examples
A rhyme scheme is the pattern of rhyming lines in a poem, written as letters: lines that rhyme share a letter, so AABB means the first two lines rhyme with each other and the next two rhyme with each other. The most common patterns are AABB, ABAB, ABCB, ABBA, and AABBA, and almost every famous fixed form — the sonnet, the limerick, terza rima — is really a rhyme scheme with a job description. This guide explains how to read them, what the major patterns sound like, and how to choose one for your own poem.
What Is a Rhyme Scheme?
A rhyme scheme is the ordered pattern of rhymes at the ends of a poem's lines. Poets describe it with letters of the alphabet: the last word of the first line gets an A, and every later line that rhymes with it also gets an A. The first line that introduces a new rhyme sound becomes B, and so on down the alphabet.
That notation turns a poem into a diagram you can compare instantly: a limerick and a sonnet on the same subject feel completely different because their schemes pull the ear in different directions. The scheme is one of the first decisions a poet makes.
How to Read a Rhyme Scheme: The ABCs
Finding a rhyme scheme takes about thirty seconds: read the poem aloud and write down the final sound of each line — matching sounds share a letter, new sounds get the next one. Here is a two-stanza example worked out:
The sun goes down behind the hill — A
The air turns cool, the world grows still — A
A single star, a silver gleam, B
The first one in a waking dream. B
That is AABB CC, or "rhyming couplets." Label sounds, not spellings: hill and still rhyme despite different spelling, while love and move look alike but do not rhyme (that is an eye rhyme, covered below).
The Most Common Rhyme Schemes
| Scheme | Pattern | Where you hear it |
|---|---|---|
| AABB | Couplets | Nursery rhymes, comic verse, heroic couplets |
| ABAB | Alternate rhyme | Quatrains, most English sonnets |
| ABCB | Ballad rhyme | Ballads, hymns, Emily Dickinson |
| ABBA | Envelope rhyme | Italian sonnet octaves, Tennyson's In Memoriam |
| AABBA | Limerick rhyme | Limericks (Edward Lear and friends) |
| ABA BCB CDC | Terza rima | Dante's Divine Comedy; Shelley's Ode to the West Wind |
| ABAB CDCD EFEF GG | Sonnet rhyme | Shakespearean sonnets |
The single most common scheme in English is ABAB, where alternate lines rhyme: it feels balanced and forward-moving, which is why the Shakespearean sonnet is built from three ABAB quatrains capped by a rhyming couplet. For more on that shape, read our guide to writing a sonnet.
Rhyme Scheme Examples From Famous Poems
ABAB: William Shakespeare, Sonnet 18 (1609). The first quatrain rhymes alternately, and the poem ends with the famous GG couplet:
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date; ...
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
AABB: William Blake, The Tyger (1794). Rhyming couplets give the poem its hammering, chant-like power:
Tyger Tyger, burning bright,
In the forests of the night;
What immortal hand or eye,
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
ABCB: Emily Dickinson, Because I could not stop for Death (c. 1863). Ballad rhyme, and notice the second and fourth lines only half-rhyme (me / Immortality) — slant rhyme was Dickinson's signature:
Because I could not stop for Death –
He kindly stopped for me –
The Carriage held but just Ourselves –
And Immortality.
AABA BBCB CCDC DDDD: Robert Frost, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening (1923). Each stanza's third line introduces the next stanza's rhyme, chaining the quatrains together — until the last collapses into one repeated rhyme that seals the poem:
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
AABBA: Edward Lear's limericks (1846). The long-short-short-long shape of the limerick rhyme is built for a comic setup and punchline:
There was an Old Man with a beard,
Who said, "It is just as I feared! —
Two Owls and a Hen,
Four Larks and a Wren,
Have all built their nests in my beard!"
Terza rima: Percy Shelley, Ode to the West Wind (1820). Each tercet rhymes ABA, and the B sound becomes the next tercet's A, chaining the poem forward like a wave:
O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being,
Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead
Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing,
Types of Rhyme Beyond Perfect Rhyme
- Perfect rhyme: the stressed vowel and everything after it match — day/away, bright/night.
- Slant rhyme (half rhyme): sounds echo but do not quite match — me/Immortality, worm/warm. Dickinson built her whole style on it.
- Eye rhyme: words that look like rhymes but are not — love/move, cough/rough. They only make readers stumble.
- Internal rhyme: rhyming words inside a single line. Poe's The Raven is full of it: "Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary."
- Masculine vs. feminine rhyme: a rhyme on one stressed syllable (hill/still) versus two syllables stressed on the first (river/giver). Feminine rhyme softens a line; masculine rhyme snaps it shut.
If you want practice hearing the difference between perfect and slant rhymes, our poetry terms glossary gives quick definitions you can check mid-poem.
Why the Pattern Matters
A rhyme scheme is not decoration; it is a promise about how the poem will behave. Couplets (AABB) march forward in pairs and feel conclusive, which is why sonnets end with them. ABAB feels steady and thoughtful, perfect for building an argument. ABBA folds inward — the first line returns at the fourth — which suits meditation. In a sonnet, the shift from ABAB quatrains to the GG couplet is the poem's turn, where the argument resolves.
Do Poems Need a Rhyme Scheme?
No. Rhyme is one tool among many, and some of the most beloved English poetry uses none. Free verse, popular since Whitman, rhymes rarely or never, relying on line breaks and rhythm instead. Blank verse — unrhymed iambic pentameter — powered Shakespeare's plays and Milton's Paradise Lost. If strict patterns feel like a cage, try free verse first and add rhyme later only where it earns its place.
Common Mistakes When Using Rhyme Schemes
- Forced rhyme. Reversing word order or reaching for odd vocabulary just to make a rhyme. If readers notice the rhyme more than the meaning, it is failing.
- Breaking the scheme by accident. Starting AABB and drifting into ABAB halfway through. Keep the labeled diagram beside you while drafting.
- Perfect rhyme only. Rhyming perfectly on every line can sound like a greeting card; slant rhyme adds texture and keeps language modern.
- Rhyme as the only music. A rhyme scheme works with meter, not instead of it. Rhymed lines with no consistent beat feel lumpy when read aloud.
- Ignoring line breaks. Where a rhyme lands matters: rhyming the ends of stanzas creates closure, while internal rhymes keep the energy spinning.
How to Pick a Rhyme Scheme for Your Own Poem
Match the scheme to the mood. Comic or light subjects love AABB couplets and the limerick's AABBA. Songs and ballads feel natural in ABCB. A serious argument or love poem suits the sonnet's ABAB CDCD EFEF GG, which builds through three quatrains and resolves in the couplet. A meditative poem can use ABBA, whose returning rhyme mirrors a circling thought.
Draft the first stanza in your chosen scheme before committing — if the pattern fights your subject there, it will fight everywhere. Read it aloud: the ear is the final judge. The poem writing prompts article includes exercises that start from a rhyme scheme instead of a topic, which is a great way to train the habit.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a rhyme scheme in simple terms?
A rhyme scheme is the pattern of rhyming lines in a poem, written as letters. Lines that rhyme with each other get the same letter: AABB means the first two lines rhyme and the next two rhyme, while ABAB means alternate lines rhyme.
What are the 5 most common rhyme schemes?
AABB (rhyming couplets), ABAB (alternate rhyme, used in most sonnets), ABCB (ballad rhyme), ABBA (envelope rhyme), and AABBA (the limerick). ABAB CDCD EFEF GG is the sonnet scheme.
What does ABAB mean in a poem?
ABAB means lines 1 and 3 rhyme with each other and lines 2 and 4 rhyme with each other — alternate lines rhyming. It is the most common English rhyme scheme and the building block of the sonnet's quatrains.
Do poems have to rhyme?
No. Rhyme is one tool among many. Free verse poems rhyme rarely or not at all, and even formal poems can use blank verse (unrhymed iambic pentameter). A rhyme scheme is a choice, not a requirement of poetry.
What is the difference between a rhyme scheme and a stanza?
A stanza is a group of lines separated by blank space; a rhyme scheme is the pattern of rhyming sounds inside a poem. A Shakespearean sonnet spreads one scheme across three quatrains and a couplet.
How do I find the rhyme scheme of a poem?
Label the last word of each line with a letter, starting with A. Lines whose final words rhyme share a letter; a brand-new sound gets the next letter. Reading aloud makes the matching easier to hear.
Rhyme Schemes and the Rest of the Poem
A rhyme scheme never works alone. It interacts with the stanza shape that contains it, the meter that carries the beat beneath it, and enjambment, which can bury a rhyme mid-thought so it surprises the reader on the next line. Even iambic pentameter usually arrives wrapped in a rhyme scheme like the sonnet's. Learn to hear the pattern and you will start noticing how every great poem uses its rhymes — or deliberately refuses them — to steer your attention.
Grab any poem you love and map its scheme in under a minute, then write your own AABB couplet about something small and silly. Rhyme is a machine for making lines memorable — once you can read the diagram, you can build the machine too.