How to Find a Rhyme Scheme

Finding End Rhyme Scheme

• 1

  Read the first line of the poem and highlight the last word in your first color.

• 2

  Read the second line of the poem to determine whether the last syllable of the line matches -- in sound -- the first line.

• 3

  Highlight the second line in the same color as the first line for a similar sound or highlight in a second color for a different sound.

• 4

  Repeat the third step with the next line of the poem.

• 5

  Label the matching sounds with the same letter. For example, all sounds matching the first line are labeled "A" while all sounds matching the second sound are labeled "B."

• 6

  Write the rhyme scheme based on the number of different end syllable sounds. ABAB is an example of a common rhyme scheme indicating that the first and third lines end in the same sound while the second and fourth lines end in the same syllable.

Identifying Internal Rhyme Schemes

• 7

  Find words in the middle of a line whose final syllable matches the rhyme at the end of the line.

• 8

  Note the lines that contain internal rhymes.

• 9

  List lines with internal rhyme schemes by the number of the line of the stanza. For example, Line #3 and Line #8 contain internal rhyme schemes.