Jan's Master Class--SLANT RHYME

[yvonne]

Now, that bricks are flying...

I'll post a link to a slant rhyme poem of mine.

Grande Elegance

[glorybee]

Wonderful, Yvonne! I remember when I read it first--not knowing any French pronunciations--wondering if those were exact rhymes or slant rhymes. Now I know!

It's a charming poem...I wish I wish I could write like that!

[yvonne]

Yes, I like to mix French and English in my poems.

"eau" sounds like "oh"
'ue" sounds like "ew"
"ieu" sounds like "yuw" (smile...hard to write that one!)

(Now you'll have to go back and pronounce them correctly.)

[Colswann1]

Hi Jan

Got my running shoes on again.

Avoiding my Saviour, I'd dithered all day.
He'd sent me a message but I had delayed.
Then further guidance from him was made
To get up and follow his every way.

I think it may be a bit forced.

Colin

[glorybee]

Hi, Colin--

I wouldn't call it forced...but I'm not sure that I'd call it slant rhyme, either! You've got the exact rhymed of 'day' and 'way', and the exact rhymes of 'delayed' and 'made'. Your rhyme scheme is abba--nothing slanted at all!

But it's a great little quatrain!

[Colswann1]

Hi Jan
Just attemping another try at it.

Avoiding the Saviour, I'd dithered all day.
I'd shillied and shallied and fallen from grace;
The guilt of it all had left me fast bound,
But I broke free at last with his aid.

Can't get my head around trying to rhyme something that doesn't. I'd much rather put "and fallen away" at the end of line two. This is like playing "blind man's bluff" - am I getting warmer?

Colin

[glorybee]

Yes, Colin--and truly, there's no rule that says you absolutely must include slant rhyme in every poem. I just want people to be aware of it, and to know that it's okay, even desirable in some cases, and that it's better than a bad or forced rhyme.

I admire you for keeping at it until you got it!

[GShuler]

If a poet has the words that would make the PERFECT slant rhyme poem or the words for a traditional rhyme that would be just as PERFECT... would publishers have a preference if the poem was the same in every other way?

[glorybee]

Gerald, I don't really know, but I'll give you what I suspect to be true. It really depends on the market--I'm thinking of a publication like "Ideals" magazine that publishes very traditional poetry, almost always with an upbeat mood--they might be more likely to go for the "true" rhyme.

But a publication that goes for edgier stuff might prefer slant rhyme. Like Helen said in one of her posts on this thread--for some subjects, you just don't want to be all "tumpty tum". In my opinion, slant rhyme is more literary.

That's all conjecture--what I do know is that one website I visited recently stated that they rejected almost all rhymed poety in favor of free verse. So those of you who write rhymed stuff may have to do some digging to find places that are looking for what you do.

[Iam4Him]

I guess I didn't quite get it-maybe because I forced the slants instead of using the rhyme words I use.
Anyway, I tried it on a couple of poems in the critique Circle and guess what?
Readers pointed out that they didn't RHYME

I guess I need to study these examples more, huh?

Bless you for your lessons.

Patty