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Rhymes - Perfect, Partial, Additive and AssonantRhymes - Perfect, Partial, Additive and Assonant

I got this from a former student:

Pat,
I'm a 2007 Berklee alum and enjoyed taking Lyric Writing 1 and 2 with you. I'm still re-reading Better Lyrics on a regular basis, it's such a great tool to use! Quick question - what kind of rhyme are the following:

vented / tensor, pencil, envy

Consensus among fellow Berklee-ites is they're all additive or all assonance rhymes. Your thoughts?

Thanks!

--Trevor Grondin

***
Hey Trevor,

vented / tensor, pencil, envy

"ven/ten/pen/en" are perfect rhymes. "ted/sor/cil/vy" don't rhyme at all. They're all feminine constructions, strong syllable perfect rhymes and unrhymed unaccented syllables. I'd call them partial rhymes, on the model of "sun/funny," from Essential Guide to Rhyming.

Additive rhyme stays within the rhymed syllables: "free/breeze." Envy/rent me would be additive rhymes, additive in the stressed syllable and perfect in the unstressed. Envy/rest me would be assonance rhyme in the stressed syllable. In feminine rhyme, it's all about the stressed syllable. The unstressed syllables are usually identities, "lonely/homely," (family) or perfect, (envy/rent me).

Thanks for the question.

--Pat

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Friday, Dec 31 18:31 PM
Pat:

Many writers seem to get additive rhyme (adding a consonant to the end of the rhymed syllable) with the effect of adding a syllable to the word... which I guess you would call partial rhyme. Sheila Davis names this "trailing rhyme" I believe...

It is hard to remember that rhyming is a relationship of syllables, not words!
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