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Antirhyme

Rhyme
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

The intentional omission of rhyme where it would normally be expected, creating tension, surprise, or a sense of disruption.

Detailed Definition
Antirhyme is a poetic technique where words with similar consonant patterns but differing vowel sounds are paired at line endings, creating a dissonant or inverted echo effect; unlike traditional rhyme, which emphasizes matching vowels and consonants, antirhyme (also called pararhyme or consonance rhyme) foregrounds consonantal repetition while allowing vowel variation, as seen in Wilfred Owen’s war poetry where “hall” and “hell” produce haunting sonic tension.
Example
Example in poetry:
Antirhyme: Rhyme based on consonance without vowel match, as in “black” / “block” or “stone” / “stain”; e.g., in W.B. Yeats’s “The Tower”: “What’s the meaning of all this? / I know that I shall meet my fate,” where slant consonance creates tension.
Additional Notes
Antirhyme (also called half-rhyme or pararhyme) occurs when words share consonants but not vowels (e.g., “hall” and “hill”); used by poets like Wilfred Owen to create dissonance or unease, especially in war poetry.
Also Known As
Non-rhyme Deliberate non-rhyme Conscious unrhyming
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