Emphatic rhyme is rhyme used strategically to stress, highlight, or draw attention to key words, ideas, or moments in a poem. By placing important terms in rhyming position, poets can emphasize their significance through sonic reinforcement. The expectation and satisfaction of rhyme draws reader attention to rhymed words, making rhyme position inherently emphatic. When this natural emphasis is deliberately exploited to highlight meaningful content, it becomes emphatic rhyme. This technique can create closure, mark important transitions, or ensure that crucial terms resonate in reader memory through the combined force of position, sound, and meaning.

emphatic rhyme|A rhyme positioned or stressed for maximum impact; often closes stanzas or drives home key themes.