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Mid-line rhyme

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

Rhyme occurring between words within the same line, not at line endings

Detailed Definition
Mid-line rhyme occurs when a word in the middle of a poetic line rhymes with another word either later in the same line or in a subsequent line, creating internal sonic cohesion that enhances musicality without adhering to end-rhyme conventions; this technique is common in rap, ballads, and modern lyric poetry seeking rhythmic complexity.
Example
Example in poetry:
Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s “The Blessed Damozel” uses mid-line rhyme: “The blessed damozel leaned out / From the gold bar of Heaven”; Gerard Manley Hopkins’s “Pied Beauty”: “Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings”; Emily Dickinson: “I heard a Fly buzz – when I died – / The Stillness in the Room”; W.B. Yeats’s “The Lake Isle of Innisfree”: “I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree.”
Additional Notes
Mid-line rhyme links words within the same line or across internal positions (e.g., “The splendour falls on castle walls”); creates musicality without end-rhyme; useful in blank verse or free verse for subtle cohesion.
Also Known As
Internal rhyme Intra-line assonance Mid-verse echo Embedded rhyme medial rhyme
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