Home › Glossary › Letter M

Midline rhyme

Rhyme
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

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

A rhyme occurring between words within the same line rather than at line endings, adding internal sonic texture.

Detailed Definition
Midline rhyme (or internal rhyme) occurs when a word within a line rhymes with another word in the same line or across lines before the end; it enhances musicality and pacing, as in Poe’s “Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary.”
Example
Example in poetry:
Midline rhyme in Keats’ “Endymion”: “Deep in the shady sadness of a vale / Far sunken from the healthy breath of morn”; In “The Raven,” Poe uses midline rhyme: “While I nodded, nearly napping”; Contemporary example: “She walks through the market / bright as a parrot”; Midline rhyme creates internal music without end-rhyme
Additional Notes
Internal rhyme occurring at line's midpoint. Related: internal rhyme, caesural rhyme. Tip: Often coincides with caesura; analyze whether midline rhyme reinforces or works against syntactic pause.
Also Known As
Internal rhyme medial rhyme mid-verse rhyme caesural rhyme
Skip to main content