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Swelling 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

A rhyme that builds in intensity or sonic weight toward its resolution

Detailed Definition
Swelling rhyme describes a rhyming pattern where sound echoes intensify across a stanza or poem—through internal rhyme, assonance, or consonance—building sonic density and emotional resonance; it creates a wave-like effect that amplifies the poem’s lyrical power.
Example
Example in poetry:
Shakespeare’s Sonnet 129 builds swelling rhyme through intensifying couplets on lust; Keats’s “Ode to a Nightingale” swells rhyme from personal sorrow to universal longing; Whitman’s “Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking” swells rhyme through anaphora and crescendo; Dylan Thomas’s “Do not go gentle into that good night” swells rhyme with repeated imperatives.
Additional Notes
Swelling rhyme intensifies through repetition, alliteration, or assonance near a poem’s climax; builds emotional or sonic power—related to climactic triplet.
Also Known As
Expanding rhyme crescendo rhyme intensifying assonance building echo Turgescent Rhyme
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