Rhyme Scheme?

Question

A quiet remembering host,
Outliving the poor dust that gave them birth,
Unvisited by even a wandering ghost,
But treasuring still the music of our earth,
In little fading hieroglyphs they shall bear
Through death and night, the legend of our spring,
And how the lilac scented the bright air
When hearts throbbed warm, and lips could kiss and sing.

And, ere that record fail,
Strange voyagers from a mightier planet come
On winged ships that through the void can sail
And gently alight upon our ancient home;
Strange voices echo, and strange flares explore,
Strange hands, with curious weapons, burst these bars,
Lift the brown volumes to the light once more,
And bear their stranger secrets through the stars.

What would be the rhyme scheme? I found it to be ABABCDCD (approximate rhyme included), but is there a specific name for that like aa bb cc is couplet? And is there a constant meter or beat in this poem?

The rhyme scheme would be ABABCDCD for BOTH stanzas right? And it wouldn't have a specific name?

Answer 1

A Shakespearean Sonnet would have two quatrains and a sestet, if you count your lines you'll see this is not. It is also missing the iambic pentameter, the lines are irregular. It approximates quatrain in two stanzas of octet; ababcdcd efefghgh. It's a modernist fantasy with elements of science fiction mixed in the flowery language that traps careless readers into thinking they are reading a classic author and form.

Answer 2

Brown Sugar is right about the rhyme scheme.

The poem is not a sonnet of any kind.

A Shakespearean sonnet is usually described as having three quatrains (groups of four lines) and a final couplet, not two quatrains and a sestet.

Answer 3

You have it right. But, aa, bb, cc, dd... would be couplets. I think this is quatrains:

Quatrain
A poem, unit or stanza of four lines of verse, usually with a rhyme scheme of abab or its variant, xbyb. It is the most common stanzaic form.

Answer 4

Lupe really people? he's nice but not complex @ all....the only ones i agree with so far are Canibus & Elzhi Most complex - Ghostface Killah (easily, ive been a fan since '96 and i still dont know what he's talkin about from time to time....but its ridiculous) Least complex - Jay-Z (hence the commercial appeal/success he "dumbed it down" a long time ago....) least complex u could obviously say Soulja boy, Gucci Mane or someone like that but i kept it to respected artists.....

Answer 5

The rhyme scheme would be a "Shakespearean sonnet". You are correct, it is ABAB CDCD.

Answer 6

ABAB
CDCD
EFEF
GHGH

No there isn't a specific name for it, as far as I know. The meter isn't quite constant either. Who wrote it?