Friday, August 26, 2016

Makin' It Rhyme

Hi!

1) Let's start by just reading. Take a look at Shakespeare's Sonnet 18, possibly the most famous poem of all time. A sonnet is traditionally three ABAB quatrains, followed by a couplet. (It's also supposed to be in iambic pentameter, meaning each line has five iambs, but that's a question of meter, not rhyme.) Try reading it out loud so you can really hear the rhymes!

2) Let's do some analysis. Here's an excerpt from Capital Punishment, by Big Pun. (There's some profanity in that song, so if that bothers you probably don't listen to it. There's none in the quoted excerpt, though.) How many examples of internal rhyme can you find?

I've seen child blossom to man,
some withered and turned to murderers
Led astray by the liars death glorifiers observin us
Watching us close, marketing host is here to purchase, purposely overtaxin the earnings

Nervous, burning down the churches

3) Write a poem! I'd recommend some kind of quatrain, but if you want to go longer that's great. Try to work in some internal rhymes too, if you can. And don't forget about your poetic meter! Writing poetry is really the best practice for writing lyrics. It takes all the same skills, but it lets you focus more on them 'cause you don't have to worry about the underlying music.

And that's it! See you next week!

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