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Difficulty: MediumAnalysis of Poetic Form, Structure, and Rhyme Scheme

Read the unseen poetic extract below:

*Upon the silent mountain crest,*
*The golden light begins to fade,*
*While darkness deepens in the glade,*
*And weary birds return to rest.*
*The quiet earth is gently blessed,*
*In starry robes of night arrayed;*
*Yet suddenly a sound is made—*
*A sudden storm breaks from the west!*

Which of the following correctly identifies the rhyme scheme of the stanza above?

  1. abbaabbaAnswer
  2. B
    abababab
  3. C
    ababcdcd
  4. D
    aabbccdd

Answer

The rhyme scheme of the octave is abbaabba.
The rhyme scheme is abbaabba because the first, fourth, fifth, and eighth lines end with rhyming words ('crest', 'rest', 'blessed', 'west'), designated by 'a'. The second, third, sixth, and seventh lines end with rhyming words ('fade', 'glade', 'arrayed', 'made'), designated by 'b'.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Assign the first end-rhyme letter 'a'
Line 1 ends with 'crest' (a).
The first line of a poem is always assigned the letter 'a'.
2
Examine line 2 and 3 end-words
Line 2 ends with 'fade' (b) and line 3 ends with 'glade' (b). Line 4 ends with 'rest' (a).
'fade' does not rhyme with 'crest', so it receives 'b'. 'glade' rhymes with 'fade' (b). 'rest' rhymes with 'crest' (a). The first quatrain is abba.
3
Analyze the second quatrain (lines 5-8)
Line 5 'blessed' (a), line 6 'arrayed' (b), line 7 'made' (b), line 8 'west' (a).
'blessed' and 'west' rhyme with 'crest'/'rest' (a), while 'arrayed' and 'made' rhyme with 'fade'/'glade' (b).
4
Combine the full pattern across all 8 lines
The combined rhyme pattern is abbaabba.
This 8-line structure matches the enclosed octave characteristic of a Petrarchan sonnet.

Key Concept

Rhyme Scheme Analysis in Petrarchan Octaves
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Topics

Analysis of Poetic Form, Structure, and Rhyme Scheme

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