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

Read the following lines of poetry:

The golden sun sinks slowly in the west,
And shadows lengthen on the quiet hill;
The weary traveler pauses for his rest,
While all the world grows motionless and still.
The night approaches with a gentle grace,
And stars begin to flicker in the sky;
A serene calm envelops every place,
As evening's silent whispers murmur by.

What is the rhyme scheme of this poetic excerpt?

  1. abab cdcdAnswer
  2. B
    abba cddc
  3. C
    aabb ccdd
  4. D
    abcb defe

Answer

The rhyme scheme of the excerpt is abab cdcd.
The correct answer is 'abab cdcd' because the excerpt consists of two four-line stanzas (quatrains) with alternating end-rhymes. In the first quatrain, line 1 ('west') rhymes with line 3 ('rest'), and line 2 ('hill') rhymes with line 4 ('still'). In the second quatrain, line 5 ('grace') rhymes with line 7 ('place'), and line 6 ('sky') rhymes with line 8 ('by').

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Assign the letter 'a' to the end word of line 1 and find matching rhymes in the first quatrain.
Line 1 ends with 'west' (a). Line 3 ends with 'rest', which rhymes with 'west' and is also assigned (a).
Rhyme scheme identification starts by grouping identical end-sounds under the same letter.
2
Assign the letter 'b' to the end word of line 2 and find matching rhymes.
Line 2 ends with 'hill' (b). Line 4 ends with 'still', which rhymes with 'hill' and is assigned (b). The first quatrain follows an abab pattern.
New end-sounds receive the next sequential letter of the alphabet.
3
Repeat the mapping for the second quatrain using letters 'c' and 'd'.
Line 5 'grace' (c) rhymes with line 7 'place' (c). Line 6 'sky' (d) rhymes with line 8 'by' (d). The second quatrain follows a cdcd pattern.
Continuing the letter mapping sequentially for new stanzas yields the full pattern abab cdcd.

Key Concept

End-Rhyme Scheme Mapping
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Topics

Analysis of Poetic Form, Structure, and Rhyme Scheme

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