(I am posting this, knowing that my
musician friends who venture here are definitely going to hold me to the
rules written here...)
My favorite rhyming dictionary is:
COMPLETE RHYMING DICTIONARY edited by Clemet Wood (New York, NY, Doubleday, 1991) ISBN 0-385-41350-5.
It has a section titled THE POET'S CRAFT BOOK - 108 pages of
instructions and descriptions of rhyming and metering before the rhyming
dictionary part even begins. Any writer of poetry or lyric should have
this book - in my opinion. I would like to share several of the general
rules it gives for rhyming that I have not yet mentioned above.
"Poetry is the expression of
thought which awakes the higher and nobler emotions or their opposites,
in words arranged according to some accepted convention."
(page 3)
If poetry alone is meant to unlock higher
and nobler (or the opposite) emotions, then just how much greater is the
hymnists' challenge to take them even higher by use of music? And it
is worth your time and effort to really learn the craft and get it right!
"The desire that seeks
expression, which it finds in the poem, springs from a deeper basic
source than thinking" ... a "tremendous inner compulsion comes upon
the sensitive poet to seek relief by creating his wish-fulfillment in
words; and so it is that poems are born."
(page 6)
To carry this one step further - the
hymnist is driven, not just by thought, but by a spiritual need or
desire to express heavenly thoughts and aspirations. Their driving need is to express
the spirituality in their souls in a way others will understand,
appreciate, and gain from. Their need is to bear witness of the divine
they feel within themselves.
"The poet who fails to be a
critic as well is usually his own self-slayer." ...
"Second-rate poets distrust their own vision..."
(page 6-7)
Even a hymnist must learn to analyze
their own writing as well as the writings of others so they can learn
what works and what doesn't work. But meanwhile, they must trust their
own vision. While being critical helps you learn the rules and
standards, you must apply them and break them in an acceptable way to
bring your vision to life.
"Learn correct rhyming first;
then, if you wish to break the rule you understand, that is your
privilege."
(page 27)
Rhyme and meter are centuries old, and
through those centuries the speaker and the listener have been
discovering what sounds and feels good when presented verbally. We need
to learn from the past so we can apply it in ways already proven to be
pleasing to the ear, heart, and mind. But this should not fetter us from
exploring the infinite variety of ways to combine the words of our
language together - but to know what we are doing, we need to know the
rules so that we can properly apply them - or know why we are
breaking them.
"Rhyming must always give the
effect of unobtrusive naturalness, or it fails of its proper effect."
(page 29)
I don't know how many times my friends
have told me - "This sounds forced"... and the terrible thing is they
were nearly always pointing at a line I'd forced into rhyming - I'd
settled on the first thing I could 'make' rhyme. Don't just settle on
something because "Finally! A word that rhymes!"... your readership will
know you 'cheated' as well as you will know it. Take the time to find a
rhyme that flows, fits, and feels natural - it's worth the time and
effort!
"In light and humorous verse...
cleverness is a crown; in serious verse, if used sparingly, it is
permitted."
(page 30)
Limericks and Dr. Seuss are crowning achievements in
cute, imaginative, and above all, clever rhyme. We read limericks and
Dr. Seuss for the sheer joy of the rhyme. But try to picture Shakespeare's sonnets or
Dante's 'Divine Comedy' or even Milton's 'Paradise Lost' written to show
off their rhyming skills over and above the message of the text, and you
see that serious and spiritual verse, while needing to rhyme well, should
not have rhymes so cute and clever that they draw our attention away
from the message presented. If we do, clever becomes cleaver and our
message is chopped up and lost.
"No inversions, no archaisms, no
poetic license."
(page 32)
Poetic license is the self-proclaimed 'right' to warp and
twist the language out of its natural order or grammar while forcing
something to rhyme. For the most part, Shame on you! But there are
exceptions.
The sentence structure of the English
language allows the order of the nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs
to be arranged in many different orders and still be technically
correct. However technically correct they may be, if the sentence
appears to be in pain over what you have done with it, then put it out
of its misery and rewrite. If the reader needs to consult a grammar textbook to verify what you've
written is in fact English sentence structure - or in fact English -
then rewrite. There are times you can invert the order of words in a
sentence to obtain a good rhyme, but it must still flow well and sound
natural. If in doubt, share it with friends you know will tell you
the truth.
"Poetry that speaks a dead
language is dead from its birth; poetry that speaks a warped and
distorted language is warped and distorted from its birth." ...
... "If your poetry speaks your own living language, its vocabulary is
acceptable." ...
... "Let your poetic speech be your own living speech at its best,
dictated by an innate sense of music, and the result will satisfy."
(pages 95 & 98)
One should write in the normal language
of your day - the language you're comfortable with and speak well. But
as hymnists we often feel the need to write in the language of the
Bible our congregation uses. My church uses the King James Version, and
an avid reader of the scriptures in my church can become fluent in "King
James English".
Churches that use modern-language Bibles are not fluent in this language,
and it means nothing to them. In one church, King James English in one's hymns
would be acceptable, in the other it's a foreign and useless language.
While I was definitely raised in the
United States and understand several versions of American English, I was also raised with King
James English - I love the beauty and majesty of its language, and most
of the time I can write in the language of this sacred volume. I still
prefer to write in it when writing a hymn text
addressing or centered around Deity, because I was raised to address Deity with this language. To do this well as a writer,
a hymnist must continue to make King James English their own language
by continuing to read the King James Version and understanding and
feeling the beauty of the language. They have to make sure they use it
correctly. As a matter of routine, I'll compare what I write to the King
James and other such as Shakespeare and Milton -
to ensure proper use of the language. And if I miss something, one of my
musician friends at church will usually catch it - it's almost become a
way to see who's reading their scriptures and is fluent in their
'scripture language'.
For those who wish to better understand
the use of King James English,
please
CLICK HERE
for my worksheet on the subject.
"The words chosen should always
end, and as far as possible include, only sounds which open the mouth,
instead of closing it."
(page 58-59)
How often have we heard a choir end a
line or stanza or even a whole song with the letter "M"? Not too often!
When we do, we start looking around for the flight of bees overhead. A sound that involves
leaving the mouth open better terminates what is being said, whether we cut it off quickly
or if we hold it out for several beats. And, it keeps the bees out of
the chapel.
"No syllable once used as a rhyme
can be used again in the same poem as a rhyme - not even if it is
spelled differently or if the whole word is altered by a prefix."
(page 66)
An example:
My brother saw a big brown bear
Sleeping on the ground, so bare.
Using "bear" and "bare" does not
create an acceptable rhyme - it is still the exact same sound. Another example:
All of the new world I do claim,
And of the old this day disclaim.
Just because you disguised 'claim' by
adding the prefix does not mean you've created a good
rhyme or have fooled anyone. The the consonant before the rhyming vowel
must be different to create a good rhyme. Take the above poems and do this -
My brother saw a big brown bear
With long and mangy-looking hair.
All of the new world I do claim,
And to it I will give my name.
Now at least, each has a good rhyme. The consonant
before the rhyming vowel is different, giving the reader the variety of sound that pleases the ear.