What are the patterns of rhymes at the end of each line or stanza of a poem, such as ABAB or AABB?

• A. Rhyme schemes
• B. Meter
• C. Free verse
• D. Genre

Answer: (A)

Rhyme schemes describe how the end sounds of lines rhyme with each other. You assign the same letter to lines that share a rhyme, and a new letter when a new rhyme appears. For example, a pattern where the first and third lines rhyme and the second and fourth lines rhyme is a common ABAB scheme. If the first two lines rhyme with each other and the last two lines rhyme with each other, that’s an AABB scheme. This system helps give a poem its musical shape and can guide how a stanza flows from one line to the next.

Meter, on the other hand, is about the rhythm created by stressed and unstressed syllables in each line, not the end rhymes. Free verse refers to poetry without a regular rhyme or meter, lacking a fixed end-rhyme pattern. Genre is the broader category of literature, such as a sonnet or ballad, which may include rhyme patterns but is not the pattern itself.