Question

Read the descriptions of rhyme schemes below.

Answer 1

Answer:

The poem "Harlem" uses A. free verse

Explanation:

First, let's take a look at the poem "Harlem" by Langston Hughes:

What happens to a dream deferred?

     Does it dry up

     like a raisin in the sun?

     Or fester like a sore—

     And then run?

     Does it stink like rotten meat?

     Or crust and sugar over—

     like a syrupy sweet?

     Maybe it just sags

     like a heavy load.

     Or does it explode?

We can clearly see there isn't much of a pattern being applied. The very fist line of the poem is much longer than the rest of it. None of the lines constitute a iambic pentameter - a five-time repetition of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one. Therefore, we can eliminate options B and C, according to the descriptions provided in the question.

We can safely eliminate letter D as well, since we do not have a pattern of two consecutive lines that rhyme in this poem -- note that the two last lines do rhyme and are consecutive in the sense that there isn't another line between them; still, they do not belong to the same stanza and are not related enough to be considered a couplet.

The only option left, and the correct one is A. free verse. Even though there are a few rhymes taking place in "Harlem" (sun/run, meat/sweet, load/explode), they do not follow a consistent pattern. Mostly, they are intercalated with lines that do not rhyme at all (up, sore, over, and sags). There is no concern for metrics either, each line having a different number of syllables.