Question

What rhyme scheme is used in this excerpt from the poem "To Lucasta, Going to the Wars" by Richard Lovelace?

Answer 1

The answer is b ) abab cdcd.

In poetry, letters such as a, b, c, etc. are assigned to represent the rhyme that occurs at the end of a line. When you see the first rhyme pair, you’d label that one ‘a’ since that is the first rhyme. The second rhyme pair would be labeled ‘b,’ and so on...

Let’s take a look at the first quatrain from Richard Lovelace's "To Lucasta, Going to the Wars," and please be sure to read it aloud, so you can clearly hear the rhyme.

True, a new mistress now I chase,

The first foe in the field;

And with a stronger faith embrace

A sword, a horse, a shield.

Okay, so when reading this aloud, we can clearly hear that the first rhymes that occur in the excerpt are in line one and line three. Both last words in the line seem to end with a sort of ‘ace’ sound. This brings both the words “chase” and “embrace” to rhyme. So, since that’s our first rhyme, we’ll label both those lines with the letter ‘a.'

True, a new mistress now I chase, {a}

The first foe in the field;

And with a stronger faith embrace   {a}

A sword, a horse, a shield.

Now, if you could please, once again, read the first quatrain so we could try to hear a second rhyme pair.

Again, you can clearly hear another rhyme going on between lines two and four. Both end words in the line end with a sort of “-ield” sound. So, since this is the second rhyme we have located, we’ll label those lines with the letter ‘b.'

True, a new mistress now I chase, {a}

The first foe in the field; {b}

And with a stronger faith embrace {a}

A sword, a horse, a shield. {b}

This proves the rhyme scheme for the first quatrain to be abab. But, there is another quatrain in the excerpt provided, so let’s take a look at that one now. Please read the second quatrain aloud so you can clearly detect the rhyming used.

Yet this inconstancy is such,

As you too shall adore;

I could not love thee, Dear, so much,

Loved I not honour more

Now, you can hear a rhyme going on with the end words in lines one and three in this quatrain. The rhyming comes from both the words “such” and “much.” As they both end with the sounds of “-uch.” It is important to remember that since these end rhymes are completely different from the first two in the first quatrain, this rhyme pair will be labeled with the next letter in the alphabet. That letter is ‘c.'

Yet this inconstancy is such, {c}

As you too shall adore;

I could not love thee, Dear, so much, {c}

Loved I not honour more

And now when reading the quatrain aloud we can tell that there is another rhyme with between the words “adore” and “more.” As they both end with the sounds of “-ore.” Again, these rhymes are totally different from the first three we have detected so these will be labeled with the letter ‘d.'

Yet this inconstancy is such, {c}

As you too shall adore; {d}

I could not love thee, Dear, so much, {c}

Loved I not honour more {d}

Since we have covered all the lines from both the quatrains, we have detected all our rhyme schemes.

So, our final rhyme scheme would be b ) abab cdcd.

- Marlon Nunez

Answer 2

The answer is abab cdcd.

If it was just abab abab, both excerpts of the poem would rhyme with each other. But since the rhyme changes in the second excerpt, it changes from abab to cdcd.