Question

Which excerpt contains a strict internal rhyme scheme?

Answer 1

But the raven, sitting lonely on the placid bust spoke only (from "The Raven" by Edgar Allen Poe)

Internal rhyme is when two words rhyme in the same line. In this line from "The Raven" the words lonely and only rhyme. It is a strict internal rhyme scheme because there is the same rhythm and number of syllables from the start of the line to lonely as there is from just after lonely to only. Dickinson's line "The eyes beside had wrung them dry" has three words with the same long I sound (eyes, beside, dry) but there doesn't appear to be a strict pattern and they don't actually rhyme so this is alliteration. In Thomas's "Ceremony After a Fire Raid" the short i sound is also repeated but the words do not rhyme either.

Answer 2

Answer: B) But the raven, sitting lonely on the placid bust spoke only (from "The Raven" by Edgar Allen Poe)

Explanation: a rhyme is a similarity of sound between words or the endings of words. An internal rhyme is a rhyme involving a word in the middle of a line and another at the end of the line or in the middle of the next. From the given options, the one that contains a strict internal rhyme scheme is the corresponding to option B, where the word "lonely" in the middle of the line, rhymes with "only" which is at the end of the line.