Abab Poems

[Catherin Bergan]

Thiscollection contains poems that use the ABAB rhyme scheme. The ABAB rhyme scheme is where the ending words of lines one and three (A) rhyme with each other and the ending words of lines two and four (B) rhyme with each other.

When I first started writing poetry, I did not have a step-by-step writing process which I followed from start to finish. As a result, I would spend all day (and sometimes even multiple days) writing a single-page poem with an ABAB rhyme scheme. I tried crafting every line in its final form right from the start, and this was a painstaking process which was woefully inefficient.

Now, I do follow a uniform writing process with three simple steps. I based it off of my normal writing process that I use for most other pieces of writing. The three steps include: planning, drafting, and editing. I will explain what I mean by each of these three steps in detail, and follow each of them with a screenshot of a poem which I wrote with this process step-by-step.

I write brief statements that can be sentence fragments or single sentences. In the early iteration of an outline, I may only have one statement for each stanza, although my goal is to write a statement for each line. In this example, I wrote an outline for a poem about winter after I found inspiration in the change of scenery from the other seasons and the tranquility of winter landscapes.

I am just getting started at this point, so I am not sure what to title this poem yet. As such, I just give it a simple descriptor as a working title. As you can also see, each line in the poem has a brief statement corresponding to what the line will express. This process is as simple as putting my thoughts into words and takes only a few minutes.

The second part of my writing process is drafting. When it comes to writing ABAB poems, this means taking each of the statements from my outline and turning them into a line. At this point, I am not worried about rhyming, however. I just worry about making cohesive and coherent lines. I will worry about rhyming later. The poem also has to be proofread for errors and other minor changes need to be made.

Often, I will make the first and third lines in a stanza rhyme, since I find this to be easy to accomplish. However, rhyming is totally unnecessary at this point. Nevertheless, the more rhymes we can discern while drafting, the better. Still, the focus at this part of the writing process is on creating coherent lines that make sense and can be easily made to rhyme in the editing phase.

In a way, the drafting phase of writing poetry is a form of editing for me. This is punctuated by the fact that poems are often comprised of brief lines with few words and the original outline of the poem is subsequently getting trimmed down during the drafting phase.

In the official editing phase of my three-step writing process, I go back and make sure all the lines in the poem rhyme according to the rhyme scheme I am applying. I typically use the ABAB rhyme scheme since I like it so much, and that is the rhyme scheme I used with this poem. I also edit any errors and make whatever minor changes are necessary from the draft.

I find that by worrying about making every line work within the ABAB rhyme scheme as the very last step in a process, I alleviate much of the pressure and frustration felt by trying to rhyme everything right from the start. The poem is almost entirely crafted at this point, and all I need to do is edit some of the words to make it fit the appropriate rhyme scheme. The content and the message intended to be expressed are fully formed already.

By following this three-step process which I use for most forms of writing I engage in, I have found writing poetry comes along much easier for me now. I am able to produce a finished ABAB poem within an hour or so instead of toiling over it all day, or even worse, dragging it out over multiple days.

Of course, my writing process may not be exactly what works for you. Maybe you find an idea web more useful than an outline, or perhaps you like to get straight into the draft. Whatever works best for you is great. If you can find a way to tweak my process and make it even better, that would be wonderful!

I shared this with my cohort last week, and the feedback that I received was helpful. They suggested in the future finding poems that have a similar theme, such as giving the students several haikus on winter to poetry smash.

ChatGPT is fun to play with but is (for now at least) terrible at creating poems, including poems about Bayesian statistics. Here are my attempts to have ChatGPT produce poems like those that begin each chapter of DBDA2E. Or in any other style.

While this is cute and is on topic, it is not a single quatrain and it is not dactylic tetrameter. And it lucked out with AABB rhyme scheme, because that's all it does. Here I ask for an ABAB rhyme scheme:

To turn the tables, I gave myself a prompt and allowed myself only a few minutes and a single try to respond. Prompt to self: Write a single poetic quatrain about ChatGPT. Use dactylic tetrameter and be sure to use an ABAB rhyme scheme.

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You are looking for poetry that utilizes couplets. According to the eNotesGuide to Literary Terms, a couplet is "a pair of successive lines ofverse, especially a pair that rhymes, that are of the same metrical length, andform a single unit." The rhyme schemes you identified involve sets of coupletsthat rhyme with other couplets of their same type (AB rhymes with AB), or setsof couplets that are pairs of rhymes (A rhymes with A and B rhymeswith B). Keep in mind that the alphabetical letters, such as A or B, stand fora specific end sound. So, "A lines" will rhyme with other "A lines." B's willrhyme with B's, and so forth.

While they may not exactly fit the 10 verse length that you specified inyour question, consider the first few lines of these famous examples tounderstand how this kind of rhyme scheme is put together. The firstis from "The Hippopotamus" by T.S. Eliot, demonstrating an ABAB pattern (see"atech.edu" link below for full text):

Hopefully, purusing these poems will give you an idea of how these rhymeschemes work. Also, as you continue your study, keep in mind that a 10-verseexample may be hard to find... poems with this rhyme scheme usually have a linetotal that is a multiple of 4, since pairs of couplets are often fused to makequatrains: stanzas of four verses.

One of the most common forms of rhyme scheme found in poetry around the world, ABAB rhyme schemes serve many different purposes depending on the poem and its context. They can be used in individual stanzas, or as a rhyme scheme throughout an entire poem.

The reason it is called an ABAB rhyme scheme is because each of those four letters corresponds to one of the four lines in the rhyming pattern. The A lines share the same letter because they rhyme with one another just as the B lines share a rhyme. That means lines marked with a capital letter will never rhyme with a line that has a different letter. For instance, a poem with an ABCD rhyme scheme is actually a poem without one, because none of those lines end with a word that rhymes with any other.

It is important to remember that rhyme schemes like this one can apply to entire poems or just to individual stanzas. ABAB rhyme schemes are also referred to as alternating rhymes, because of the fact that the lines alternate between one rhyming pattern and another.

As you can see, the final words of lines one and three (grave & brave) rhyme with one another, making them both A rhymes. Likewise, the final words of lines two and four (kind & resigned) also rhyme, making them B. Remember that whether or not a word rhymes is determined by the sound of the word, not the spelling.

ABAB rhyme schemes can be used to achieve many different effects, often depending on the content of the poem in which they are used. Here are some general interpretations that can commonly be applied to this rhyme scheme.

The long history of poetry includes a lot of rhyme, the deliberate correspondence of sounds between words (or their endings) usually at the end of lines in poems. A rhyme scheme is the ordered pattern of those rhyming arrangements from line to line in a poem.

The human brain has evolved to find rhyme and rhythm very appealing. When words rhyme, we tend to remember them better than words that do not rhyme. Songs that rhyme tend to stick in your head better than free-form songs.

Plop fall the plums; but there are still seven.Let any gentleman that would court meCome while it is lucky!Plop fall the plums; there are still three.Let any gentleman that would court meCome before it is too late!Plop fall the plums; in shallow baskets we lay them.Any gentleman who would court meHad better speak while there is time.

Heed not the folk who sing or sayIn sonnet sad or sermon chill,"Alas, alack, and well-a-day,This round world's but a bitter pill."Poor porcupines of fretful quill!Sometimes we quarrel with our lot:We, too, are sad and careful; stillWe'd rather be alive than not.

A Knyght ther was, and that a worthy man,That fro the tyme that he first biganTo riden out, he loved chivalrie,Trouthe and honur, fredom and curteisie.A KNIGHT there was, and that (one was) a worthy man,Who from the time that he first beganTo ride out, he loved chivalry,Fidelity and good reputation, generosity and courtesy.

Who will believe my verse in time to come,If it were filled with your most high deserts?Though yet heaven knows it is but as a tombWhich hides your life, and shows not half your parts.If I could write the beauty of your eyes,And in fresh numbers number all your graces,The age to come would say 'This poet lies;Such heavenly touches ne'er touched earthly faces.'So should my papers, yellowed with their age,Be scorned, like old men of less truth than tongue,And your true rights be termed a poet's rageAnd stretched metre of an antique song:But were some child of yours alive that time,You should live twice, in it, and in my rhyme.

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