4.5 More Rhyming Poems

Rhyming Couplets

Look at some of the rhyming couplets from Casey at the Bat (shown below in red and blue).

The outlook wasn't brilliant for the Mudville nine that day:
The score stood four to two, with but one inning more to play,
And then when Cooney died at first, and Barrows did the same,
A pall-like silence fell upon the patrons of the game.

They help to make the poem easy to read with rhythm and beat.

Look at the poem below, Wayne the Stegosaurus. How many stanzas does it have?

Read it over one time (with rhythm if you can). To help you to find the beat, you can clap, tap your foot, or snap your fingers. In the first stanza, the places you should clap on each line are underlined.

Wayne the Stegosaurus
by Kenn Nesbitt

Meet the stegosaurus, Wayne.
He doesn't have the biggest brain.
He's long and heavy, wide and tall,
but has a brain that's extra small.

He's not the brightest dinosaur.
He thinks that one plus one is four.
He can't remember up from down.
He thinks the sky is chocolate brown.

He wears his bow tie on his tail
and likes to eat the daily mail.
When playing hide-and-seek he tries
to hide by covering his eyes.

He thinks that black is really white.
He's sure the sun comes out at night.
He thinks that water grows on trees
and when it's hot he starts to freeze.

He's happy when he's feeling ill.
He likes to dance by standing still.
And when it's time to go to bed,
he puts bananas on his head.

He thinks his name is Bob, not Wayne,
but that's what happens when your brain
(although you're big and brave and spiny)
is very, very, very tiny.