In "The Rhodora," Emerson uses a familiar rhyme scheme of two paired couplets, followed by four lines of alternating rhymes. For instance, lines 9-16 end with the following sounds: why—sky / seeing—being / rose—knew suppose— you.
Each eight-line section constitutes one half of the sixteen-line poem, resulting in a unified and balanced feel to the piece. The rhyme scheme provides an additional surrounding structure to the iambic pentameter Emerson uses for this poem. "Iambic" refers to a segment of two syllables where the emphasis, or stress, falls on the second syllable. It is "pentameter" (penta meaning five) because each line has five two-syllable pairs. An example of this is in line 5:
The pur / ple pet / als fal / len in / the pool.
The stresses.....
This is a free excerpt of 129 words. This section contains 254 words. This
study guide contains 9,694 words (approx. 32 pages at 300
words per page).
Read the rest of this Literature Guide with our The Rhodora Access Pass.
