# Rhyme schemes by set partition

The rhyme scheme of a poem or stanza can be denoted by a pair (m,n), where m is the number of lines and 0≤n< A000041(m) denotes the set partition (compare  A231428).
Usually the last line will rhyme with some other line, so n implies m - e.g. all schemes between 5 and 14 imply four lines.
The first Bell(5) = 52 set partitions are shown on the right (with Tale of Genji chapter symbols). The first Bell(8) = 4140 are here.

## Contents

* 1: AA (closed couplet)
* 2: ABA (enclosed tercet)
* 4: AAA (triplet)
* 6: ABBA (enclosed rhyme)
* 7: ABCB (simple 4-line)
* 8: ABAB (alternate rhyme)
* 9: AABA (rubāʿī)
* 11: AABB (couplet)
* 14: AAAA (monorhyme)
* 24: ABAAB
* 26: AABBA (limerick)
* 33: ABABA
* 81: ABAAAB
* 98: AABCCB
* 128: AAABAB
* 719: ABABBCC (rhyme royal)
* 2785: ABABBCBC (ballade)
* 3401: ABABABCC (ottava rima)

## 1

1 2 or AA (closed couplet)
End of I shall forget you presently, my dear by Edna St. Vincent Millay
| 1 | Whether or not we find what we are seeking |
| 2 | Is idle, biologically speaking. |

## 2

1 3 | 2 or ABA (enclosed tercet)
First stanza of Ode to the West Wind by Percy Shelley
| 1 | O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being |
| 2 | Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead |
| 3 | Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing |

## 4

1 2 3 or AAA (triplet)
From The Phoenix and the Turtle by William Shakespeare
| 1 | Death is now the phoenix' nest |
| 2 | And the turtle's loyal breast |
| 3 | To eternity doth rest |

## 6

1 4 | 2 3 or ABBA (enclosed rhyme)
First stanza of Days Too Short by William Davies
| 1 | When primroses are out in Spring, |
| 2 | And small blue violets come between; |
| 3 | When merry birds sing on boughs green, |
| 4 | And rills, as soon as born, must sing. |

## 7

1 | 2 4 | 3 or ABCB (simple 4-line)
First stanza of Million Man March Poem by Maya Angelou
| 1 | The night has been long, |
| 2 | The wound has been deep, |
| 3 | The pit has been dark, |
| 4 | And the walls have been steep. |

## 8

1 3 | 2 4 or ABAB (alternate rhyme)
| 1 | Bid me to weep, and I will weep |
| 2 | While I have eyes to see; |
| 3 | And having none, yet I will keep |
| 4 | A heart to weep for thee. |

## 9

1 2 4 | 3 or AABA (rubāʿī)
From Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost
| 1 | My little horse must think it queer |
| 2 | To stop without a farmhouse near |
| 3 | Between the woods and frozen lake |
| 4 | The darkest evening of the year. |

## 11

1 2 | 3 4 or AABB (couplet)
From Mr. Sandman by Pat Ballard
| 1 | Mr. Sandman, bring me a dream |
| 2 | Make him the cutest that I've ever seen |
| 3 | Give him two lips like roses and clover |
| 4 | Then tell him that his lonesome nights are over |

## 14

1 2 3 4 or AAAA (monorhyme)
First stanza of The Older I Get by Danielle White
| 1 | I once heard the whisper of falling snow, |
| 2 | saw a spark in the eye of a coal-black crow, |
| 3 | felt the power and awe of a swift river's flow, |
| 4 | the older I get, the less I know. |

## 24

1 3 4 | 2 5 or ABAAB
First stanza of The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost
| 1 | Two roads diverged in a yellow wood |
| 2 | And sorry I could not travel both |
| 3 | And be one traveler, long I stood |
| 4 | And looked down one as far as I could |
| 5 | To where it bent in the undergrowth |

## 26

1 2 5 | 3 4 or AABBA (limerick)
| 1 | There once was a short man from Ealing, |
| 2 | Who got on a bus to Darjeeling. |
| 3 | It said on the door: |
| 4 | "Please don't spit on the floor!" |
| 5 | So he carefully spat on the ceiling. |

## 33

1 3 5 | 2 4 or ABABA
Beginning of the ring verse by J. R. R. Tolkien
| 1 | Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky, |
| 2 | Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone, |
| 3 | Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die, |
| 4 | One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne |
| 5 | In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie. |
The complete poem would be scheme 2451 (ABABACCA).

## 81

1 3 4 5 | 2 6 or ABAAAB
From Sylvie and Bruno Concluded, chapter 23, by Lewis Carroll
| 1 | There was a Pig that sat alone |
| 2 | Beside a ruined Pump: |
| 3 | By day and night he made his moan – |
| 4 | It would have stirred a heart of stone |
| 5 | To see him wring his hoofs and groan, |
| 6 | Because he could not jump. |

## 98

1 2 | 3 6 | 4 5 or AABCCB
From Over The Rainbow by Judy Garland
| 1 | Someday I'll wish upon a star |
| 2 | And wake up where the clouds are far |
| 3 | Behind me |
| 4 | Where troubles melt like lemon drops |
| 5 | Away above the chimney tops |
| 6 | That's where you'll find me |

## 128

1 2 3 5 | 4 6 or AAABAB
From A Valentine by Lewis Carroll
| 1 | Must he then only live to weep, |
| 2 | Who'd prove his friendship true and deep |
| 3 | By day a lonely shadow creep, |
| 4 | At night-time languish, |
| 5 | Oft raising in his broken sleep |
| 6 | The moan of anguish? |

## 719

1 3 | 2 4 5 | 6 7 or ABABBCC (rhyme royal)
First stanza of They Flee From Me by Thomas Wyatt
| 1 | They flee from me that sometime did me seek |
| 2 | With naked foot, stalking in my chamber. |
| 3 | I have seen them gentle, tame, and meek, |
| 4 | That now are wild and do not remember |
| 5 | That sometime they put themself in danger |
| 6 | To take bread at my hand; and now they range, |
| 7 | Busily seeking with a continual change. |
(Did danger rhyme with chamber and remember in the 16th century?)

## 2785

1 3 | 2 4 5 7 | 6 8 or ABABBCBC (the usual rhyme scheme of a ballade)
First stanza of Ballade of a Ship by Edwin Arlington Robinson
| 1 | Down by the flash of the restless water |
| 2 | The dim White Ship like a white bird lay; |
| 3 | Laughing at life and the world they sought her, |
| 4 | And out she swung to the silvering bay. |
| 5 | Then off they flew on their roystering way, |
| 6 | And the keen moon fired the light foam flying |
| 7 | Up from the flood where the faint stars play, |
| 8 | And the bones of the brave in the wave are lying. |

## 3401

1 3 5 | 2 4 6 | 7 8 or ABABABCC (ottava rima)
From Don Juan by George Byron
| 1 | "Go, little book, from this my solitude! |
| 2 | I cast thee on the waters – go thy ways! |
| 3 | And if, as I believe, thy vein be good, |
| 4 | The world will find thee after many days." |
| 5 | When Southey's read, and Wordsworth understood, |
| 6 | I can't help putting in my claim to praise – |
| 7 | The four first rhymes are Southey's every line: |
| 8 | For God's sake, reader! take them not for mine. |