Friday, March 03, 2006

Good Rhymes

I'm teaching formal poetry this week (and next!) to my Creative Writing students. Of course, we always pause during this time to discuss rhyme and rhyme schemes. I try to avoid saying "trochee" of course, but someone always brings that up as well.
So what I have now is a question: What is one (or more) of your favorite rhymes?
Mine? Thanks for asking.

"But O ye lords of ladies intellectual,
Inform us truly have they not henpecked you all?" (Lord Byron, Don Juan)

I also like A Drink with Something In It by Ogden Nash.

There's something about a Martini,
A tingle remarkably pleasant.
There's something about a Martini,
I wish that I had one at present.
There's something about a Martini,
'ere the dining and dancing begin.
To tell you the truth
It's not the vermouth,
I think that perhaps it's the gin.

I think I hear a Dirty Martini calling my name. I look forward to your memorable rhymes.

14 comments:

susansinclair said...

Lovely! You've inspired me...to write, that is. I already had a couple o' cosmos (of the home-made, not-so-much-vodka variety)...

Clint Gardner said...

Man, you would ask this one. Hmm. How about

Candy is dandy
But liquor is quicker?

Nah too common. How about

Come and trip it as ye go
On the light fantastic toe

Nah too Miltonic. How about

All the women come and go
Speaking of Michelangelo

Nah too collegiately cliche. How about

Whan that Aprille with her showers soote
The draught of Marche hathe perced to the roote

Ok that's ok.

(and forgive me for not remembering the poems correctly. They are as they pot into my wee noggin.)

Lisa B. said...

Sorry to be lowbrow, but one of my all-time favorite rhymes is in "Jessie's Girl," by Rick Springfield:

You know I feel so dirty when they start talking cute
I wanna tell her that I love her but the point is probably moot

Freakin' Milton wishes he'd thoughta that!

Dr. Write said...

Aah! Jessie's Girl. Now there's some Idaho memories for ya.
How about
Rise up Gather 'round,
rock this place, to the ground
Def Leppard of course.

Condiment said...

If you stick a stock of liquor in your locker,
Be sure to put a lock upon your stock.
Or some joker who is slicker
'S Gonna trick you of your liquor
If you fail to lock your liquor with a lock!

Nik said...

Lisa B wins for me, though now I have that song stuck in my head for all eternitie.

Anonymous said...

since you mention nash, how about this from "very like a whale" (which has hilarious rhymes throughout):

But that wasn't fancy enough for Lord Byron, oh dear me no, he had to invent a lot of figures of speech and then interpolate them,

With the result that whenever you mention Old Testament soldiers to people they say Oh yes, they're the ones that a lot of wolves dressed up in gold and purple ate them.

whole poem here, if interested:

http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/poems/854.html

Lisa B. said...

Sorry, had to add one more--Eminem's

I know you gotta job Miz Cheney
but your husband's heart problem's complicatey

Genius.

wickenden said...

ah, that's one of my favorites.

no words now, but here is a picture of my martini:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wickenden/90220721/in/set-72157602295865245/

thedubiousman said...

specea real good rhyme comes from the group..gym class heros...

"she saw planes and misstook them for stars.
she played games but she took em to far.

Unknown said...

this website is gay
the rhymes are wack

Anonymous said...

ye fuk yas all

im rappin like drahpt-paul

coz thatsthe waywe do it

we alway getthru it

the good n thebad

the fuked up n the sad

coz im from fuken australia


n thats all i got 2 say to ya


who made this shit

they deserve a hit


his mother shuda got an abortion

readin this shits worse than contortion

trey peezy said...

I feel white trashish broke as a joker
I felt like lost to a big game o poker
am little but I feel like a cargo carrier
tryin to go out but there's an invisible barrier.

trey peezy said...

I feel white trashish broke as a joker
I felt like lost to a big game o poker
am little but I feel like a cargo carrier
tryin to go out but there's an invisible barrier.