"The sun has long been set; The stars are out by twos and threes; The little birds are piping yet Among the bushes and the trees."
Or the rhymes may occur at longer intervals; as,--
"I envy not in any _moods_ The captive void of noble rage, The linnet born within the cage, That never knew the summer _woods_."
In _double rhyme_ the correspondence of sound extends to two syllables, and in _triple rhyme_ to three. A _double rhyme_, as _pleasure_, _measure_, is also called _feminine_, while single rhymes are called _masculine_. The following illustrates both _double_, or _feminine_, and _masculine_ rhymes:
"'Tis the hour when happy faces Smile around the taper's light; Who will fill our vacant places? Who will sing our songs to-night?"
The following from Hood illustrates _triple rhyme_:
"Take her up _tenderly_, Lift her with care; Fashioned so _slenderly_, Young and so fair."
_Triple rhyme_ is usually employed only in a light, satirical, or mocking vein. Byron uses it frequently in his frivolous or reckless moods; for example,--
"O world that was and is! What is _cosmogony_? Some people have accused me of _misanthropy_, And yet I know no more than the _mahogany_ That forms this desk of what they mean; _lycanthropy_ I comprehend; for, without transformation Men become wolves on any slight occasion."
_Middle rhyme_ is that which exists between the middle and final words or syllables of a verse. It is frequently used in the "The Ancient Mariner:"
"The fair breeze _blew_, the white foam _flew_, The furrow followed free; We were the _first_ that ever _burst_ Into that silent sea."
_Sectional rhyme_ is that occurring in the first half or section of a verse; as,--
"_Lightly_ and _brightly_ breaks away The morning from her mantle gray."
_Alliteration_ is the use of the same letter at the beginning of two or more words or syllables in the same verse or successive verses. It was the determining principle in Anglo-Saxon poetry, and has remained ever since a source of harmony in English verse. Its effects are sometimes most pleasing when the alliteration turns on one or more internal syllables. The following from Mrs. Browning's "Romance of the Swan's Nest" will serve for illustration:
"_L_ittle E_ll_ie sits a_l_one, And the _s_mile _s_he _s_oftly uses Fi_ll_s the _s_ilence _l_ike a _s_peech, _W_hile _s_he thinks _w_hat _s_hall be done, And the sweetest plea_s_ure choo_s_es _F_or her _f_uture within reach."