205. Double Rhymes: Understanding Masculine and Feminine Endings

Double Rhymes

A Double Rhyme is when both syllables of a two-syllable word rhyme or when the last two syllables of a longer word rhyme.

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Both of the sets of words below are Double Rhymes.  Both syllables of both words rhyme.

In a Double Rhyme, the rhymed words can have more than two syllables.  Even though Aggravation and Revelation have four syllables each, this is not a quadruple rhyme or even a triple rhyme because only the last TWO syllables rhyme.

In a Double Rhyme, the two words do not even have to have the same number of syllables, but the two rhyming syllables must be the last two syllables of each of the words:  SYNESTHESIA – AMNESIA – FREESIA

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MASCULINE AND FEMININE ENDINGS

Remember that Rhymes must always contain STRESSED syllables, but in Double Rhymes, only the first syllable is STRESSED.  That means that the second syllable is UNstressed.  When a rhyme ends on an UNstressed syllable, this is called a Feminine Ending. But it doesn’t stop there, any time a word or line ends in an UNstressed syllable this is known as a Feminine Ending. Obviously, the reverse is true:  A word, rhyme, or line that ends in a STRESSED syllable is considered to have a Masculine Ending.