Read the given extract and answer the questions that follow. My tea is nearly…
2024
Read the given extract and answer the questions that follow.
My tea is nearly ready and the sun has left the sky;
Its time to take the window to see Leerie going by;
For every night at tea time and before you take your seat,
With lantern and with ladder he comes posting up the street.
Now Tom would be a driver and Maria may go to the sea;
And my papa’s a banker and as rich as he can be;
But I, when I’m stronger and choose what I’m to do,
O Leerie, I’ll go around at night and light the lamps with you
For we are very lucky, with a lamp before the door;
And Leerie stops to light it as he lights so many more;
And O ! Before you hurry by with ladder and with light,
O Leerie, see a little child and nod to him tonight !
Identify the rhyme scheme in lines 5 - 8.
- A.
abba
- B.
aabb
- C.
abab
- D.
aaba
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: B
Concept:
A rhyme scheme records which lines in a stanza end in matching sounds, using a letter for each distinct sound: a line that shares its end-sound with an earlier line gets that same letter, and a line with a new end-sound gets the next unused letter, moving through the lines in order.
Application:
Line 5 ends with a word and line 6 ends with a word that carry the same rhyming sound, so both lines take the letter A.
Line 7 ends with a word and line 8 ends with a word that carry a different, matching sound to each other, so both lines take the next letter, B.
Reading lines 5 to 8 in order therefore gives the letter sequence A, A, B, B.
Cross-check:
None of the other groupings hold: line 5's ending does not match line 7's or line 8's ending, and line 6's ending does not match line 7's or line 8's ending either, so no alternating or enclosing pattern is possible - only two back-to-back rhyming couplets fit.
Result:
The rhyme scheme of lines 5-8 is aabb.