What sound patterns are present in "A Red, Red Rose", including alliteration, consonance, assonance, and rhyme scheme?
In “A Red, Red Rose,” the overall form lends itself to creating and emphasizing sound patterns. Robert Burns uses quatrains of a type that are usually referred to as ballad stanzas. In this pattern, the lines have the same meter but different numbers of syllables. The first and third lines are in iambic tetrameter, meaning they have four units of unstressed and stressed syllables, while the second and fourth lines are in iambic trimeter, having only three units. The name “ballad stanzas” refers to their earlier use in songs, and this association endows the spoken lines with musicality. The poem’s rhyme scheme is ABCB DEFE FGFG HIHI. Carrying some of the rhyming lines into subsequent stanzas increases the consistency of sound.
Alliteration is the repetition of initial consonant sounds, while consonance is their repetition anywhere in a word. Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds anywhere in a...
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word. Burns uses all three, often in combination in the same line. This complicated usage helps establish and perpetuate sound patterns.
Examples of alliteration in line 1 are initial L and R sounds: “luve” and “like” as well as “red, red rose.” In line 2, the initial N of “newly” creates consonance with the N within “sprung” and “June.” Similarly, the alliterative Ls of line 1 are consonant with the L within “newly.” Alliteration and consonance in the S sounds of “rose,” “sprung,” and “sweetly” become more pronounced in stanza 2 with “so,” “lass,” “still,” and “seas.” S continues important in subsequent stanzas, in "rocks," "sun," "sands," and "shall."
Assonance appears in the long O sound in “O,” “rose,” and “melody,” and in theshort U sound in “love” and “sprung.” Assonance in the long E sound appears in stanza 1 in “newly,” “melody,” and “sweetly.” These Es pick up in Stanza 2 in “bonnie,” “deep,” “thee,” and “seas.”
The poet also uses repetition to emphasize both meaning and sound. Repeating the lines “I will love thee still” stresses the intensity and duration of the speaker’s love, and the internal rhyme of “will” and “still” creates consistency of sound.
References
What is the rhyme scheme of "A Red, Red Rose"?
“A Red, Red Rose” has the structural form of a ballad with a slightly altered rhyme scheme. This romantic poem is composed of four quatrains (i.e. stanzas of four lines each). The first two quatrains follow the rhyme scheme typical of a ballad: ABCB DEFE. The endings of the first and third lines do not rhyme; the endings of the second and fourth lines do rhyme with “une” (as in “June” and “tune”). The endings of the fifth and seventh lines do not rhyme, whereas the endings of the sixth and eighth lines do rhyme with a long i sound (as in “I” and “dry”).
This traditional rhyme scheme creates a neat, "singsong-y" sound in the first two quatrains. In these lines, the speaker describes to a pretty young lady his love for her: beautiful, fresh, and sweet.
In the second two quatrains, the rhyme scheme changes to FGFG HIHI. The endings of the ninth and eleventh lines rhyme (“dear”), as do the endings of the tenth and twelfth lines (“sun” and “run”), the thirteenth and fifteenth lines (“luve”), and fourteenth and sixteenth lines (“awhile” and “mile”).
These eight lines alternate in rhymed endings and continue the poem’s song-like pattern. The seemingly minor change in rhyme scheme, though, is significant for two reasons.
First, the ending of the ninth line repeats the ending of the seventh line (“dear”). This repetition links the third quatrain to the fourth quatrain just as the speaker’s tone increases in intensity. He now emphasizes the extreme degree of his feelings for his “dear” object of affection through hyperbole. He compares the depth and longevity of his love to seemingly improbable events far in the future. His passion is so strong and enduring that it will last until the oceans dry up and the sun melts the Earth. More realistically, his love will last until his death.
Second, the alternating rhyming lines parallel the intensity of his profession of love. The repetition of “dear” (lines nine and eleven) and “luve” (lines thirteen and fifteen) forcefully demonstrate his insistence of devotion. The rhyming endings of lines fourteen (“awhile”) and sixteen (“mile”) emphasize his love’s duration through time and space.