Poets must be really bummed out that no word rhymes with “month.” It seems like the word “month” would come in handy for love poems that you need to write early in your relationship. As in, “I’ve ...

Something can start off dark, even heinous, written hundreds of years ago, and by the time it hits modernity, it’s as soft and fluffy as a cloud. Or it can have rumors attached to it that seemingly ...

When a Muppet calls something weird, you know it is. Well, such is the case for the heart-racing, albeit brief nursery rhyme “Jack Be Nimble,” which “roving reporter” Kermit the Frog showcases below ...

When sounds match up at the end of a line It’s called ‘end rhyme’ and sounds mighty fine So who wins the battle? And the prize of a rattle? Let’s call it a draw? Okay, that’s fine. When words have ...

Rhyme thrives at both poles of literature. It is the material of a greeting card—“Roses are red / Violets are blue / Sugar is sweet / And so are you”—and the high-tragic language of Racine. Rhyme ...

London librarian Chris Roberts fills Debbie Elliott in on the three men in the tub as a series on the real meaning of nursery rhymes continues. Roberts is the author of Heavy Words Lightly Thrown: The ...

“Do you know the muffin man?” Chances are you’re familiar with the nursery rhyme this line kicks off, but you might not be as clued up on its history. As with many sweet-sounding rhymes, there are ...

For Jeremy Bentham, a philosopher, poetry was simply writing that “fails” to reach the end of the line. For W.H. Auden, a poet, poetry was that which “makes nothing happen”. Arnold Bennett, a writer, ...