Please note, rhyme can also be referred to as alliteration, consonance or assonance dependent on the specific example.

Example

“Scary Mary the psychopath strikes again.”

Definition and effect on reader

Rhymes are persuasive for much the same reason as alliteration; they create emphasis in a sentence or make it more memorable. In the above example, the difference between “scary Mary” and “frightening Mary” is that the sentence becomes more memorable and gains an element of humour or light-heartedness.

Rhyme can commonly be found in the chants or slogans of protest groups. This is because the short, sharp sound bites or written phrases become considerably more memorable than those that don’t rhyme.

For example: “every dog bred, is a shelter dog dead.”

Equally, political parties sometimes capitalise on the catchiness of rhyme.

For example: “Kevin ’07.”