A rhyme scheme is the pattern of the rhymes at the end of each line of a poem. Letters are often used to describe the rhyme scheme. If a quatrain, or a group of four lines of poetry, has four rhyming lines, then the rhyme scheme would be . If every other line of the quatrain rhymes, then the rhyme scheme would be ABAB. Every time a new rhyme is introduced, a new letter is added to the rhyme scheme. For example, a quatrain where the second and fourth lines rhyme, but the first and third lines don’t, would have a rhyme scheme of ABCB. Read this excerpt from Walt Whitman’s “O Captain! My Captain!”

My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still,
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will,
The ship is anchor’d safe and sound, its voyage closed and done,
From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won

What is the rhyme scheme in this excerpt?

A).

B). AABB

C).ABAB

D).ABCB