How Does Susan Smith's Use Of Rhymes

Throughout Smith’s elegiac sonnet, the speaker employs a wide variety of rhymes in order to demonstrate her growing anger and sadness towards her poetic abilities. Because Smith’s work follows the structure of a traditional English sonnet, end rhymes are employed at the close of each line. Thus, the last word of the first line rhymes with the last word of the third line, the last word of the second line rhymes with the last word of the fourth line, so on and so forth. In the opening quatrain, the speaker employs exclusively perfect rhymes, “The partial Muse, has from my earliest hours, / Smil'd on the rugged path I'm doom'd to tread, / And still with sportive hand has snatch'd wild flowers, / To weave fantastic garlands for my head” (1-4). …show more content…
The speaker continues her abundant use of perfect rhymes in the second quatrain, “But far, far happier is the lot of those / Who never learn'd her dear delusive art; / Which, while it decks the head with many a rose, / Reserves the thorn, to fester in the heart” (5-8). In using exclusively perfect rhymes throughout both the first and second quatrains, the speaker presents her thoughts in a controlled manner. In the first quatrain she establishes the situation and introduces the artistic talents she possesses. In the second quatrain, the speaker provides a vague explanation as to what the problem with this situation is. Because both the first and second quatrains are comprised solely of perfect rhymes, the speaker establishes a clear connection between her talent and her feeling towards the