This is a genuine question, but I thought it would be more fun to put it in verse...

[steepholm]

I like the taste of rhymes that aren't

Comments

[cmcmck]

So why do I now have the poetic gems of William T McGonagall running around my head? :o)

[steepholm]

I can't imagine! But do you know when half-rhyme began to be recognized as a technique in English poetry, rather than as an unintended consequence of language change? And did the latter inspire the former?

I'm also thinking of the way in which people used to think Chaucer a less regular poet than he actually was, because they were unaware of ME pronunciation.

[cmcmck]

I'm not sure when it becomes accepted form although I agree with you that people didn't always understand Chaucer's rhyming patterns and even less someone like Langland, writing in alliterative northern ME and let's not even go near Henryson or Dunbar!

[kalimac]

Statements about how words were pronounced historically often seem to be based on what the word was rhymed with in poetry of the period. It seems to me that this research assumption begs several obvious questions.

[steepholm]

I agree. Puns are perhaps more persuasive, though.

[nineweaving]

Sheer love.

Nine

[steepholm]

Happy to oblige!

[drasecretcampus]

Is it a Birmingham accent that allows Blake to rhyme eye with symmetreye?

[cmcmck]

Are yow suggestin' that a Broom accint sounds fooneye? :o)

The bard was, after all, a west midlander!

[drasecretcampus]

Not at all, I'm a great admirer of Blake, who channeled all kinds of ghosts and spirits.

[cmcmck]

I do but jest! I like a West Midlands accent, I have to admit and this isn't personal bias- I'm a Maid of Kent. :o)

[sartorias]

*love*

[steepholm]

Pleased you like it!