Is there a formal name for the rhyming scheme a,b,a,b in poems?
Usually rhyme scheme is used along with syllable counts, so a rhyme scheme by itself has no name, but the sonnet has this rhyme scheme along with iambic pentameter lines. Basically if you’re looking at a poem, count the number of stressed and unstressed syllables in the line first. The word “alone” has an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable (a-lone). This is one iambic foot. A line with iambic pentameter would have five of these words. Then you look at the rhyme scheme, and if its abab, in the first stanza, cdcd in the second stanza, efef in the third, and ends with two lines of gg, you have a sonnet. The rhyme scheme by itself isn’t as significant, and does not have a name.
