What is "broken rhyme"

n. The splitting of the final word in a line of poetry (onto the next line) such that a rhyme is formed from a syllable other than the last

Broken rhyme, also called Split rhyme, is a form of rhyme. It is produced by dividing a word at the line break of a poem to make a rhyme with the end word of another line. Gerard Manley Hopkins' poem The Windhover, for example, divides the word "kingdom" at the end of the first line to rhyme with the word "wing" ending the fourth line. Hopkins is rare in using the device in serious poems. More commonly, the device is used in comic or playful poetry, as in the sixth stanza of Edward Lear's "How Pleasant to Know Mr. Lear" or in Elizabeth Bishop's "Pink Dog":

Sixth Stanza of "How Pleasant to Know Mr. Lear": When he walks in waterproof white, The children run after him so! Calling out, "He's gone out in his night- Gown, that crazy old Englishman, oh!"

Here, the word "nightgown" has been split over the third and fourth lines so that the first and third lines form a tail rhyme.

Broken Rhyme is a 2006 American 90-minute feature film and drama directed and produced by Detdrich McClure about a disillusioned rapper (played by Mutulu Olugabala also known as rapper M-1) who goes to Japan to shoot a video there and encounters a mysterious Japanese woman who leads him on a spiritual journey and the heavy price he has to pay for turning his back on the forces that run the hip-hop music industry.

The film premiered at the Filmlife and HBO American Black Film Festival in June 2006 as an Official Selection.

Broken rhyme may refer to:

• Broken rhyme, dividing a word at the line break of a poem to make a rhyme with the end word of another line
• Borken Rhyme (film), a 2006 film by Detdrich McClure