What Is an Example of a Masculine Rhyme?

An example of a masculine rhyme is, “One, two. Buckle my shoe.” Masculine rhymes are rhymes ending with a single stressed syllable. They are the most common type of rhyme in the English language.

Another example of a poem that utilizes masculine rhyme is “Lecture Upon the Shadow” by John Donne. This poem only uses a masculine rhyming pattern. The lines of the poem are: “Stand still, and I will read to thee. A Lecture, love, in Love’s philosophy. These three hours that we have spent. Walking here, two shadows went. Along with us, which we ourselves produced. But now the sun is just above our head. We do those shadows tread. And to brave clearness all things are reduced.” The words “thee” and “philosophy” have single syllables “thee” and “phy” that rhyme with each other. In the same way, “spent” and went” and “head” and “tread” are also single rhyming syllables that are written at the end of the line.

Masculine rhyme is also referred to as a single rhyme. It is distinguished from a feminine rhyme, which is a rhyme with a stressed syllable that is followed by an unstressed syllable, such as “carrot” and garret,” as well as “sever” and “never.”