Shel Silverstein Rhyme

217 Words1 Pages
“Masks” by Shel Silverstein is a deceptively simple poem. The poem has a rhyme scheme of ABCBDDED, and has a regular rhythm. The lines alternate rhythms, the first line is hard/soft/hard/soft, and the second is soft/hard/soft/hard. This alternating pattern continues throughout the poem. Though the reader might expect “Masks” to have a regular rhyme in addition to the rhythm, the rhyme scheme is not as consistent. Though it is possible that A and C are slant rhymes, there are really only three instances of rhyming in this poem: “he” and “she” on lines two and four, and “blue”, “though”, and “knew” in lines five, six, and eight. By not adhering to a strict rhyme scheme, Silverstein keeps the poem from becoming sing-songy and losing its deeper