Trevor has been asked to analyze the rhyme scheme in Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 18.”

Question

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd,
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course untrimm'd:

Which is the correct rhyme scheme for this stanza?

aabb
abcd
abab
abcc

Answer 1

The rhyme scheme for the stanza you've provided from Shakespeare's "Sonnet 18" is abab.

Here’s the breakdown:

• "shines" (a)
• "dimmed" (b)
• "declines" (a)
• "untrimm'd" (b)

The first and third lines rhyme with each other, as do the second and fourth lines, creating the abab pattern.