Rime riche () is a form of

rhyme A rhyme is a repetition of similar sounds (usually the exact same phonemes) in the final Stress (linguistics), stressed syllables and any following syllables of two or more words. Most often, this kind of rhyming (''perfect rhyming'') is consciou ...

with three identical sounds (phoneme) including the stressed vowel. In classical

French poetry French poetry () is a category of French literature. It may include Francophone literature, Francophone poetry composed outside France and poetry written in other languages of France. French prosody and poetics The modern French language does not ...

(between Malherbe and

Romanticism Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. The purpose of the movement was to advocate for the importance of subjec ...

) rhymes normally have to be visual too: both sound and

spelling Spelling is a set of conventions for written language regarding how graphemes should correspond to the sounds of spoken language. Spelling is one of the elements of orthography, and highly standardized spelling is a prescriptive element. Spelli ...

have to be identical. In

, rhymes are usually classified on the basis of the number of rhyming sounds. A "rime pauvre" ("poor rhyme") includes one common sound at the end of the two rhyming segments. Consonant sounds do not rhyme on their own (''duc'' does not rime with ''donc'' despite the identical single consonant at the end) and so a "rime pauvre" must be a vocalic sound. In the following example of "rime pauvre" by Racine in '' Andromaque'', the rhyming sound is /y/; identically spelt ''"-ue"'': ''(...) ma vengeance est perdue,'' ''s'il ignore en mourant que c'est moi qui le tue.'' A "rime suffisante" ("sufficient rhyme") includes two identical sounds, one of which must be a vowel. Two consecutive vowel sounds being extremely rare in French, "rimes suffisantes" are usually in the vowel-consonant or consonant-vowel format. In the following example of "rime suffisante" by Racine in ''

Britannicus Tiberius Claudius Caesar Britannicus (12 February AD 41 – 11 February AD 55), usually called Britannicus, was the son of Roman Emperor Claudius and his third wife, Valeria Messalina. For a time, he was considered his father's heir, but t ...

'', /ne/ are the two rhyming sounds, identically spelt ''"-nés"''. ''Au joug depuis longtemps, ils se sont façonnés;'' ''Ils adorent la main qui les tient enchaînés.'' A "rime riche" ("rich rhyme") includes three identical sounds. In the following example of "rime riche" by Racine in ''

Phèdre ''Phèdre'' (; originally ''Phèdre et Hippolyte'') is a French dramatic tragedy in five acts written in alexandrine verse by Jean Racine, first performed in 1677 at the theatre of the Hôtel de Bourgogne in Paris. Composition and premiere With ...

'', /a ʃe/ are the three rhyming sounds, identically spelt ''"-achée"'' . ''Ce n'est plus une ardeur dans mes veines cachée,'' ''C'est Vénus tout entière à sa proie attachée.'' There is no canonical name for rhymes over three identical sounds. They are frowned upon in classical French poetry.

References

See also