Identical Rhyme
Quick answer: Identical rhyme repeats the same word or sound at line ends, like night and knight. See clear examples and how it differs from perfect and rich rhyme.
Identical rhyme is rhyme in which the rhyming words sound exactly the same from beginning to end, either because the same word is repeated ('day' rhymed with 'day') or because two different words are homophones ('night' and 'knight', 'bare' and 'bear'). Where perfect rhyme requires the opening sounds to differ, identical rhyme matches everything, which is why some critics say it is not rhyme at all but repetition wearing rhyme's clothes.
That contested status is worth knowing. In English light verse, repeating a rhyme word is often judged lazy; in French tradition, rhyming homophones (rime riche) is admired; and in forms like the sestina, exact repetition of end words is the entire structural principle. Context decides whether identical rhyme is a flaw or a design.
How It Works
The ear expects a rhyme to be a variation on a sound; identical rhyme gives it the sound unvaried. An invented quatrain: 'He left his coat behind him on the chair. / All winter no one moved it from the chair. / The house grew used to holding what was there. / We warm ourselves on things that are not there.' The repeated 'chair' and the homophone-like echo of 'there' do not resolve; they insist, and the insistence becomes the poem's mood.
The homophone version works differently: 'sea' and 'see', 'rain' and 'reign' match in sound while diverging completely in sense, so the rhyme becomes a small pun, two meanings caught in one noise.
Where You Will See It
Emily Dickinson occasionally rhymes a word with itself, letting repetition stand where readers expect variation. Robert Frost ends 'Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening' by repeating an entire line, 'And miles to go before I sleep', which turns identical rhyme into hypnosis. The sestina, perfected by Arnaut Daniel and practised in English from Sidney to Elizabeth Bishop, is built wholly on repeating six end words in shifting order.
In French verse, rime riche, rhyming on identical sounds like 'ver', 'vert' and 'verre', has long been considered a refinement rather than a fault, a reminder that rhyme aesthetics are cultural, not universal.
How to Use It in Your Own Poems
Repetition in rhyme position reads as obsession, grief, or ritual, so use identical rhyme when the speaker cannot move past something. The repeated word should be the poem's centre of gravity, not a filler you failed to replace. Homophone rhymes suit wit and double meaning; make sure both senses are active, or the reader hears only a missed opportunity.
If you enter a repeating form like a sestina or villanelle in Writory's monthly contest, the repetition is the structure, and judges score how much new meaning each return carries.
What poets can take from this
- Repeat a rhyme word only when the repetition itself means something; otherwise vary it.
- With homophones, activate both meanings so the rhyme works as a pun rather than an accident.
- Let a repeated end word shift its context each time, the way sestina end words must.
- Avoid identical rhyme in light, quick forms, where it sounds like running out of words.
- If a reader might mistake your repetition for carelessness, strengthen the pattern until intent is unmistakable.
Try it yourself
Write a poem of four quatrains about something you cannot stop checking (a phone, a lock, a wound). End the second and fourth line of every stanza with the same single word, and make its meaning tilt slightly with each return.
Questions
Is identical rhyme really rhyme?
Critics disagree. Traditional English prosody says true rhyme needs a differing onset before the matched sounds, so identical rhyme is classed as repetition. Other traditions, notably French, count and even prize it. The safest answer is that it functions in rhyme position while behaving like repetition.
What is the difference between identical rhyme and rich rhyme?
They overlap. Rich rhyme (rime riche) usually means rhyming homophones or words identical in sound but different in meaning, like 'bare' and 'bear'. Identical rhyme covers those plus simple repetition of the very same word.
By the Writory editorial team, reviewed by working poets. Updated July 2026.
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