Repository path: workshop/experiments/E-20260805-heredia-rhyme-flavour/analysis/rhyme_rule.md · rendered 2026-09-09

The rhyme rule, written before any group was coded

A rhyme group is PERFECT iff every member rhymes with every other; otherwise IMPERFECT. Two words rhyme when they are identical in sound from the stressed vowel of each to the end of the word, in standard British English (RP). Conventions, all fixed here rather than decided case by case:

1. Stress must align. A pairing whose match begins after the stressed syllable — elephant / triumphant, see / formerly — is IMPERFECT. This is the rule the reviewer applies when he says "a sonnet is nothing if not perfect", and it is the rule R16-VERSE-BOUND binds the lead to.
2. Eye-rhyme is not rhyme. love / move, wove / Love are IMPERFECT.
3. Identical rhyme is not rhyme. The same word twice in a group is IMPERFECT.
4. No period reconstruction. 1897 American and RP pronunciations are treated as identical for these words. Where they plausibly differ, the group is coded on RP and the fact is noted; no group in this sample turns on it.
5. Rich rhyme is rhyme. Extra agreement before the stressed vowel (core / e'ermore) neither helps nor hurts.
6. The line-final word is the last alphabetic token of the printed line, with trailing hyphens, dashes and quotation marks stripped.

Group membership

Groups are the French partition of each sonnet, per design.md §3 DV2 and amendment A2. For the five sonnets that share Heredia's usual shape the partition is {1,4,5,8} {2,3,6,7} {9,10} {11,13} {12,14}; for Midi. L'air brûle… it is {1,4,5,8} {2,3,6,7} {9,12} {10,11} {13,14}.

A2's restriction is not a formality. The scheme an independent coder reads off each English sonnet is compared with this partition, and PR2 is computed only where they agree. Egan's own prefatory note (WBL XIII p. 7279) states that his sonnets are "of the mold of the originals" with two named exceptions, neither in this sample; where his practice nonetheless departs, the departure is reported, not overridden.