Excerpt from Essays and Studies by Members of the English Association, Vol. 7 But these are somewhat subtle considerations, and the chief pleasure we derive from rhyme comes, in our own language at least, of its simplicity. The rhythmical chiming of one word with another gives immediate satisfaction to the ear, like the Harmony of two notes in music. We realize anew how fondly we can dwell on the mere music of words, when our attention is held by this recurrent echo. Moreover, we have here, in rounded design, in distillation, virtues which are the very life of poetry. Out of the same life-principle as leaf and stem comes the flower, which is their fulfilment in ecstasy; and rhyme is in this sense the flower of poetry. It has the beauty of attainment and breathes out a meditative fragrance. The position Of rhyme in English verse is a strange one. Not only can it be used or not used at pleasure, but, when it is used, it is seldom used strictly. All our poets gratefully accept almost any kind of substitute which may pass as an equivalent, eye-rhyme, assonance, or whatever it may be. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.