Adjacent rhyme

Adjacent (paired) rhyme is a way of joining lines in which neighbouring lines rhyme according to the scheme aabb. This is the simplest and most ancient type of rhyme scheme, characteristic of folk song, the duma, the fable and narrative genres, where each pair of lines forms a complete semantic and intonational unity. Adjacent rhyme lends the exposition smoothness and clarity and lends itself well to plot narration and aphoristic maxims. Combined with various metres, it forms distichs that readily unite into larger stanzaic structures. Alongside alternate and envelope rhyme, adjacent rhyme belongs to the three principal ways of organising rhyme within a stanza.