Season 16, Theory and Technique

16.17: The Time To Rhyme

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Your Hosts: Mary Robinette, Dan, Amal, and Howard

Rhyming is powerful. It can signal a form, or telegraph whimsy. It can be predictable, surprising, and sometimes both.

It may also be seen as childish.

When, then, is it time to rhyme?

Will rhyming “internally” fit?
As opposed to a line-ending bit.
For answers, just listen.
But rhymes will be missin’
Especially where they’d deliver a predictably naughty word at the end of, say, a limerick, because in this context, that would definitely be seen as childish.

Credits: This episode was recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson. 

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Look up the limericks of Edward Lear, and use them as a model; write a limerick, paying careful attention to how the rhyme needs to match a certain rhythm.

The Forever Sea, by Joshua Phillip Johnson

7 thoughts on “16.17: The Time To Rhyme”

  2. Also re: Howard’s unfinished limerick: it doesn’t have to be a dirty joke there. It could show you’ve got a quick wit.

  3. The Wise Man’s Fear, too, has some rhyme.
    Except it’s not all of the time.
    When Kvothe’s in the Fae Realm
    and talks to Felurian.
    Any more and it might be a crime.

  4. Hi! I’ve noticed some seasons aren’t available on the Apple Podcasts app (at least last I’ve checked on my version of the app). Will they be eventually added there? And thank you for your work, your podcast always inspires and teachs me a lot!

  5. This week, the poetic quartet, Mary Robinette, Dan, Amal, and Howard, started with hurry, scurry, furry, and rhymed away! And you can read all about it in the transcript available now in the archives.

  7. For Amal; The last Saskatchewan Pirate

    I used to be a farmer, and I made a living fine,
    I had a little stretch of land along the CP line
    But times were hard and though I tried, the money wasn’t there
    And the bankers came and took my land and told me “fair is fair”

    I looked for every kind of job, the answer always no
    “Hire you now?” they’d always laugh, “we just let twenty go!”
    The government, the promised me a measly little sum
    But I’ve got too much pride to end up just another bum.

    Then I thought, who gives a damn if all the jobs are gone?
    I’m gonna be a PIRATE on the river Saskatchewan!

    [Chorus] And it’s a heave-ho, hi-ho, comin’ down the plains
    Stealin’ wheat and barley and all the other grains
    It’s a ho-hey, hi-hey farmers bar yer doors
    When ya see the Jolly Roger on Regina’s mighty shores

    Well, you’d think the local farmers would know that I’m at large
    But just the other day I found an unprotected barge
    I snuck up right behind them and they were none the wiser,
    I rammed their ship and sank it and I stole their fertilizer!

    A bridge outside of Moose Jaw spans a mighty river
    Farmers cross in so much fear their stomachs are a’quiver
    Cause they know that Tractor Jack is hidin’ in the bay
    I’ll jump the bridge and knock them cold and sail off with their hay!

    [Chorus] And it’s a heave-ho, hi-ho, comin’ down the plains
    Stealin’ wheat and barley and all the other grains
    It’s a ho-hey, hi-hey farmers bar yer doors
    When ya see the Jolly Roger on Regina’s mighty shoresWell,

    Mountie Bob he chased me, he was always at my throat
    He followed on the shoreline cause he didn’t own a boat
    But cutbacks were a’coming and the Mountie lost his job
    So now he’s sailing with us, and we call him Salty Bob!

    A swingin’ sword, a skull and bones and pleasant company
    I never pay my income tax and screw the GST (SCREW IT!!)
    Sailin down to Saskatoon, the terror of the seas
    If you wanna reach the co-op, boy, you gotta get by me!

    Cause it’s a heave-ho, hi-ho, comin’ down the plains
    Stealin’ wheat and barley and all the other grains
    It’s a ho-hey, hi-hey farmers bar yer doors
    When ya see the Jolly Roger on Regina’s mighty shores(*spoken*
    Arrrr! Ya salty dog!)
    (*spoken* Arrrr! Ya salty gopher!)
    (*spoken* Arr. ya. salty bale of hay!)

    Well, Pirate life’s appealing but you just don’t find it here,
    I hear in North Alberta there’s a band of buccaneers
    They roam the Athabaska from Smith to Fort McKay
    And you’re gonna lose your Stetson if you have to pass their way!

    Well, winter is a’comin’ and a chill is in the breeze
    My Pirate days are over once the river starts to freeze
    I’ll be back in springtime but now I have to go
    I hear there’s lots of plunderin’ down in New Mexico!

    Cause it’s a heave-ho, hi-ho, comin’ down the plains
    Stealin’ wheat and barley and all the other grains
    It’s a ho-hey, hi-hey farmers bar yer doors
    When ya see the Jolly Roger on Regina’s mighty shores… x2When ya see the Jolly Roger on Regina’s mighty shores… x2

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