RE: masculine/feminine rhyme

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RE: masculine/feminine rhyme

Is it possible for a work of poetry written in prose (unrhymed, no stanzas) to use masculine/feminine words to help convey the tone and meaning?

For Example:
Eavan Boland's "The Pomegranate"

The only legend I have ever loved is
the story of a daughter lost in hell.
And found and rescued there.
Love and blackmail are the gist of it.
Ceres and Persephone the names.
And the best thing about the legend is
I can enter it anywhere. And have.
As a child in exile in
a city of fogs and strange consonants,
I read it first and at first I was
an exiled child in the crackling dusk of
the underworld, the stars blighted. Later
I walked out in a summer twilight
searching for my daughter at bed-time.
When she came running I was ready
to make any bargain to keep her.
I carried her back past whitebeams
and wasps and honey-scented buddleias.
But I was Ceres then and I knew
winter was in store for every leaf
on every tree on that road.
Was inescapable for each one we passed.
And for me. ...



With the final word of each line, the unrhymed masculine words seem to have a stronger feeling than the feminine words.
 

CHOMAT

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Feb 13, 2007
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Re: masculine/feminine rhyme

There is indeed a notion of masculine and feminine in the poetical realm.
The syllabic versification was borrowed from the continent ( Italy and France), used , adapted by CHAUCER in England. Words ending a line are said to be feminine when their last syllable is not stressed
Redy to wender on my pilgrimage
Masculine words have their last syllable stressed.
With feminine words there is a fall and perhaps an effect of sweetness.Unlikewise , the masculine rime with its stress gives off an effect of strength .
 
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