two lines are a Phrase each and constitute together a
Phrase Group. The third line is made up of two Phrases, or a Phrase
Group in itself. Thus this third line along with the first two makes a
Music Period and the whole satisfies our rhythmic sense though the lines
are apparently odd. In all Negro Rhymes, however odd in number and
however ragged may seem the lines, the music Phrases and Periods are
there in such symmetry as to satisfy our sense of rhythm.

I now turn attention to the rhyming of the lines in Negro verse. The
ordinary systems of rhyming as set forth by our best authors will take
in most Negro Rhymes. Most of them are Adjacent and Interwoven Rhymes.
There are five systems of rhyming commonly used in the white man's
poetry but the Negro Rhyme has nine systems. Here again we find a
parallelism, as in case of music scales, etc. Five in each system are
the same. The ordinary commonly accepted systems are:

a Where the adjacent lines rhyme by twos. We
a call it "Adjacent rhymes" or a "Couplet."

a
b Where the alternating lines rhyme we
a call it "Alternate" or "Interwoven Rhyme."
b

a Where lines 1 and 4, and 2 and 3 rhyme
b respectively with each other. This is called
b "Close Rhyme."
a

a Where in a stanza of four lines, lines 2 and
b 4 only rhyme. This is sometimes also called
c "Alternate Rhyme."
b

a
a Where in a stanza of four lines 1, 2 and 4
b rhyme. This is called "Interrupted Rhyme."
a

I now beg to offer a system of classification in rhyming which will
include all Negro Rhymes. I shall insert the ordinary names in
parenthesis along with the new names wherever the system coincides with
the ordinary system for white men's Rhymes. The only reason for not
using the old names exclusively in these places is that nomenclature
should be kept consistent in any proposed classification, so far as that
is possible.

In classifying the rhyming of the lines or verses I have borrowed terms
from the gem world, partly because the Negro hails from Africa, a land
of gems; and partly because the verses bear whatever beauty there might
have been in his crude crystalized thoughts in the dark days of his
enslavement.

I present herewith the outline and follow it with explanations:

_Class_ _Systems_

I Rhythmic Solitaire (a) Rhythmic measured lines

II Rhymed Doublet (a) Regular (Adjacent Rhyme)