Expecto A Poem: Upper School of Witchcraft and Poetry

Rhyming is commonplace in poetry, nobody can deny that. Although find primarily in children's poetry, it's nonetheless a regular sight in poetic literature as a whole. Rhyme can add a variety of emotions to a poem, but it's usually used in a light-hearted manner (again, children's poetry), or to add a macabre sense of conflicting viewpoints in a poem to highlight one or the other (for example, "Résumé," by Dorothy Parker, rhymes in a sing-song way. It's about the various ways to commit suicide).

But what happens when you change the rhyme? What if you lead the reader on and have them believe you're going to say one word, and then suddenly insert something else entirely? Wikipedia calls this a "mind rhyme." This can end in myriad ways, ranging from humorous, to frustrating, to sickening. Oftentimes a mind rhyme is used as a censor bypass.

Humorous rhyme subversions are the most obvious and most easily-found type. The infamous Alanis Morissette song "Ironic" gives us this:

It's like ten thousand spoons when all you need is a knife,

It's like meeting the man of my dreams and meeting his beautiful husband

There's plenty of other examples of humorous mind rhymes, but mind rhymes for the purpose of censoring are just as easy to find. One of the most famous examples comes from the classic song by The Killers, "Mr. Brightside."

Now they're going to bed
And my stomach is sick
And it's all in my head
But she's touching his chest

This isn't even a new thing concept, this idea of subverting rhymes. There's even an example found in Hamlet!

Hamlet: For thou dost know, O Damon dear,

This realm dismantled was

Of Jove himself; and now reigns here

A very, very—pajock.

(note that in this case "was" is pronounced similar to "ass")

Finally, the ultimate example of a mind rhyme comes in the form of the infamous "Assumption Song:"