Which rhyme scheme is used in this excerpt from “Ballad of Birmingham” by Dudley Randall?

“Mother dear, may I go downtown Instead of out to play, And march the streets of Birmingham In a Freedom March today?” “No, baby, no, you may not go, For the dogs are fierce and wild, And clubs and hoses, guns and jails Aren’t good for a little child.” “But, mother, I won’t be alone. Other children will go with me, And march the streets of Birmingham To make our country free. “Mother dear, may I go downtown Instead of out to play, And march the streets of Birmingham In a Freedom March today?”

abcb
abbc
aabb
abca

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dayankees2ch dayankees2ch · Answer 1 · 2018-04-01T20:16:55-04:00

ABCB option one is the correct answer

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chaplinway chaplinway · Answer 2 · 2019-03-04T15:41:29-05:00

The quatrains in Ballad of Birmingham all have a consistent rhyme scheme: ABCB.

Mother dear, may I go downtown (A)

Instead of out to play, (B)

And march the streets of Birmingham (C)

In a Freedom March today?” (B)

“No, baby, no, you may not go, (A)

For the dogs are fierce and wild, (B)

And clubs and hoses, guns and jails (C)

Aren’t good for a little child.” (B)

“But, mother, I won’t be alone. (A)

Other children will go with me, (B)

And march the streets of Birmingham (C)

To make our country free. (B)

We can see that all the stanzas have the same pattern where the last words in lines 2 and 4 rhyme while the ones in lines 1 and 3 don't.