Something that has bothered me for several Christmases: a few verses just don't rhyme in the carol "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing." In the first verse, we have sing/King, mild/reconciled, rise/skies, and finally, proclaim/Bethlehem. What's up with this? Did the author just get lazy and force a rhyme to fit the hymn?
I have a theory. Charles Wesley wrote the carol back in 1739 -- toward the beginning of what we know as the Modern English period, if my class at Lancaster taught me anything. My guess is that they hadn't yet worked out the kinks in the system. Certain words just weren't pronounced the same as they are today. Either proclaim was pronounced proclem or Bethlehem was pronounced Bethlehaim.
Perhaps someone more knowledgeable could help me out with this?
(This happens again in other verses. In the second, come is rhymed with womb. In the fourth, seed is rhymed with head. In the third, righteousness is rhymed with peace, and no one can tell me that wasn't just Wesley being lazy.)
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1 comment:
This laziness is not limited to Mr. Wesley. The noted composer Ludacris, in his symphony "Act a Fool", has the line "My folk riding shotgun with a shotgun". Of course, it's a little different, as "shotgun" does indeed rhyme with "shotgun".
Dan
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