Odd rhyme claim

[Karl Hagen]

I presume Hollander is talking about Emerson's poem "Ode to William H.
Channing", the first stanza of which reads

Though loth to grieve
The evil time's sole patriot,
I cannot leave
My buried thought
For the priest's cant,
Or statesman's rant.

He seems to be assuming the rhyme scheme is ababcc. The only problem is that the
poem as a whole does not have a regular rhyme scheme, and many of the stanzas
have unrhymed lines (or slant rhyme). So this is no good evidence for actual
rhyming in Emerson's day.

Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Odd rhyme claim
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> The poet John Hollander asserts that New England is "the only region of the
> nation" (or was in Emerson's time) "in whose dialect _patriot_ rhymes with
> _thought_."
>
> Really? I'd have guessed that _patriot_ "rhymes" with _thought_  nowhere on
> Panet Earth.  Or is Hollander being facetious at Emerson's expense?  Yeah,
> that must be it.  Sorry.
>
> On the other hand....I'm curious.
>
> JL
>
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