Rhyme Scheme and Type of Rhymes in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Ocean

 The Ocean

Nathaniel Hawthorne

The Ocean has its silent caves,

Deep, quiet, and alone;

Though there be fury on the waves,

Beneath them there is none.

The awful spirits of the deep

Hold their communion there;

And there are those for who we weep,

The young, the bright, the fair.

Calmly the wearied seamen rest

Beneath their own blue sea.

The ocean solitudes are blest,

For there is purity.

The earth has guilt, the earth has care,

Unquiet are its graves;

But peaceful sleep is ever there,

Beneath the dark blue waves.

    The rhyme scheme that is used in The Ocean by Nathaniel Hawthorne is alternate rhyme. Even though the poem has 8 lines in each stanza, the rhyme is A/B/A/B/C/D/C/D which fits the characteristics of alternate rhyme even though mostly poems with alternate rhymes have 4 lines only in each stanza.

As you can see here:

The Ocean has its silent caves, (A)

Deep, quiet, and alone; (B)

Though there be fury on the waves, (A)

Beneath them there is none. (B)

The awful spirits of the deep (C)

Hold their communion there; (D)

And there are those for who we weep, (C)

The young, the bright, the fair. (D)

Calmly the wearied seamen rest (A)

Beneath their own blue sea. (B)

The ocean solitudes are blest, (A)

For there is purity. (B)

The earth has guilt, the earth has care, (C)

Unquiet are its graves; (D)

But peaceful sleep is ever there, (C)

Beneath the dark blue waves. (D)

    The type of rhyme that is used in The Ocean is masculine rhyme. The words underlined below are the masculine-rhymed words in the poems:

The Ocean has its silent caves,

Deep, quiet, and alone;

Though there be fury on the waves,

Beneath them there is none.

The awful spirits of the deep

Hold their communion there;

And there are those for who we weep,

The young, the bright, the fair.

Calmly the wearied seamen rest

Beneath their own blue sea.

The ocean solitudes are blest,

For there is purity.

The earth has guilt, the earth has care,

Unquiet are its graves;

But peaceful sleep is ever there,

Beneath the dark blue waves.

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