This question is based on Literary Appreciation. The old man slept in his favorite chair The wind ran its…

Analyze the question: We are asked to find the rhyme scheme of a four-line poem. The rhyme scheme is found by labelling the end sound of each line with a letter, giving the same letter to lines that rhyme.

Concept: Rhyme scheme describes the pattern of end rhymes. The first end sound is always labelled "a". A new end sound gets the next letter, "b".

Solution:

Take the last word of each line:

1. "The old man slept in his favorite chair" → sound: -air → a
2. "The wind ran its fingers through his hair" → sound: -air → a (rhymes with chair)
3. "He looked like a tree gone dry of sap" → sound: -ap → b
4. "And his hands were dry upon his lap" → sound: -ap → b (rhymes with sap)

So the pattern is: chair (a), hair (a), sap (b), lap (b) = aabb

This is called a couplet pattern, where two consecutive lines rhyme, followed by another pair that rhymes.

Checking the options:

• A. bbaa: this has the same paired structure, but the first rhyme sound is conventionally labelled "a", so it is not the standard labelling.
• B. aabb: correct.
• C. abab: alternate rhyme, which would need chair/sap to rhyme. They don't.
• D. baba: same problem as C.

Answer: B. aabb

Exam tip: Always write the last word of each line and label the rhymes in order, starting with "a". Pairs of back-to-back rhymes give aabb (couplets), alternating rhymes give abab, and a rhyme that is enclosed gives abba. It takes only seconds and avoids silly mistakes.