rhyme
by JVS on May.04, 2010, under 2010
I just read these words in an old Hebrew Psalm (18), “That’s why I’m singing songs that rhyme Your name…” It led me to ask, What does it mean when something rhymes with God? How would words, a work of art, a beautiful scientific theory rhyme with God’s nature, character and being? Would it be like a parable or icon – an “unlike” look at something – or act like a metaphor – a representation, symbol or emblem? Sort of, I’m thinking, but there would be something unique of the idea of a rhyme, a resonance that not only means the same thing, but also sounds the same way. In fact rhyme doesn’t even have to mean the same thing does it? But this idea of sound resonance rings true. It’s not an echo or a reflection… it’s a lyrical, singing sound-alike. Surely all of creation rhymes with God’s name in this way. I’m going to get a book on rhyme and try to figure out how all that works.
May 11th, 2010 on 8:53 pm
Oh man, John, there could be so much to this… you got my imagination going, so I had to do a bit of my own digging. Our current spelling of rhyme (it used to be spelled rime) comes from the Greek rhythmos (rhythm) – makes me think that if something rhymes with God it shares His rhythm. One definition of rhyme is “a word agreeing with another in terminal sound” – perhaps something that rhymes with God shares the same end result: to glorify Him.
Then I got to thinking about the different types of rhyme. Did you know that there is masculine and feminine rhyme? That you can have internal, intermittent, and broken rhyme? That there’s such a thing as a “thorn line” in a poem, which means there is a line without rhyme in a normally rhymed passage? Consider all of the possible connections!
Then there’s sight rhyme (it looks like it rhymes, but it doesn’t) and near rhyme (it’s close, but doesn’t quite match up; also known as slant or off rhyme) and of course perfect rhyme, also known as exact, true, or full rhyme. Isn’t this like so many things in creation? Things can look (or sound) as if they are like God, or almost share God’s nature, but they are deceiving or slanted or off somehow. And then there are the things that cause us to experience those incredible “God moments” – the things that perfectly, exactly, truly, and fully rhyme with His nature.
There’s a sermon here, for sure… much more exploration to be done.