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As a poem written in free verse, “Theme for English B” doesn’t have a regular rhyme scheme. That said, Hughes does use rhyme occasionally in the poem. Perhaps the most obvious example of rhyme appears in the teacher’s prompt, which Hughes wrote in rhyming couplets (lines 2–5):

     Go home and write
     a page tonight.
     And let that page come out of you—
     Then, it will be true. 

Elsewhere in the poem, Hughes uses end rhyme to create links between key concepts. For example, his use of “write” and “white” as end-rhyme words for lines 27 and 28 suggests a question about racial identity and writing. As a person of color, the speaker wonders what conditions make it possible for him to write. A similar connection arises between “me,” “free,” and “English B” in lines 38, 40 and 41, respectively. Here, the speaker implicitly asks how he can find a sense of freedom and liberating self-expression in the context of his English class. In addition to the occasional end rhyme, Hughes also uses internal rhyme to emphasize the fluctuating rhythm of the poem’s language. For example, consider these lines, which open the second stanza (lines 16–17):

     It’s not easy to know what is true for you or me
     at twenty-two, my age. 

These lines don’t use end rhyme, nor do they have a regular meter. Even so, the way Hughes rhymes “true,” “you,” and “two” creates a sense of rhythm that flows across the line break.

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