MASCULINE Rhyme, in the French poetry, is that
made with a word which has a strong, open, and ac-
cented pronunciation; as all words have, excepting
those which have an e feminine in their last syllable.
For instance, amour and four, mort and sort, are mas-
culine rhymes; and pere and mere, glorie and memoire,
are feminine. Hence also verses ending with a mas-
culine rhyme, are called masculine verses, and those end-
ing with a feminine rhyme, feminine verses. It is now
a rule established among the French poets never to use
the above two masculine or two feminine verses suc-
cessively, except in the looser kind of poetry. Marot
was the first who introduced this mixture of masculine
and feminine verses, and Rosard was the first who
practiced it with success. The masculine verses should
always have a syllable less than the feminine ones.