In structured poetry, maintaining a rhyme scheme can create quite a challenge, especially when using the subject's name. The name Vanessa, for example, is difficult to rhyme. But you can still write a poem about the lovely Vanessa; you just need to consider a few alternate forms, and possibly make a few tweaks in your verse. Here are several options for writing a poem about Vanessa.
Instructions
1. Try an exact rhyme. For this, you'll need a rhyming dictionary. In a rhyming dictionary, Vanessa will only have one exact rhyme: Contessa. You can adjust the structure of your poem so that Vanessa is used at the end of a line that is matched in the stanza---the series of poetry lines---by Contessa. So, line A ends with the word "Vanessa," and line B ends with the word "Contessa."
2. Use slant rhyme: Vanessa can be used with a word ending in a near match (known as a slant rhyme). A slant rhyme can be formal and very close to the original word, more than one word used to mimic the syllables and pronunciation of the original word, or a little slangy. It depends on what you feel comfortable writing. Sylvia Plath used slant rhyme in her poem "Admonition" by pairing the words "tongue" and "song."
"Admonition"
By Sylvia Plath
If you dissect a bird
To diagram the tongue
You'll cut the chord
Articulating song.
The rhyme is not exact; instead it is an inference meant to keep the tempo alive in the reader's mind. Likewise, you can use a soundalike word or series of words to match with Vanessa.
3. Write to Vanessa as an unnamed subject. Shakespeare wrote, "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day" in "Sonnet No. 18" without ever naming the subject.
That particular sonnet has gone down in history, and nobody knows who the subject really is. Likewise, you would write an ode to Vanessa, and the only person who would know your poem is about Vanessa would be you---and, of course, Vanessa, if you chose to share it with her.
4. Use Vanessa as the title. Write a poem about Vanessa, and don't use her name in the verse. Instead, name the poem "Vanessa."
5. Write it as an acrostic. An acrostic uses each letter of a word as the first letter of a line of poetry. So, for your poem about Vanessa, your first line would start with the letter "V," the second line would start with the letter "A," and so forth.
When you read the poem, Vanessa's name will be spelled out on the left-hand side of the page. Edgar Allen Poe successfully used this form in his poem "Elizabeth."
6. Let Vanessa be the chorus. Poetry isn't just spoken words; poetry can be translated into song. Consider using the word "Vanessa" as a chorus in your poem, or use the name to create a visual line break. In Fleetwood Mac's song "Rhiannon," Rhiannon could have proven as difficult to rhyme as Vanessa. So the band used it in the chorus instead.
7. Throw form out the window. Free-form poetry is not the ugly stepbrother of formal sonnets it has become a widely accepted form. Famous free-form poets, or poets who let content rather than form dictate the shape of their work, include Jack Kerouac, e.e. cummings and Charles Bukowski. Free-form poetry allows you to write what you think or feel about Vanessa in a more raw, unpolished way that requires no stringent form and no rhyme.
