Amphisbaenic rhyme

Amphisbaenic rhyme describes a pair of words that create an agreement in sound if the sequence of the letters in one of the words is reversed.^[1] The term refers to the amphisbaena serpent in classical mythology.^[2] The serpent had a head at each end of its body and therefore was able to move forwards and backwards. In its simplest form the amphisbaenic rhyme consists of the same word spelled backwards (step/pets). Less obvious variations match the sound of one or more syllables of a rhyme mate with the sound of an inverted word or syllable (day/masquerade).

Examples

In the 1948 poem “The Pickerel Pond: A Double Pastoral.” Edmund Wilson used the amphisbaenic rhyme to symbolize the mirror reflection of the pond’s environment.^[3]

The lake lies with never a ripple,

A lymph to lave sores from a leper:

The sand white as salt in an air

That has filtered the tamed every ray;

Below limpid water, those lissome

Scrolleries scribbled by mussels;

The floating dropped feathers of gulls;

A leech like a lengthening slug

[...]

See also

• Rhyme
• An Introduction to Rhyme

References