Rhyme thrives at both poles of literature. It is the material of a greeting card—“Roses are red / Violets are blue / Sugar is sweet / And so are you”—and the high-tragic language of Racine. Rhyme ...

I’m sure you’ve heard the saying, “history doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme” and while this phrase is often credited to Mark Twain (1835-1910), there’s simply no evidence that he ever said ...