What is the rhyme scheme described for London?

• A. AAAA
• B. ABAB in each quatrain
• C. ABBA in each quatrain
• D. ABCD in each quatrain

Answer: (B)

Rhyme appears in a steady, alternating way in each four-line block: the endings of lines 1 and 3 rhyme with each other, and the endings of lines 2 and 4 rhyme with each other. That makes an ABAB pattern in every stanza.

For example, in the opening four lines, the endings are street, flow, meet, woe. Street rhymes with meet, and flow rhymes with woe, so the pattern is ABAB. The same alternating rhyme repeats in each subsequent quatrain, confirming ABAB in each.

This fits best because the poem is built from four-line stanzas with that exact alternating rhyme, rather than all lines rhyming the same (AAAA), a different cross pattern (ABBA), or four entirely distinct endings (ABCD). The consistent ABAB structure helps drive the poem’s urgent, looping critique of London.