Question

complete the rhyme scheme.
across the sky a lowly sigh
from west to east the sweet wind carried;
the sun stood still on primrose hill;
his light in all the city tarried;
the clouds on viewless columns bloomed
like smouldering lilies unconsumed.
adapted from john davidson, \london\

Explanation:

To complete the rhyme scheme, we analyze the end - sounds of each line:

Step 1: Analyze the first line

The first line is "Across the sky a lowly sigh", and its end - sound is associated with the letter "a" (we can denote the rhyme scheme of the first line as "a").

Step 2: Analyze the second line

The second line is "From west to east the sweet wind carried", and its end - sound is different from the first line. Let's denote its rhyme scheme as "b".

Step 3: Analyze the third line

The third line is "The sun stood still on Primrose Hill", and its end - sound rhymes with the second line (the "carried" and "Hill" have a similar end - sound pattern when considering the rhyme scheme). So, the rhyme scheme for the third line is "b".

Step 4: Analyze the fourth line

The fourth line is "His light in all the city tarried", and its end - sound rhymes with the second and third lines. So, the rhyme scheme for the fourth line is "b".

Step 5: Analyze the fifth line

The fifth line is "The clouds on viewless columns bloomed", and its end - sound is different from the previous ones. Let's denote its rhyme scheme as "c".

Step 6: Analyze the sixth line

The sixth line is "Like smouldering lilies unconsumed", and its end - sound rhymes with the fifth line. So, the rhyme scheme for the sixth line is "c".

So the completed rhyme scheme (from line 2 to line 6) is: b, b, b, c, c.

If we are only considering the second line (the one after the first line which is "a"), the rhyme scheme for the second line is "b".

Answer:

For the second line ( "From west to east the sweet wind carried" ), the rhyme scheme letter is $\boldsymbol{b}$ (and following the pattern, the subsequent lines have rhyme schemes: third line - $b$, fourth line - $b$, fifth line - $c$, sixth line - $c$)