I seem to remember from school days being told that rhyme was a newish southern English habit in Chaucer's time, the examples being the Canterbury Tales(Chaucer, southern, rhymed) v the contemporaneous Gawain and the Green Knight (northern, unrhymed, alliterative). However, I wish I'd thought of another name for the thread: I know perfectly well rhymes arent necessary. I'm more interested in finding out which languages/cultures rhyme their songs, and which don't.