Elements of Poetic Form

Sound Devices in Poetry

One element that is most noticeable within poetry is the arrangements of sounds in a sentence.

From Poetry we learn that it matters what sounds we use when we write something.

One of the most common patterns in poetry.

When words end with the same sounds, or almost the same sounds.

And everywhere a silver, With ropes of sandTo keep it from effacing The track called land.

Rhyme

Occurs in the last words of linesThere are plenty of trees, And plenty of ease,

End Rhyme

When rhymes occur within lines, rather than at the ends.

The Gothic looks solemn, The plain Doric column

Internal Rhyme

Words that almost rhyme are called near rhyme, off rhyme or slant rhyme.

Mirror and near

Turns and mourns

Near Rhyme

One syllable rhymes are called Masculine rhymeArch-larch, sings-rings, trees-ease

Two syllable rhymes are Feminine RhymeSolemn- column or Crozier-Hosier

Masculine and Feminine Rhyme

Rhyming with the first syllables of a words instead of the last syllables

Chantry and Chancellor

Sniffle and griffin

Reverse Rhyme

A form of internal rhyme; it is when a word in the middle of a line rhymes with the word at the end of the same line.

I bring fresh showers for the thirsting flowers, From the seas and the streams;

I bear light shade for the leaves when laidIn their noonday dreams

Leonine

I sift the snow on the mountains below And their great pines groan aghastAnd all the night ‘tis my pillow white,

While I sleep in the arms of the blast

Sound Play

Patterns Beyond Rhyme

from The Scarlet Letter by Nathanial Hawthorne

What you will see next is the first paragraph from the novel above. It is filled with hard, harsh, scratchy sounds to express the unpleasant strictness, rigidity, and judgmental character of the Puritans.

A throng of bearded men, in sad-colored garments and gray steeple-crowned hats, intermixed with women, some wearing hoods, and others bareheaded, was assembled in front of a wooden edifice, the door of which was heavily timbered with oak an studded with iron spikes.

Sounds are important to poetry and to prose for expression of tone, mood, emotion, purpose, etc.

A throng of bearded men, in sad-colored garments and gray steeple-crowned hats, intermixed with women, some wearing hoods, and others bareheaded, was assembled in front of a wooden edifice, the door of which was heavily timbered with oak an studded with iron spikes.

Sounds are important to poetry and to prose for expression of tone, mood, emotion, purpose, etc.

Repeating only the initial (beginning) sound of a word. It wraps it, rail by rail,It ruffles wrists of posts.

Poets use repetition in classic ways.Alliterating an adjective with its noun , or a

subject with its predicate, or the connected terms of a compound. Consistent structures like this are obvious evidence of the intent of the poet. Certainly words will show repetition by accident, but such consistent application shows the artistic effort.

Alliteration

Alliteration was especially important in Old English verse,

establishing the rhythm and structure of the poetic line.

is one of the poet's most important sound techniques. It makes particular words stand out. It also connects the words to be emphasized. It can highlight concepts and relationships.

Look for the repeated consonant sounds in this poem:

Then up and spake an old sailor,  Had sailed to the Spanish Main,"I pray thee, put into yonder port,  For I fear a hurricane."

--Henry W. Longfellow, "The Wreck of Hesperus"

Often the sounds and meanings of the words combine to create a mood. Here, repetition of b and t stresses a feeling of urgency:

Hear the loud alarum bells--  Brazen bells!What a tale of terror, now, their turbulency tells!

--Edgar Allen Poe, from "The Bells"

Pattern of a vowel sound in the middle of words.

Blake and fame = assonance not :

Blake and snake = rhymeAnd not :

Blake and book = alliteration But

Glooms of the live-oaks, beautiful-braided and woven

With intricate shades of the vines that myriad-cloven

Clamber the forks of the multiform bought. . .

Assonance

Assonance"Assonance, (or medial rime) is the

agreement in the vowel sounds of two or more words, when the consonant sounds preceding and following these vowels do not agree. Thus, strike and grind, hat and man, 'rime' with each other according to the laws of assonance."(J.W. Bright, Elements of English Versification, 1910)

Forgiving the living is hard

enough, shrugging away all the wounds

delivered with kisses and curses,

the thousand and one petty slights

that bled me to an albino shade,

that shadow me even in dreams.

From “Memorial Service”by George Garrett

Open, roll way the stone, overturn and blasting, groan

In the above line there is an example of alliteration, rhyme and assonance.

Can you identify each? What kind of rhyme is it?

Wait ----Practice

Open, roll way the stone, overturn and blasting, groan

In the above line there is an example of alliteration, rhyme (Leonine) and assonance.

Wait ----Practice

Repetition of certain consonant sounds.Consonance can create a kind of percussion

that adds strength to a poem.

I fled him, down the nights and down the days

Consonance

Consonancecorrespondence or recurrence of sounds

especially in words; specifically : recurrence or repetition of consonants especially at the end of stressed syllables without the similar correspondence of vowels (as in the final sounds of “stroke” and “luck”)

Great, or good, or kind, or fair,I will ne'er the more despair;If she love me, this believe,I will die ere she shall grieve;If she slight me when I woo,I can scorn and let her go;For if she be not for me,What care I for whom she be?

George Wither, "Shall I Wasting in Despair”

from Kate Chopin’s The Awakening:The voice of the sea is seductive; never

ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander for a spell in abysses of solitude; to lose itself in mazes of inward contemplation. The voice of the sea speaks to the soul. The touch of the sea is sensuous, enfolding the body in its soft, close embrace.

Sibilant: is alliteration but is a term used when s is the repeated sound. (hissing sounds as in “this” or pleasure”

AnaphoraRepetition of a word or words at the

beginning of two or more successive verses, clauses, or sentences.

We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and strength in the air, we shall defend our island whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and streets, we shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender.

Review1. What kind of

rhyme is loser bruiser?Feminine

2. What kind of rhyme is gravel gravid?Reverse

3. What is shock shack?Alliteration

4. What is boat boom bind?Alliteration

5. What is fail safe make stay?Assonance

6. What is trouble about nobody rabid ribbing?Consonance

More Sound Play

Beyond simple vocals, there are also rhythms.

Poets often use rhythms to support the ideas of the poems.

This is possible because the syllables of words can be either stressed or unstressed.

The arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables in lines of poetry is

called meter.Stress is emphasis, the way we give extra

voice to certain syllables.

C. Meter

President first syllable PREZ ih dent

Petunia second syllable peh TOON ya

Malarky second syllable mah LAR kee

Examples of emphasis or stress:

What if someone came up to you and said. . .

HIH lar EE us chih KENS DEE sin ded vur TIK lee

Would you know what these words meant. . .

Hilarious chickens descended vertically?

Correct stress is important:

The most common type of poetic foot (each unit of repeating pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables).

An iamb is a two-syllable foot that is stressed in the second syllable.

It dropped / so low/ in my / re gard This entire poem is made of iambs:

It dropped so low in my regardI heard it hit the ground, And go to pieces on the stonesAt bottom of my mind.

1. Iamb

A two-syllable foot with the stress on the first syllable

Trochee are often used to suggest evil or danger within a poem.

Something /wicked /this way /come

2. Trochee

A two-syllable foot with both syllables stressed.

Spondees are often used for emphasis in a line of iambs.

He looked/ surprised/ and said /no words

3. Spondee

A three-syllable foot with the stress on the first syllable

Sounds like DAdada DAdada. . .

This is the/ for est prim/e val. The/ mur mur ing/ pines and the/ hem locks,

4. Dactyl

a. A three-syllable foot with the stress on the third syllable

When the voi/ ces of chil/ dren are heard/ on the green

5. Anapest

II. Language

A direct and factual statement often fails to get an idea across. Effect is added when comparisons are made.

Figures of speech compare an unusual experience to something someone is more likely to know about.

Original figures of speech have an element of surprise that enhances the communication.

Figurative

a. A comparison between two things using word such as like or as to make it clear that it is a comparison.

i. Beauty is like a snowfall

1. Simile:

a. a direct comparison between two things.

i. beauty is a snowfall

2. Metaphor

a. treating something that is not a person as though it were a person.

i. The mountains are an aware being, sitting up, looking alertly over the plain.

3. Personification

The figure of speech is not a comparison but the use of a related thing to indicate something.

example:. the pen is mightier than the sword= metonymy Using a related object, a pen, to indicate

publishing, or using the sward to indicated armed force.

Or

Example: Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears = synecdoche (a substituion of a part for the whole.)

Synecdoche and Metonymy

Language that appeals to the five senses Sight, smell, sound, touch, taste

Imagery

Questions?

T – Title Before reading the poem, consider the title

P – Paraphrase Paraphrase the poem at face value – put into your

words C – Connotation

Look for deeper meaning – analyze poetic elements A – Attitude

Author’s tone S – Shifts

Shifts in tone, rhythm, action meaning? T – Title

Re-evaluate the title T – Theme

What message is this poem trying to get across?

TPCASTT