Sound Effects in PoetrySound Appeals

What Sound Effects Do Poets Use?

Some of the sound effects poets may use are

•rhyme

•alliteration

•onomatopoeia

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?Thou art more lovely and more temperate.Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,And summer’s lease hath all too short a date.

from “Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day?” by William Shakespeare

What Is Rhyme?

Rhyme is the repetition of accented vowel sounds and all sounds following them in words that are close together in a poem.

•The pattern of rhymed lines in a poem is called its rhyme scheme. To indicate rhyme scheme, give each new end rhyme a new letter of the alphabet.

abab

Why Do Poets Use Rhyme?

Poets use rhyme because it

•enhances the music of a poem with chiming sounds

•gives readers a sense of expectation

•gives a poem structure and makes it easier to memorize

Types of Rhyme

There are several types of rhyme.

•end rhyme

•internal rhyme

•approximate rhyme

End Rhyme

End rhyme occurs at the end of lines in a poem.

•End rhymes are usually spaced one to four lines apart.

Here, in the summer, at a broken pane,The yellow wasps come in, and buzz and build

Among the rafters; wind and snow and rainAll enter, as the seasons are fulfilled.

from “In a Garret” by Elizabeth Akers Allen

Internal Rhyme

Internal rhyme occurs within a line of a poem.

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,— While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, As of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door. 

from “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe

Approximate Rhyme

Approximate rhyme occurs when two words sound similar but do not rhyme exactly.

•Approximate rhymes are also called half rhymes, slant rhymes, or imperfect rhymes.

And now the lowest pine-branchIs drawn across the disk of the sun.Old friends who will forget me soon,I must go onTowards those blue death mountainsI have forgot so long.

from “The Blue Symphony” by John Gould Fletcher

What Is Alliteration?

Alliteration is the repetition of the same or similar consonant sounds in words that are close together.

•Most alliteration consists of sounds that begin words, but it may also involve sounds that occur within words.

The buzz-saw snarled and rattled in the yardAnd made dust and dropped stove-length sticks of wood,Sweet-scented stuff when the breeze drew across it.

from “Out, Out—” by Robert Frost

What Is Onomatopoeia?

Onomatopoeia is the use of a word whose sound imitates or suggests its meaning.

•Onomatopoeia may imitate natural sounds or mechanical sounds.

I am a copper wire slung in the air,Slim against the sun I make not even a clear line of shadow.Night and day I keep singing—humming and thrumming:

from “Under a Telephone Pole” by Carl Sandburg

Match each word with its definition.

______________—pattern of rhymed lines in a poem

______________—use of a word whose sound imitates or suggests its meaning

______________—repetition of accented vowel sounds and all sounds following them

______________—repetition of the same or similar consonant sounds in words that are close together

Rhyme Rhyme scheme Alliteration Onomatopoeia

What Have You Learned?

Alliteration

Rhyme

Rhyme scheme

Onomatopoeia

The End