#13
Name: _________________________________________________________ Date: ________________________________ Advisory: ___________
Reading 7, Stern/Frost
TCOMW
Index
Sound Devices in Poetry:
How does sound affect the meaning of a poem?
Things to Know:
 Most poetry should be read aloud. Poetry is a musical
art form, like songs.

The poet uses sound devices (ex: alliteration,
onomatopoeia, assonance, consonance, rhyme) to
influence the reader’s mood.

The poet uses sound devices to help convey a central
idea.

Understanding the “sound” of a poem can help you
uncover the poem’s real meaning.
Directions:
1. Before we start analyzing songs and poems, go to Permanent Notes #5
(Figurative Language). Go to page 4.
2. Review the definitions and come up with examples of each sound device.
1
Directions: Listen to the song and write down observations about the sound.
SAYS
“Lose Yourself” by Eminem
His palms are sweaty,
knees weak, arms are heavy
There's vomit on his sweater already,
mom's spaghetti
He's nervous, but on the surface he looks calm
and ready to drop bombs,
DOES
a) What sound devices are used (ex: alliteration, onomatopoeia, assonance,
consonance, rhyme)? Write down a few examples:
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
b) What is your mood when you listen to this song?
but he keeps on forgetting what he wrote down,
the whole crowd goes so loud
He opens his mouth, but the words won't come
out
He's choking how,
everybody's joking now
The clock's run out, time's up over, bloah!
Snap back to reality,
Oh there goes gravity
Oh, there goes Rabbit, he choked
He's so mad, but he won't give up that
Easy, no….
You better lose yourself in the music, the
moment You own it, you better never let it
go You only get one shot, do not miss your
chance to blow This opportunity comes once in a
lifetime yo…
_____________________________________________________________
c) How do Eminem’s sound devices affect your mood?
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
d) What is the meaning of this song? What is Eminem trying to say?
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
e) How does Eminem use sound devices to help convey the meaning of
the song? Eminem uses________________________________________
to convey [the song’s central idea or message]…
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
2
TRY IT! How does sound affect the meaning of a poem?
Directions: First, read and summarize the poem’s stanzas:
POEM
“Blackberry Eating” by Galway Kinnell
1
I love to go out in late September
among the fat, overripe, icy, black blackberries
to eat blackberries for breakfast,
5
the stalks very prickly, a penalty
they earn for knowing the black art
of blackberry-making;
SAYS (Summarize)
Summarize Stanza 1: _______________________________
_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
Summarize Stanza 2: _______________________________
_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
and as I stand among them
lifting the stalks to my mouth, the ripest berries
Summarize Stanza 3: _______________________________
fall almost unbidden (unexpectedly) to my tongue,
_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
10 as words sometimes do, certain peculiar word like strengths or squinched,
many-lettered, one-syllabled lumps,
which I squeeze, squinch open, and splurge well
in the silent, startled, icy, black language
of blackberry -- eating in late September.
Summarize Stanza 4: _______________________________
_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
1. What activity is the speaker describing in this poem? ________________________________________________________________________________
2. To the speaker, is this scene pleasant or unpleasant? How do you know?
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________
3
Directions: Now, reread and analyze the sound devices in the poem.
POEM
“Blackberry Eating” by Galway Kinnell
1
I love to go out in late September
among the fat, overripe, icy, black blackberries
to eat blackberries for breakfast,
5
the stalks very prickly, a penalty
they earn for knowing the black art
of blackberry-making;
and as I stand among them
lifting the stalks to my mouth, the ripest berries
fall almost unbidden (unexpectedly) to my tongue,
10 as words sometimes do, certain peculiar word like strengths or
squinched,
many-lettered, one-syllabled lumps,
which I squeeze, squinch open, and splurge well
in the silent, startled, icy, black language
of blackberry -- eating in late September.
DOES- What sound devices does the poet use? Why?
3. Find and circle the poem’s examples of alliteration & consonance.
4. Read aloud the words you have circled without reading the rest of
the poem. What do you notice about the way your mouth works to
pronounce these words?
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
5. How is this action related to the subject of the poem?
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
6. Underline all of the one-syllable words in this poem.
7. How do these one-syllable words affect the speed with which you
read this poem?
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
8. How does this speed (or lack of speed) relate to the action the
speaker is describing and his feelings about that action?
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
Go to next page 
4
Name: _________________________________________________________ Date: ________________________________ Advisory: ___________
“Blackberry Eating” Analysis of Sound Devices
9. Now read again lines 6-9 (beginning with “and as I stand”). In these lines, what does the speaker compare to the “berries [that] fall almost
unbidden to [his] tongue”?
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
10. What are the “many-lettered, one-syllabled lumps” the speaker mentions in line 11-12?
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
11. How are the blackberries like these words?
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
12. How does the author use sound devices to reflect his feelings about eating blackberries?
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
5
Name: _________________________________________________________ Date: ________________________________ Advisory: ___________
#
READING HOMEWORK: Analysis of Sound Devices in “Wash Day”
SAYS
“Wash Day”
1.
2.
3.
4.
clips.
Saturday is wash day for Mami and me
down by the river that flows to the sea.
We carry the baskets high on our hips.
We juggle the soap, the scrub board, and
5.
6.
7.
shade.
8.
Our friends wave hola as we slippery-slide
On river-age stones to the other side.
Where sun rays glimmer on a whisper of
DOES
1) What sound devices are used (ex: rhyme, repetition, alliteration,
onomatopoeia, assonance, consonance)? Write down at least 3 examples:
a.___________________________________________________________
b.___________________________________________________________
c.___________________________________________________________
2) What is your mood when you read this poem?
_____________________________________________________________
3) How do the use of sound devices affect your mood?
And Mami and me tie our hair up in braids. _____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
9.
Then WHACK! I smack the clothes on the
rocks
4) What is the meaning of this poem? What is Ana Rosa trying to say?
10.
to scare out all dirt and grassy spots.
_____________________________________________________________
11.
Mami scrubs them up and down,
_____________________________________________________________
12.
and we both swirl them round and round.
_____________________________________________________________
13.
Sparkling white, and river clean
5) How does Ana Rosa use sound devices to help convey the meaning of
14.
the clothes smell like fresh-air dreams.
the song? Ana Rosa uses_____________________________________ to
15.
We clip them safe to bushes and trees
convey [the poem’s central idea or message]…
16.
to dry in the sun and flap in the breeze.
_____________________________________________________________
17.
Later, under the moon’s blue light
18.
Mami and me smooth the wrinkled clothes _____________________________________________________________
right.
_____________________________________________________________
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