Sound Effects in Poetry
Sound Appeals
What Sound Effects Do Poets Use?
Some of the sound effects poets may use are
•rhyme
•alliteration
•onomatopoeia
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.
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.
a
b
a
b
from “Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day?” by William Shakespeare
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 rain
All 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-branch
Is drawn across the disk of the sun.
Old friends who will forget me soon,
I must go on
Towards those blue death mountains
I 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 yard
And 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
What Have You Learned?
Match each word with its definition.
Rhyme
Rhyme scheme
Alliteration
Onomatopoeia
Rhyme scheme
______________—pattern
of rhymed lines in a poem
Onomatopoeia
______________—use of a word whose sound imitates or suggests
its meaning
Rhyme
______________—repetition of accented vowel sounds and all
sounds following them
Alliteration
______________—repetition of the same or similar consonant
sounds in words that are close together
The End