Trimester 3
Poetry Terms
Week 2
Sound Devices
All of the vocab terms this week are
sound devices:
– resources used by poets to convey an
experience through the use of sounds
alliteration
Repetition of consonant sounds at the
beginning of words.
Example: Kari came crashing through the concrete
casing.
allusion
Reference to a famous person, event, place,
or work of literature that is assumed to be
known.
Example: “As Romeo is bleeding, but you can’t see
his blood”
--Bon Jovi
(reference is made to the literary
character Romeo from Shakespeare’s play
Romeo & Juliet)
assonance
Repetition of vowel sounds in nonrhyming words
Example: "Strips of tinfoil winking like people"
(Sylvia Plath, "The Bee Meeting")
consonance
Repetition of consonant sounds within
or at the end of a word
Example: some mammals are clammy
apple and maple trees please the people
onomatopoeia
Using words that imitate the sound
they denote.
Examples: Buzz, hiss, pop, crack
rhyme
Repetition of sounds at the ends of
words
Example: The cat in the hat
suite, heat, complete