Sound Devices and Rhyme Quickchat with colleagues: How can the sound of a poem affect its meaning? SOUND DEVICES – the effects that the sound of a word has when read aloud ALLITERATION— is the repetition of the initial sound in two or more words in a line of verse. Connects words/phrases and sounds gratifying. Sneaky snakes slide side-straddle. ONOMATOPOEIA— is the use of a word to represent or imitate natural sounds. Sound reflects meaning. (buzz, crunch, gurgle, sizzle, hiss, humm) More Sound Devices ASSONANCE—is the similarity or repetition of a vowel sound (not just letter) in two or more words. Lake and stake are rhymes; lake and fate are assonance. Base and face are rhymes; base and fate are assonance. The Twitter fit pitched was quick and brief. Cursed by he who moves my bones CONSONANCE—is the repetition of consonant sounds within a line of verse. Consonance is similar to alliteration except that consonance doesn’t limit the repeated sound to the initial letter or a word. But such a tide as moving seems asleep. The pitter patter of droplets tickled my face. More Sound Devices REFRAIN—is the repetition of one or more phrases or lines at intervals in a poem, usually at the end of a stanza. The refrain often takes the form of a chorus. REPETITION—is the reiterating of a word or phrase within a poem. Enjambment vs. End-Stopped • ENJAMBMENT—in poetry, the running over of a sentence from one verse or stanza into the next without stopping at the end of the first. When the sentence or meaning does stop at the end of the line it is called—END-STOPPED LINE. END-STOPPED A line can be end-stopped, just like this one, Or it can show enjambment, just like this One, where the sense straddles two lines: you feel As if from shore you’d stepped into a boat. ENJAMBED END-STOPPED 2 Major Types of Rhyme Internal Words rhyme in the middle of a line External Words rhyme at ends of lines 2 Kinds of Rhyme INTERNAL But the raven, sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke only, Nothing further then he uttered - not a feather then he fluttered Edgar Allan Poe, “The Raven” EXTERNAL What this grim, gaunt, and ominous bird of yore Meant in croaking `Nevermore.‘ Edgar Allan Poe, “The Raven” Annotating End Rhyme Schemes • Start with the letter A and assign it to the end of line 1 • Ask yourself if the end of line 2 rhymes with line 1. If it does, write A next to the end of line 2. If it doesn’t, give it the next letter – b. • And so on… Different Rhyme Schemes • pattern of rhyme between lines of a poem or song • For example: –Roses are Red –Violets are Blue –Pencils have lead –Sabolcik teaches all of you. A B A B A few precepts* about rhyme… • We tend to connect/associate rhyming words in our minds • We tend to like it when rhymes are completed • Rhymes tend to finalize/complete sections of thoughts • *Not always true! • • • • • 21 Pilots, “Stressed Out” I wish I found some better sounds no one’s ever heard, I wish I had a better voice that sang a better word, I wish I found some chords in an order that is new, I wish I didn't have to rhyme every time I sang. What’s the effect of the broken rhyme scheme? KINDS OF RHYME: The kinds of rhyme based on the number of syllables presenting a similarity of sound are: MASCULINE RHYME—occurs when one syllable of a word rhymes with another word: (effect tends to be decisive and bold; complete) bend and send; bright and light FEMININE RHYME—occurs when the last two syllables of a word rhyme with another word: (effect tends to be more lyrical, elegant, and free) lawful and awful; lighting and fighting; Some lines really should stay single: / Feminine rhymes can make them jingle. TRIPLE RHYME—occurs when the last three syllables of a word or line rhyme: victorious and glorious; quivering and shivering; battering and shattering; A serious effect is often killable / By rhyming with too much more than one syllable. Other Rhyme Forms • NEAR, OFF, or SLANT RHYME: A rhyme based on an imperfect or incomplete correspondence of end syllable sounds. • Common in the work of Emily Dickinson, for instance: It was not death, for I stood up, And all the dead lie down. It was not night, for all the bells Put out their tongues for noon. Read the poem, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”” Identify sound devices and rhyme scheme in the poem AND analyze how they contribute to greater effects. Read Carroll’s poem, “Jabberwocky” Identify sound devices and rhyme in the poem AND analyze how they contribute to greater effects. Alice on “Jabberwocky” • "It seems very pretty," she said when she had finished it, "but it's rather hard to understand!" (You see she didn't like to confess, even to herself, that she couldn't make it out at all.) "Somehow it seems to fill my head with ideas—only I don't exactly know what they are! However, somebody killed something: that's clear, at any rate."