Poetry Terms
In the Ear
In the Ear—Alliteration

The repetition of initial consonant sounds in words

Example

“We wear the mask that grins and lies,/”
Paul Laurence Dunbar, “We Wear the Mask”
In the Ear—Consonance
The repetition of consonant sounds in words
 Similar to alliteration, but not limited to first letter
of words
 Example


“We wear the mask that grins and lies,/
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,--/”
Paul Laurence Dunbar, “We Wear the Mask”
In the ear—Assonance
The repetition of vowel sounds without repeating
consonants
 Example:
“Like stalks of tall, dry straw
At poor peace I sing”

Dylan Thomas, “Prologue”
In the Ear—Onomatopoeia

The use of a word whose sound suggests its meaning

Examples:
Clang
 Buzz
 Twang
 swoosh

In the Ear—Repetition

The repeating
of a word, a
phrase, or an
idea for
emphasis or
effect
We Real Cool
By Gwendolyn Brooks
The Pool Players.
Seven at the Golden Shovel.
We real cool. We
Left school. We
Lurk late. We
Strike straight. We
Sing sin. We
Thin gin. We
Jazz June. We
Die soon.
In the Ear—End Rhyme /Rhyme
Scheme
•The rhyming of
words that
appear at the
ends of two lines
of poetry
The Storm
James K. McAlister
Wind rustled crunching leaves
That on the sidewalk lay.
There was a big storm coming
On a windy Autumn day.
Thunder rumbled overhead
And shook me through and through.
A jagged bolt of lightning struck!
The sky then cracked in two!
Rain washed down the dirty road.
It hissed, and gushed, and muttered.
The downpour swept dead leaves away
Into the bubbling gutter.
a
b
c
b
d
e
f
e
g
h
i
h
In the Ear—Internal Rhyme

Occurs when the
rhyming words
appear in the
same line of
poetry
We Real Cool
By Gwendolyn Brooks
The Pool Players.
Seven at the Golden Shovel.
We real cool. We
Left school. We
Lurk late. We
Strike straight. We
Sing sin. We
Thin gin. We
Jazz June. We
Die soon.
In the Ear—Rhythm

Regular or random occurrence of sound in poetry
Regular is called meter
 Random is called Free Verse


Contemporary poetry often uses free verse