Sounds in Poetry
Assonance
1. Assonance: The repetition of identical
vowel sounds in different words.
Example: "swift Camilla skims"
Alliteration
2. Alliteration: The repetition of identical
consonant sounds that begin syllables in
close patterns
Example: "While pensive poets painful
vigils keep"
Sounds in Poetry
3. Onomatopoeia: A blend of consonant
and vowel sounds designed to imitate or
suggest a situation or action. Example:
"buzz"
4. Euphony (good sound--smooth and
flowing) and cacophony (bad sound-choppy and harsh).
True or Exact Rhyme
5. Rhyme: words containing identical final syllables
Examples:
Weigh
Grey
Say
Bouquet
Fiancé
Eye Rhyme
a. Eye rhyme: words that look alike but
sound different. Examples:
Bough
Cough
Through
Enough
Slant Rhyme
b. Slant rhyme: Words
that almost rhyme but
don't exactly.
Example: "sun, noon“
Emily Dickinson uses a
great deal of slant
rhyme.
Double rhymes
c. Double rhymes (formerly called "feminine
rhyme"):
Rhymes using words of two syllables in
which the heavy stress falls on the first
syllable. Also called trochaic rhymes.
Examples: SEAsons, REAsons
HABit, RABbit
Triple Rhyme
d. Triple rhyme:
Rhymes using words of three or more
syllables in which the heavy stress falls on
any syllable other than the last. Also called
dactylic rhymes.
Example: MaCAVity, GRAVity.
WARily, MERRily