Poetry
Repetition, Alliteration, Rhyme
Repetition
• Repetition refers to words or phrases that are
repeated
• Authors use repetition to:
• Draw attention to important ideas, the author’s
point of view/attitude, or themes
• Make easy to remember
• Affect rhythm by providing balance or structure
Boulevard of Broken
Dreams
I walk a lonely road
The only one that I have ever
known
Don’t know where it goes
But it’s home to me and I walk
alone
I walk this empty street
On the boulevard of broken
dreams
When the city sleeps
And I’m the only and I walk
alone
I walk alone
I walk alone
I walk alone
I walk a…
My shadow’s the only that
walks beside me
My shallow hearts the only
thing that’s beating
Sometimes I wish someone up
there will find me
‘til then I walk alone
Boulevard of Broken
Dreams
• Circle words or phrases that are repeated in
this song.
• Why might the author have chosen to use this
repetition?
• The repetition of “I walk alone” focuses the
song on the author’s loneliness and potential
depression. The repetition also ties together
the verses and chorus.
Alliteration
• Alliteration is the repetition of beginning
consonant sounds
• Authors use alliteration to:
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•
•
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Draw attention to important words or phrases
Provide pleasing sounds
Reflect the tone (funny, sad, important)
Create rhythm
• Hard consonants create a beat
• Soft consonants or vowels soothe
Dying Day
I’m living in a dark and dying day
And everything is lost along the way
The feeling in my heart is not the same
So what’s to say?
The pictures of the past are on the wall
They’ll hang there in the dark until they fall
Forever I’ve been lost in long ago
And it seems so long to let live a life that I don’t live no
more
And in the saddened sun my life leaves a shadow that’ll
soon be gone
Dying Day
• Underline examples of alliteration in this song.
• Why might the author have chosen to use this
alliteration?
• The alliteration allows the song to have a
forceful and quick beat. It sounds interesting
and reinforces the author’s tone of desperation.
Rhyme
• Rhyme is the repetition of similar sounds at
the ends of lines
• Authors use rhymes to:
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Provide pleasing sounds
Make ideas easy to remember
Mark the end of an idea
Create rhythm
Reflect the tone (funny, sad, important)
• Rhyme schemes (or patterns) are identified in
poems using letters
Man in the Mirror
I’m starting with the man in the mirror
I’m asking him to change his ways
And no message could have been any clearer
If you want to make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself, and then make a change
Man in the Mirror
• Identify the rhyme scheme in this chorus and
label it with letters.
• Why might the author have chosen this rhyme
scheme?
• The rhyme gives the song its musical quality and
rhythm. The rhymes of “mirror” and “clearer”
are said very quickly and themselves also have a
sense of urgency that matches the message of
needing to make a change.
Somebody Told Me
Breaking my back just to know your name
Seventeen tracks and I’ve had it with this game
I’m breaking my back just to know your name
But heaven ain’t close in a place like this
Anything goes but don’t blink you might miss
Cause heaven ain’t close in a place like this
I said heaven ain’t close in a place like this
Bring it back down, bring it back down tonight
Never thought I’d let a rumor ruin my moonlight
Somebody Told Me
• Circle words or phrases that are repeated in this
song. Why might the author have chosen to use this
repetition?
• Underline examples of alliteration in this song. Why
might the author have chosen to use this
alliteration?
• Identify the rhyme scheme in this chorus and label it
with letters. Why might the author have chosen to
use this rhyme scheme?