The poet uses a specific sound device for
what reason?
Analyzing Poetry Week 1
Sound Devices
Poem Packet
• Please take note of the definitions,
purposes, and examples of each
sound device on the NOTES PAGE
• Please label and explain (annotate)
NEXT TO the poems in your poem
packet.
Teachers: Freeze the next slide on
your projector
Students:
1. Read the poem “Annabel Lee” by Edgar Allan Poe to
yourself silently.
2. Then, have your partner read aloud the first stanza
to you.
3. Next answer, how did he or she sound while
reading?
4. Click Listen, then scroll down.
5. Finally, listen to a reading of the first and last
stanzas of poem. How was it different from your
partner’s read. What caused that difference?
“Annabel Lee” by
Edgar Allan Poe
Listen
Sound Devices
A good poem can often be identified by its
sound quality.
Poets use certain devices to create sound
within a poem. We need to analyze the
poem to look out for these devices,
indicate the sound produced, and evaluate
its effect on the reader.
How did “Annabel Lee” effect you?
What caused your feelings/mood?
1. What do poets use to create
sound within a poem?
The sound devices:
I. Alliteration - Monday
II.Onomatopoeia - Tuesday
III. Accent / Rhythm - Wednesday
IV. Rhyme - Thursday
V. Repetition – Thursday
Sound Device Assignment worth 100
points on Friday
2. Purpose of using sound
devices
sound devices are often used for
three main reasons:
a) To create a rhythm effect to
set a mood or image.
b) To reveal the speaker’s attitude
c) To complement or emphasize the
message/theme of the poem.
I. Alliteration
Definition - the repetition of the
beginning consonants in words next to or
close to each other
Purpose To create a rhythm effect to set
a mood or image.
In the following example, the repetition of the ‘f’ sound in the
first two lines lends them a rhythmic and musical quality:
Test Question: The poet most likely
uses alliteration in this poem to…
The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew,
The furrow followed free:
We were the first that ever burst
Into that silent sea.
From “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” S. T. Coleridge
To produce a rhythmic effect that creates a mood?
What mood? or image? What images?
Turn and talk it out.
Moods = excited and proud
“Cynthia in the Snow”
By Gwendelyn Brooks
It SUSHES.
It hushes
The loudness in the road.
It flitter-twitters,
And laughs away from me.
It laughs a lovely whiteness,
And whitely whirs away,
To be
Some otherwhere,
Still white as milk or shirts.
So beautiful it hurts.
Test Question: The poet
most likely uses alliteration
in this poem to…
• To produce a
rhythmic effect that
creates a mood?
What mood? or
image? What
images?
• Turn and talk it out.
• Moods = light and joyful
Test Question: The poet most likely uses
alliteration in this poem to…
“April Moods” by Rosebud
Each moving at a different pace.
Trying to act like I don't care
Spring should be a joyful time
I hold my head high through the drizzle
Filled with happiness and flowers
But this sorrow I can hardly bear
Unfortunately, April mine
Seems to have more clouds and showers. And soon those reckless feelings fizzle.
As the rain falls from the cloud
April showers me with pain
Hurting then my soul does shroud
And on down comes the rain.
April soon brings back the sun
To chase away the rain-gray skies
But my dark days are not yet done
As long as they stay, I will cry.
As the rain falls from the skies
Showers fall upon my faceTeardrops running from my eyes
• To produce a rhythmic effect
that creates a mood? What mood? or image? What images?
• Turn and talk it out.
• Moods = sad and depressed
“Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout”
What rhythmic effect did the
alliteration have on you as a reader?
What mood did the alliteration create?
Moods = humorous and grossed out 
Listen
“The Highwayman” by Alfred
Noyes
Alliteration Homework:
25 points
Reread the poem on your own.
1) 5 pts. Identify the 5 alliteration pairs throughout the
poem.
2) 10 pts. Describe the author’s purpose of using each
one. Describe the mood and images of each.
3) 10 pts. Summarize in a complete answer: The poet
most likely uses alliteration in this poem to …
Tuesday
II. Onomatopoeia
Definition - sound words
(hum, jingle, buzz, vroom, bleep, etc)
Purpose – To create a rhythm effect to set a
mood or image.
- To reveal the speaker’s attitude
Listen
"The Bells" is a heavily
onomatopoeic poem by Edgar
Allan Poe which was not published
until after his death in 1849. It is
perhaps best known for the
repetition of the word "bells."
Pay attention to the mood of each
part and what caused each mood.
Take note of the mood in the
margins. Underline words and
phrases that caused that mood.
Test Question: In this stanza, the poet uses onomatopoeia
with the words
“tinkle,” “bell,” and “jingle” mostly likely to…
Hear the sledges with the bells Silver bells!
What a world of merriment their melody foretells!
How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle,
In the icy air of night!
While the stars that oversprinkle
All the heavens, seem to twinkle
With a crystalline delight;
Keeping time, time, time,
In a sort of Runic rhyme,
To the tintinnabulation that so musically wells
From the bells, bells, bells, bells,
Bells, bells, bells From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells.
-”The Bells” Part 1 by Edgar Allen Poe
Poe lived in the Bronx
for number of years, and his
house can still be visited a few
blocks from Fordham, on the
Grand Concourse. You could not
hear the bells of University
Church there now - the din of
the Bronx is too great, and
since the Church was only built
in 1845, its bells would have
had to have had a dramatic
effect on Poe. Still, stranger
things have happened......
To create a rhythm effect to set a mood? What mood or
image? What image? To reveal the speaker’s attitude?
What might his attitude be? Turn and talk it out.
Test Question: In this stanza, the poet uses onomatopoeia with the
words “clang,” “clash,” and “shriek” mostly likely to…
Hear the loud alarum bells Brazen bells!
What a tale of terror, now, their turbulency
tells!
In the startled ear of night
How they scream out their affright!
Too much horrified to speak,
They can only shriek, shriek,
Out of tune,
In a clamorous appealing to the mercy of the
fire,
In a mad expostulation with the deaf and
frantic fire,
Leaping higher, higher, higher,
With a desperate desire,
And a resolute endeavor
Now -now to sit or never,
By the side of the pale-faced moon.
Oh, the bells, bells, bells!
What a tale their terror tells
Of despair!
How they clang, and clash, and roar!
What a horror they outpour
On the bosom of the palpitating air!
Yet the ear it fully knows,
By the twanging
And the clanging,
How the danger ebbs and flows;
Yet the ear distinctly tells,
In the jangling
And the wrangling,
How the danger sinks and swells,
By the sinking or the swelling in the anger of
the bells Of the bells,
Of the bells, bells, bells, bells,
Bells, bells, bells In the clamor and the clangor of the bells!
-”The Bells” Part 3 by Edgar Allen Poe
To create a rhythm effect to set a mood? What mood or
image? What image? To reveal the speaker’s attitude?
What might his attitude be? Turn and talk it out.
Listen
“The Highwayman” by Alfred
Noyes
Onomatopoeia Homework:
22 points
Reread the poem on your own.
1) 3 pts. Identify 3 onomatopoeia throughout the poem.
2) 6 pts. Describe the author’s purpose of using each
one. Describe the mood and images of each.
3) 3 pts. What might the speaker’s attitude be during
each example?
4) 10 pts. Summarize in a complete answer: The poet
most likely uses onomatopoeia in this poem to …
Wednesday
III. Rhythm
Definition – The beat of the poem
Purpose – To create a rhythm effect to
set a mood or image.
- To reveal the speaker’s attitude
Usually, we can feel the rhythm best when we read aloud. We can
mark the beats, or stresses and thus, see the pattern built in by
the poet. Usually, we mark the stresses in a line of poetry with a
small sloping dash above the accented syllable.
,
,
po e try
ques tion
The wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees,
The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas,
The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor,
And the highwayman came riding—
Riding—riding—
The highwayman came riding, up to the old inn-door.
“The Highwayman” by Alfred Noyes
Test Question: The sound effect used most in these lines is…
What are the reasons the poet uses this accent? Turn and talk it over
What other sound devices are used by this poet? Why might the poet have
used each?
Turn and talk it over
Accent
Definition – The emphasis given to a
syllable or word.
Purpose To reveal the speaker’s attitude.
It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabel Lee;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.
She was a child and I was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea,
But we loved with a love that was more than love
I am my Annabel Lee
“Annabel Lee” by Edgar Allan Poe
Test Question: What are the reasons the poet uses this accent?
Turn and talk it over
Listen
“The Highwayman” by Alfred
Noyes
Rhythm/Accent Homework:
30 points
Reread Part 2 Stanzas I and II of the poem on your own.
1) 5 pts. Identify the sound devices in this section of the
poem.
2) 10pts. Describe the author’s purpose of using each one.
What rhythmic effect did he create? Describe the mood and
images of each.
3) 5 pts. What might the speaker’s attitude be during each
example?
4) 10 pts. Write in a complete answer: Which sound device
does the poet use the most in stanzas I and II of Part 2.
Thursday
Rhyme and Repetition
Rhythm and Rhyme are some of the
most important structural elements
in poetry.
IV. Rhyme
Rhyme is usually accepted as the repetition of an
accented vowel sound
• Examples of true rhyme: fight/night, cat/mat,
slow/toe, eat/feet
• Examples which are not true rhyme: fight/hide,
cat/can, threw/through
Purpose - Rhyme is used to bind lines together into
larger units, e.g stanzas, or even to set up
relationships within an individual line (internal
rhyme).
End Rhyme
The most common rhyme pattern used by poets is
that called end rhyme. This simply means that the
end words of lines rhyme.
Two consecutive lines may rhyme, or alternate lines
may rhyme, or even more distant lines.
Many variations are possible within a single poem.
The consistent feature is that the rhyme occurs
only at the end of lines.
Test Question: The rhyme occurs on which lines?
He clasps the crag with crooked hands;
Close to the sun in lonely lands,
Ringed with the azure world, he stands.
From “The Eagle” by Alfred, Lord
Tennyson
Test Question: The rhyme occurs on which lines?
Sunset and evening star,
And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar,
When I put out to sea
From “Crossing the Bar” by Alfred, Lord
Tennyson
Internal Rhyme
When the rhyme pattern involves rhyming
a word half-way through a single line of
poetry with the end word of the same line,
it is called internal rhyme.
It is used fairly frequently in ballads, and
occasionally in other kinds of poetry.
Test Question: The rhyme occurs on which lines?
And I had done a horrible thing
And it would work ‘em woe:
For all averred, I had killed the bird
That made the breeze to blow.
Ah wretch! said they, the bird to slay,
That made the breeze to blow.
From “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” by S. T.
Coleridge
What kinds of rhymes are used?
What purpose do they have?
V. Repetition
Definition -
Repeating of a word, phrase, line, stanza.
Purpose -To complement or emphasize the
message/theme of the poem.
-To create a rhythm effect to set
a mood or image.
-To reveal the speaker’s attitude.
Repetition of words or lines or stanzas is
crucial in poetry!
Purpose - It most often to complement or
emphasize the message/theme of the
poem.
- To reveal the speaker’s attitude.
Test Question: The poet uses repetition
mainly to
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
From “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” by
Robert Frost
Turn and Talk It Out
To complement or emphasize the message/theme
of the poem. What might the theme be? How does the
repetition emphasize it?
To reveal the speaker’s attitude. What attitude do
you hear?
Test Question: The poet uses repetition mainly to
“A Noiseless Patient Spider
Video
A noiseless patient spider,
I mark'd where on a little promontory it stood isolated,
Mark'd how to explore the vacant vast surrounding,
It launch'd forth filament, filament, filament, out of itself,
Ever unreeling them, ever tirelessly speeding them.
And you O my soul where you stand,
Surrounded, detached, in measureless oceans of space,
Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing, seeking the spheres to connect them,
Till the bridge you will need be form'd, till the ductile anchor hold,
Till the gossamer thread you fling catch somewhere, O my soul.
by Walt Whitman
Turn and Talk It Out
To complement or emphasize the message/theme
of the poem. What might the theme be? How does the
repetition emphasize it?
To reveal the speaker’s attitude. What attitude do
you hear?
“Annabel Lee”
Turn and Talk It Out
What is the author’s attitude?
What is the theme?
“The Highwayman”
Turn and Talk It Out
What is the author’s attitude?
What is the theme?
“Annabel Lee”
Test Question:
What sound device does the poet use the most?
Support your answer.
A. Alliteration
B. Onomatopoeia
C. Accent
D. Rhythm
E. Rhyme
F. Repetition
“The Highwayman”
Test Question:
What sound device does the poet use the most?
Support your answer.
A. Alliteration
B. Onomatopoeia
C. Accent
D. Rhythm
E. Rhyme
F. Repetition
Listen
“The Highwayman” by Alfred
Noyes
Theme Homework:
25 points
Reread the poem on your own.
Explain the repetition, rhythm, and accent used
by the poet.
Then, explain the theme?
How does the repetition, rhythm, and accent
emphasize the theme?
Friday
7th Period
Sound Device Assignment: 100 points total
Read “The Highwayman” by Alfred Noyes
Literature Book p. 587
50 points
Sound devices used
Examples and line #’s
What is the poet’s purpose in
using this?
I.
alliteration
II. onomatopoeia
III. accent / rhythm
IV.
rhyme
V.
Repetition
What sound device did the poet use the most in this poem?
50 points
What is the poem’s theme? (topic + main events = theme sentence)
Critique the poet’s usage of sound devices. Which sound devices helped
you understand the author’s theme best? Explain how.
Which sound devices did not help you understand the
theme? Explain why they didn’t.
1st and 5th period
Sound Device Assignment =
100 pts
Reread “The Highwayman” by Alfred Noyes
and “Annabel Lee” by Edgar Allan Poe.
Critique both poems in an organized essay:
• What sound device was used the most?
• For what purpose did the poets use that sound device so
much?
• What effect did the sound device have on you.
• What was the theme?
• Which sound devices helped you understand the theme the
best?
You must answer all of the above for each poem in your essay.
The End of Sound
Devices
Thank-you!
Assonance refers to the repetition of
vowels in words next to or close to each
other, without regard for the following
sounds. For example, “So we’ll go no more
a-roving” is an assonance that repeats the
‘o’ vowel. It complements the attitude of
the speaker: the ‘o’ sound produces a
moaning effect as if the speaker longs to
spend time with his lover. “Reed / wheel” is
an example of assonance, but “reed /
weed” as an example of rhyme.
Consonance refers to fixed
consonant but changing vowel sounds.
For example, ‘e/scaped’ and ‘scooped’,
‘groined’ and ‘groaned’, ‘be/stirred’
and ‘stared’.
Half Rhyme
• Half rhyme is a technique similar to
pararhyme, but in which either the
beginning or end sound is different,
in addition to the different vowel
sound. Examples of half rhyme are
“mouth/truth” and “come/fame”.
The anchor broke, the topmast split,
‘Twas such a deadly storm
The waves came over the broken ship
Till all her sides were torn.
From “Sir Patrick Spens”, Anonymous
Pararhyme
• A pararhyme is a poetic convention used to
create dissonance in a poem. The basic
pararhyme has beginning and end sounds
that sound the same, with the vowel sound
in the word being altered. Examples of
pararhyme are “night/naught”,
“block/black/bleak” and “laughed/loft”.
• The effect of pararhyme and half rhyme is
to create a sense of rhyme, with a slightly
discordant feel. Two examples are
provided. The first is from “Sir Patrick
Spens’ and is, in fact, assonance. The
second is part of a poem by the British
poet, Wilfred Owen who, perhaps more
than most poets, refined the art of
deliberately using pararhyme and half
rhyme, often interspersed in alternate
lines.
It seemed that out of battle I escaped
Down some profound dull tunnel, long since scooped
Through granites which titanic wars had groined.
Yet also there encumbered sleepers groaned,
Too fast in thought or death to be bestirred.
Then, as I probed them, one sprang up, and stared
With piteous recognition in fixed eyes,
Lifting distressful hands as if to bless.
And by his smile, I knew that sullen hall
By his dead smile I knew we stood in Hell.
From “Strange Meeting” by Wilfred Owen