Sound Devices in Poetry
RHS
2008
Day 1
Onomatopoeia
•
sound of the word imitates or suggests
its meaning
•
Ex: drip, bing, bang, buzz, moo, boom,
crash, cha-ching, cling
rhythm
•
alteration of stressed and unstressed
sounds that make the voice rise and
fall
Measurement
meter: strict rhythmic pattern of stressed and
unstressed syllables in each line
/ (ć)
υ (č)
/…/
stressed symbol
unstressed symbol
foot: the pattern of
stressed and unstressed
1. iamb
2. trochee
3. anapest
4. dactyl
5. spondee
rhythm pattern: υ /
Ex: /insist/
rhythm pattern:
/ υ
Ex: /double/
rhythm pattern: υ υ /
Ex: /understand/
rhythm pattern:
/ υ υ
Ex: /excellent/
rhythm pattern: / /
Ex: /football/
All you need to
remember…
Iamb pentameter
rhythm pattern:
Ex:
υ /
/insist/
**this is the most common form because it
is close to spoken English
The Rusty Spigot
by Eve Merriam
The rusty spigot
sputters,
utters
a splutter,
spatters a smattering of drops,
gashes wider;
slash,
splatters,
scatters,
spurts,
finally stops sputtering
and plash!
gushes rushes splashes
clear water dashes.
On my Boat on
Lake Cayuga
By: William Cole
On my boat on Lake Cayuga
I have a horn that goes “Ay-oogah!”
I’m not the modern kind of creep
Who has a horn that goes “beep, beep.”
Your assignment…
1. Write a poem using Onomatopoeia
a. You must have at least 20 words
b. At least 5 must be onomatopoetic
-underline, highlight, circle, etc the
onomatopoetic words
Day 2
rhythm
•
alteration of stressed and unstressed
sounds that make the voice rise and
fall
Measurement
meter: strict rhythmic pattern of stressed and
unstressed syllables in each line
/ (ć)
υ (č)
/…/
stressed symbol
unstressed symbol
foot: the pattern of
stressed and unstressed
1. iamb
2. trochee
3. anapest
4. dactyl
5. spondee
rhythm pattern: υ /
Ex: /insist/
rhythm pattern:
/ υ
Ex: /double/
rhythm pattern: υ υ /
Ex: /understand/
rhythm pattern:
/ υ υ
Ex: /excellent/
rhythm pattern: / /
Ex: /football/
When writing in rhythm...
• The stress should be on the
words you want to emphasize
• Example:
“My dad gave me one dollar bill”
Iamb:
my DAD gave ME one DOLlar BILL
Troche:
MY dad GAVE me ONE dolLAR bill
Anapest:
my dad GAVE me one DOLlar bill
Sonnet 130
by Shakespeare
My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips' red;
If snow be white, why then her flesh is dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damask'd, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.
Iambic Pentameter
Sonnet 130
By: William Shakespeare
u
/
u
/
u
/ u
/
u
/
My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
u / u /
u
/
u
/
u
/
Coral is far more red than her lips' red;
u /
u
/
u
/
u
/
u /
If snow be white, why then her flesh is dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damask'd, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.
Assignment…
• Write a rhythm poem
• Can rhyme but does not have to
• Poem must be 5+ lines
• 25+ words
• Indicate which rhythm pattern is
used (iamb, troche, anapest, dactyl,
and spondee)
• Note the rhythm pattern on the first
two lines of your poem
Rhythm poemiamb
Homework
u / u / u
/ u
I hate to do my homework
u /
u / u /
On each and every day
Especially writing poems
The way my teacher does
Just hate to do my homework
Oh each and every day!
Day 3
Rhyme
repetition of the sound of a
stressed vowel & any sound that
follows it within a word
Ex: nails & whales; material &cereal
Rhyme scheme
regular pattern of rhyme in a poem
Ex: written with letters:
A A B A C C D C or A A B B
End Rhyme
rhyme at the end of the line
couplet: two consecutive lines of
poetry that rhyme
Ex: How would you say
You are doing today?
Approximate Rhyme
words that repeat the sounds but are not
exact
rhymes (also called half-rhymes)
Ex: moon & morn
Internal Rhyme
rhyme that occurs within the lines
Ex:
Ah, distinctly I remember it
was in the bleak December;
and each separate dying
ember wrought its ghost
upon the floor
Résumé
by: Dorothy Parker
Razors pain you
Rivers are damp;
Acids stain you
And drugs cause cramp.
Guns aren’t lawful;
Noses give;
Gas smells awful;
You might as well live
Rhyme Scheme
A
B
A
B
C
D
C
D
We Real Cool
by Gwendolyn Brooks
We real cool. We
Left school We
Lurk late. We
Strike strait. We
Sing sin. We
Thin gin. We
Jazz June. We
Die soon.
The Cloud
by Percy Bysshe Shelley
I bring fresh showers for the thirsting flowers,
From the seas and the streams;
I bear light shade for the leaves when laid
In their noon-day dreams.
From my wings are shaken the dews that waken
The sweet buds every one,
When rocked to rest on their mother's breast,
As she dances about the Sun.
I wield the flail of the lashing hail,
And whiten the green plains under,
And then again I dissolve it in rain,
And laugh as I pass in thunder.
Beginning of The Raven
by Edgar Allen Poe
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
`'Tis some visitor,' I muttered, `tapping at my chamber door –
Only this, and nothing more.'
Your assignment…
• Write a poem with end rhyme and identify
the rhyming scheme next to the poem
• At least 10 lines
Day 4
repetition
the repetition of sounds, words,
phrases, and entire lines
alliteration
repetition of consonant sounds in
words that appear close together
Ex.: Wendy wanted to eat white donuts.
Sally sells sea shells at the sea
shore
assonance
repetition of similar vowel sounds in words
close together
Ex: fleet feet sweep by sleeping geeks
consonance
repetition of similar consonant sounds
in words close together
Ex: While I nodded, nearly napping,
suddenly there came a tapping
maggie and milly and molly and may
by: e. e. cummings
maggie and milly and molly and may
went down to the beach(to play one day)
and maggie discovered a shell that sang
so sweetly she couldn't remember her troubles, and milly
befriended a stranded star
whose rays five languid fingers were;
and molly was chased by a horrible thing which
raced sideways while blowing bubbles:and
may came home with a smooth round stone
as small as a world and as large as alone.
For whatever we lose (like a you or a me)
it's always ourselves we find in the sea
Blissing on the Season's
First Snowfall
By: Charlie Rossiter
I light a morning candle
and lift my cup of espresso
the hiss of the old radiator
purrs to me like a friendly cat
I lift my cup of espresso
and wish a silent wish
blissing on the season's first snowfall
listening to the hiss of the old radiator
the kiss of morning espresso steam
rising to disappear in pearly air
outside, snow falls silent as a stalking cat
the candle flickers in columns of warm
air rising, I lift my cup of espresso
to the single silent wish, to always
and forever to this much love my life.
Your assignment…
• Write a sentence or poem using
alliteration
• At least 10 words long
• At least 4 words that are alliterative
• Can be the same letter or multiple letters
• EXAMPLE: Angry ants can bite big bees.
• Poetry Forms: Acrostic and Limerick
Assignment part 2
• Take 2 stanzas from “The Raven” by
Edgar Allen Poe and identify all the
sound devices and figurative language
used
• You may not use the first stanza
Excerpt from “The Raven”
By Edgar Allen Poe
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
`'Tis some visitor,' I muttered, `tapping at my chamber door –
Only this, and nothing more.‘
End rhyme= orange
Internal rhyme= pink
Repetition = underlined
Assonance = purple
Consonance = blue
Alliteration = green
1. Find any Shakespeare sonnet
a. Write out the iambic pentameter over
the first 3 lines
b. Make sure to draw the symbols over
the
beginning of the stressed syllables
c. You still need to include the entire
sonnet