Elements of Poetic Form
Sound Devices in Poetry
One element that is most noticeable within poetry is the arrangements of sounds in a sentence.
From Poetry we learn that it matters what sounds we use when we write something.
One of the most common patterns in poetry.
When words end with the same sounds, or almost the same sounds.
And everywhere a silver, With ropes of sandTo keep it from effacing The track called land.
Rhyme
Occurs in the last words of linesThere are plenty of trees, And plenty of ease,
End Rhyme
When rhymes occur within lines, rather than at the ends.
The Gothic looks solemn, The plain Doric column
Internal Rhyme
Words that almost rhyme are called near rhyme, off rhyme or slant rhyme.
Mirror and near
Turns and mourns
Near Rhyme
One syllable rhymes are called Masculine rhymeArch-larch, sings-rings, trees-ease
Two syllable rhymes are Feminine RhymeSolemn- column or Crozier-Hosier
Masculine and Feminine Rhyme
Rhyming with the first syllables of a words instead of the last syllables
Chantry and Chancellor
Sniffle and griffin
Reverse Rhyme
A form of internal rhyme; it is when a word in the middle of a line rhymes with the word at the end of the same line.
I bring fresh showers for the thirsting flowers, From the seas and the streams;
I bear light shade for the leaves when laidIn their noonday dreams
Leonine
I sift the snow on the mountains below And their great pines groan aghastAnd all the night ‘tis my pillow white,
While I sleep in the arms of the blast
Sound Play
Patterns Beyond Rhyme
from The Scarlet Letter by Nathanial Hawthorne
What you will see next is the first paragraph from the novel above. It is filled with hard, harsh, scratchy sounds to express the unpleasant strictness, rigidity, and judgmental character of the Puritans.
A throng of bearded men, in sad-colored garments and gray steeple-crowned hats, intermixed with women, some wearing hoods, and others bareheaded, was assembled in front of a wooden edifice, the door of which was heavily timbered with oak an studded with iron spikes.
Sounds are important to poetry and to prose for expression of tone, mood, emotion, purpose, etc.
A throng of bearded men, in sad-colored garments and gray steeple-crowned hats, intermixed with women, some wearing hoods, and others bareheaded, was assembled in front of a wooden edifice, the door of which was heavily timbered with oak an studded with iron spikes.
Sounds are important to poetry and to prose for expression of tone, mood, emotion, purpose, etc.
Repeating only the initial (beginning) sound of a word. It wraps it, rail by rail,It ruffles wrists of posts.
Poets use repetition in classic ways.Alliterating an adjective with its noun , or a
subject with its predicate, or the connected terms of a compound. Consistent structures like this are obvious evidence of the intent of the poet. Certainly words will show repetition by accident, but such consistent application shows the artistic effort.
Alliteration
Alliteration was especially important in Old English verse,
establishing the rhythm and structure of the poetic line.
is one of the poet's most important sound techniques. It makes particular words stand out. It also connects the words to be emphasized. It can highlight concepts and relationships.
Look for the repeated consonant sounds in this poem:
Then up and spake an old sailor, Had sailed to the Spanish Main,"I pray thee, put into yonder port, For I fear a hurricane."
--Henry W. Longfellow, "The Wreck of Hesperus"
Often the sounds and meanings of the words combine to create a mood. Here, repetition of b and t stresses a feeling of urgency:
Hear the loud alarum bells-- Brazen bells!What a tale of terror, now, their turbulency tells!
--Edgar Allen Poe, from "The Bells"
Pattern of a vowel sound in the middle of words.
Blake and fame = assonance not :
Blake and snake = rhymeAnd not :
Blake and book = alliteration But
Glooms of the live-oaks, beautiful-braided and woven
With intricate shades of the vines that myriad-cloven
Clamber the forks of the multiform bought. . .
Assonance
Assonance"Assonance, (or medial rime) is the
agreement in the vowel sounds of two or more words, when the consonant sounds preceding and following these vowels do not agree. Thus, strike and grind, hat and man, 'rime' with each other according to the laws of assonance."(J.W. Bright, Elements of English Versification, 1910)
Forgiving the living is hard enough, shrugging away all the wounds delivered with kisses and curses, the thousand and one petty slights that bled me to an albino shade, that shadow me even in dreams.
From “Memorial Service”by George Garrett
Open, roll way the stone, overturn and blasting, groan
In the above line there is an example of alliteration, rhyme and assonance.
Can you identify each? What kind of rhyme is it?
Wait ----Practice
Open, roll way the stone, overturn and blasting, groan
In the above line there is an example of alliteration, rhyme (Leonine) and assonance.
Wait ----Practice
Repetition of certain consonant sounds.Consonance can create a kind of percussion
that adds strength to a poem.
I fled him, down the nights and down the days
Consonance
Consonancecorrespondence or recurrence of sounds
especially in words; specifically : recurrence or repetition of consonants especially at the end of stressed syllables without the similar correspondence of vowels (as in the final sounds of “stroke” and “luck”)
Great, or good, or kind, or fair,I will ne'er the more despair;If she love me, this believe,I will die ere she shall grieve;If she slight me when I woo,I can scorn and let her go;For if she be not for me,What care I for whom she be?
George Wither, "Shall I Wasting in Despair”
from Kate Chopin’s The Awakening:The voice of the sea is seductive; never
ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander for a spell in abysses of solitude; to lose itself in mazes of inward contemplation. The voice of the sea speaks to the soul. The touch of the sea is sensuous, enfolding the body in its soft, close embrace.
Sibilant: is alliteration but is a term used when s is the repeated sound. (hissing sounds as in “this” or pleasure”
AnaphoraRepetition of a word or words at the
beginning of two or more successive verses, clauses, or sentences.
We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and strength in the air, we shall defend our island whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and streets, we shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender.
Review1. What kind of
rhyme is loser bruiser?Feminine
2. What kind of rhyme is gravel gravid?Reverse
3. What is shock shack?Alliteration
4. What is boat boom bind?Alliteration
5. What is fail safe make stay?Assonance
6. What is trouble about nobody rabid ribbing?Consonance
More Sound Play
Beyond simple vocals, there are also rhythms.
Poets often use rhythms to support the ideas of the poems.
This is possible because the syllables of words can be either stressed or unstressed.
The arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables in lines of poetry is
called meter.Stress is emphasis, the way we give extra
voice to certain syllables.
C. Meter
President first syllable PREZ ih dent
Petunia second syllable peh TOON ya
Malarky second syllable mah LAR kee
Examples of emphasis or stress:
What if someone came up to you and said. . .
HIH lar EE us chih KENS DEE sin ded vur TIK lee
Would you know what these words meant. . .
Hilarious chickens descended vertically?
Correct stress is important:
The most common type of poetic foot (each unit of repeating pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables).
An iamb is a two-syllable foot that is stressed in the second syllable.
It dropped / so low/ in my / re gard This entire poem is made of iambs:
It dropped so low in my regardI heard it hit the ground, And go to pieces on the stonesAt bottom of my mind.
1. Iamb
A two-syllable foot with the stress on the first syllable
Trochee are often used to suggest evil or danger within a poem.
Something /wicked /this way /come
2. Trochee
A two-syllable foot with both syllables stressed.
Spondees are often used for emphasis in a line of iambs.
He looked/ surprised/ and said /no words
3. Spondee
A three-syllable foot with the stress on the first syllable
Sounds like DAdada DAdada. . .
This is the/ for est prim/e val. The/ mur mur ing/ pines and the/ hem locks,
4. Dactyl
a. A three-syllable foot with the stress on the third syllable
When the voi/ ces of chil/ dren are heard/ on the green
5. Anapest
II. Language
A direct and factual statement often fails to get an idea across. Effect is added when comparisons are made.
Figures of speech compare an unusual experience to something someone is more likely to know about.
Original figures of speech have an element of surprise that enhances the communication.
Figurative
a. A comparison between two things using word such as like or as to make it clear that it is a comparison.
i. Beauty is like a snowfall
1. Simile:
a. a direct comparison between two things.
i. beauty is a snowfall
2. Metaphor
a. treating something that is not a person as though it were a person.
i. The mountains are an aware being, sitting up, looking alertly over the plain.
3. Personification
The figure of speech is not a comparison but the use of a related thing to indicate something.
example:. the pen is mightier than the sword= metonymy Using a related object, a pen, to indicate
publishing, or using the sward to indicated armed force.
OrExample: Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me
your ears = synecdoche (a substituion of a part for the whole.)
Synecdoche and Metonymy
Language that appeals to the five senses Sight, smell, sound, touch, taste
Imagery
Questions?
T – Title Before reading the poem, consider the title
P – Paraphrase Paraphrase the poem at face value – put into your
words C – Connotation
Look for deeper meaning – analyze poetic elements A – Attitude
Author’s tone S – Shifts
Shifts in tone, rhythm, action meaning? T – Title
Re-evaluate the title T – Theme
What message is this poem trying to get across?
TPCASTT