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) stressed symbol

υ (č) unstressed symbol

/…/ foot: the pattern of

stressed and unstressed

1. iamb rhythm pattern: υ / Ex: /insist/

2. trochee rhythm pattern: / υ Ex: /double/3. anapest rhythm pattern: υ υ / Ex: /understand/4. dactyl rhythm pattern: / υ υ Ex: /excellent/5. spondee rhythm pattern: / / Ex: /football/

All you need to remember…

Iamb pentameter

rhythm pattern: υ / Ex: /insist/

**this is the most common form because it is close to spoken English

The Rusty Spigotby Eve Merriam

The rusty spigotsputters,uttersa splutter,spatters a smattering of drops,gashes wider;slash,splatters,scatters,spurts,finally stops sputteringand plash!gushes rushes splashesclear 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) stressed symbol

υ (č) unstressed symbol

/…/ foot: the pattern of

stressed and unstressed

1. iamb rhythm pattern: υ / Ex: /insist/

2. trochee rhythm pattern: / υ Ex: /double/3. anapest rhythm pattern: υ υ / Ex: /understand/4. dactyl rhythm pattern: / υ υ Ex: /excellent/5. spondee 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 130by 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 delightThan in the breath that from my mistress reeks.I love to hear her speak, yet well I knowThat 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 rareAs any she belied with false compare.

Iambic Pentameter

Sonnet 130By: 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 delightThan in the breath that from my mistress reeks.I love to hear her speak, yet well I knowThat 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 rareAs 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 poem-

iamb

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 astressed vowel & any sound thatfollows 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 ofpoetry 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 itwas in the bleak December;and each separate dyingember wrought its ghostupon the floor

Résumé by: Dorothy Parker

Rhyme SchemeRazors pain you A

Rivers are damp; B

Acids stain you AAnd drugs cause cramp. BGuns aren’t lawful; CNoses give; DGas smells awful; CYou might as well live D

We Real Coolby Gwendolyn Brooks

We real cool. WeLeft school We

Lurk late. We Strike strait. WeSing sin. WeThin gin. We

Jazz June. WeDie soon.

The Cloudby 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 laidIn their noon-day dreams.From my wings are shaken the dews that wakenThe 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 Ravenby 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 inwords 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 starwhose rays five languid fingers were;and molly was chased by a horrible thing which raced sideways while blowing bubbles:andmay 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 SnowfallBy: 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= orangeInternal rhyme= pinkRepetition = underlinedAssonance = purpleConsonance = blueAlliteration = green

1. Find any Shakespeare sonneta. 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