Poetic Elements – Sound Devices

• Alliteration• Assonance• Onomatopoeia

AlliterationAlliteration – The repetition of

consonant sounds at the beginnings of words–Ex.) Manhattan’s sights and

sounds, her smells.

Assonance

Assonance – The repetition of similar vowel sounds–Ex.) The Soul selects her own Society.

Onomatopoeia

Onomatopoeia – The use of a word or phrase that actually imitates or suggests the sound of what it describes.–Ex.) Bang! Bang! You’re

dead.

Poetic Elements – Rhyme

The repetition of the same stressed vowel sounds and any succeeding sounds in two or more words.

End Rhyme

End Rhyme – occurs at the ends of lines of poetry

Slant Rhyme

Slant Rhyme – occurs when words include sounds that are similar but not identical

Barn/yard; wait/made

Internal Rhyme

Internal Rhyme – occurs within a single line

Rhyme Scheme–Rhyme Scheme – the pattern

that end rhymes form in a stanza or poem; the rhyme scheme is designated by the assignment of a different letter of the alphabet to each new rhyme

Rhyme Scheme Practice

Helen, thy beauty is to me ___Like those barks of yore, ___That gently, o’er a perfumed sea, ___The weary, way-worn wanderer bore___To his own native shore. ___

Rhyme Scheme Practice

Helen, thy beauty is to me aLike those barks of yore, bThat gently, o’er a perfumed sea, aThe weary, way-worn wanderer bore bTo his own native shore. b

Comparison using figurative language

Words in a poem often invite the reader to think of two things at once: one thing literally, the other figuratively. Comparison is achieved by the use of figurative language.

Figurative Language Devices

• Simile• Metaphor• Personification• Symbol

SimileSimile – a figure of speech using a word or phrase such as like or as to explicitly compare or equate seemingly unlike things.–Ex.) When the evening is spread out

against the sky Like a patient etherized upon a

table …

MetaphorMetaphor – A figure of speech that implicitly compares two seemingly unlike things; It implies a comparison, instead of directly stating it as in a simile; hence, there is no use of connectives such as like or as.–Ex.) She is the rose of the family and

I am the green thorn.

PersonificationPersonification – A figure of speech in which an animal, an object, a force of nature, or an idea is given human characteristics.Ex.) Because I could not stop

for death He kindly stopped for me

SymbolSymbol -- Any object, person, place, or experience that exists on a literal level but also represents something more abstract.

Ex.) The flag stood as a reminder to all of us …