Literature Sound Devices

Meter

The rhythmic structure of verses in poetry, determined by the arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables.

Alliteration

Repetition of the same constant sounds at the beginning of words

Assonance

Repetition of vowel sounds within nearby words, which can occur at the beginning, middle, or end of a word

Onomatopoeia

When words sound like the noise being described

Cacophony

An uncouth or disagreeable sound of words, owing to the occurrence of harsh letters or syllables

Euphony

Language which strikes the ear as smooth, pleasant and musical

Auditory Imagery

Descriptive language that appeals to what we hear, evoking sounds through words.

All types of rhyme

• End

• Eye

• Internal

• Slant

• Masculine

• Feminine

End Rhyme

Traditional Rhyming

Eye Rhyme

Looks like it should rhyme but doesn’t when said out loud

Internal Rhyme

Rhymes within a line of a verse

Slant Rhyme

When a rhyme is just off a little

Masculine Rhyme

A simple rhyme, 1 or 2 syllables

Feminine Rhyme

A complex rhyme, 3 or more syllables

Iambic Meter

unstressed, stressed, 2 syllables of -/

Trochaic Meter 

stressed, unstressed, 2 syllables of /-

Spondaic Meter

stressed, stressed, 2 syllables of //

Pentameter 

10 syllables total

1 foot

2 syllables

Ex. “Crunch”

Onomatopoeia

Ex. “I spy a kite flying by in the bright sky”

Assonance

Ex. “Big brown bears ounce between boulders”

Alliteration

Ex. “A cat screeched and wailed in the alley”

Auditory Imagery

Ex." “The clash and clang of steel jarred the air”

Cacophony

Ex. “Whose woods these are I think I know”

Euphony

Ex. “move, love”

Eye Rhyme

Ex. “snow, now”

Slant Rhyme

Ex. “…dove…love”

Internal Rhyme

Ex. “june, moon”

Masculine Rhyme

Ex. “coming, strumming”

Feminine Rhyme

Ex. “Once upon a time, I caught a little rhyme”

End Rhyme