English 2/17

Devices of Sound

the techniques of deploying the sound of words, especially in poetry. Among devices of sound are rhyme, alliteration, assonance, consonance, and onomatopoeia. The devices are used for many reasons, including to create a general effect of pleasant or of discordant sound, to imitate another sound, or to reflect a meaning.

Elegy

a sustained and formal poem setting forth the poet's meditations upon death or another solemn theme.

End-stop

a line with a pause at the end. Lines that end with a period, a comma, a colon, a semicolon, an exclamation point, or a question mark are end-stopped lines.

Enjambment

the continuation of the sense and grammatical construction from one line of poetry to the next.

Extended Metaphor

 an implied analogy, or comparison, which is carried throughout a stanza or an entire poem

Free Verse

poetry which is not written in a traditional meter but is still rhythmical

Euphony

a style in which combinations of words pleasant to the ear predominate

Heroic Couplet

two end-stopped iambic pentameter lines rhymed aa, bb, cc with the thought usually completed in the two-line unit

Heroic Couplet Example

The sun descends, the sky turns deep and dark. / As night arrives, the stars begin to spark.