Elements of Poetry: Exhaustive Study Guide on Sound Devices

Alliteration and the Musicality of Consonants

Alliteration is defined as the repetition of initial consonant sounds within two or more neighboring words or syllables. This sound device is a staple of poetic composition and is found extensively in literature and common speech. An illustrative example of alliteration is the sentence: "The wild and wooly walrus waits and wonders when we will walk by." This device is also the primary mechanism behind almost all tongue twisters, such as the famous query: "How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?"

Significant literary examples of alliteration include the opening lines of the poem "Silver" by Walter de la Mare, which reads: "Slowly, silently, now the moon / Walks the night in her silver shoon; / This way, and that, she peers, and sees / Silver fruit upon silver trees…" Here, the repetition of the "s" sound mimics the quiet, shimmering quality of moonlight. Other examples include simple phrases like "Large lazy lions love lounging" and more complex, aggressive uses of the device, such as the line: "WHAT PERFIDIOUS PLOT DO YOU PLAN TO PERPETRATE UPON THE PEACEFUL POPULACE NOW, YOU PREDATORY PEST??"

Helen Keller, in "Three Days to See," highlights the importance of sound and sensation, which connects to the auditory nature of alliteration: "Hear the music of voices, the song of a bird, the mighty strains of an orchestra, as if you would be stricken deaf tomorrow. Touch each object as if tomorrow your tactile sense would fail. Smell the perfume of flowers…" Furthermore, Edgar Allan Poe utilized alliteration to great effect in "The Raven," particularly in the line: "While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping…" A final example, labeled MICRON 03, demonstrates the power of the "w" sound: "Well-wielded words work wonders, warming weakened wills with wisdom while withstanding wrongs which would wound."

Assonance: Vowel Repetition Within Words

Assonance refers to the repetition of vowel sounds within words or syllables. While it is noted that this specific device is usually NOT on the CST Test, it remains an essential element of poetic craft. Examples of assonance include phrases such as "Fleet feet sweep by sleeping geese," "Free and easy," "Make the grade," and "The stony walls enclosed the holy space." Each of these examples relies on the internal repetition of vowels rather than the beginning consonants.

Assonance is also prominent in professional literature. Carl Sandburg, in "Early Moon," writes: "Poetry is old, ancient, goes back far. It is among the oldest of living things. So old it is that no man knows how and why the first poems came." E. E. Cummings provides a more abstract example with the phrase: "…on a proud round cloud in white high night…" Additionally, everyday sentences like "I made my way to the lake" or "I MIGHT DRIVE BY TONIGHT" serve as clear demonstrations of how vowel sounds can be harmonized within a single line of text.

Sound Devices in Alfred Lord Tennyson’s "The Eagle"

Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poem "The Eagle" serves as a primary example of how sound devices, particularly assonance, are used to create a vivid sensory experience. The poem is presented as follows:

He clasps the crag with crooked hands; Close to the sun in lonely lands, Ring'd with the azure world, he stands.

The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls; He watches from his mountain walls, And like a thunderbolt he falls.

The repetition of vowel sounds across the lines contributes to the atmospheric and majestic tone of the imagery.

Repetition for Emphasis and Urgency

Repetition involves the use of words or phrases multiple times in writing to provide emphasis, establish rhythm, or create a sense of urgency. This technique is pervasive in music, where words and lines are frequently repeated to anchor a song. A classic literary example is found in Edgar Allan Poe’s "The Bells":

"To the swinging and the ringing / of the bells, bells, bells - / Of the bells, bells, bells, bells / Bells, bells, bells - / To the rhyming and the chiming of the bells!"

This specific passage uses the repeated word "bells" to simulate the relentless, rhythmic tolling of actual church bells, driving home the auditory theme of the poem.

Rhythm and Meter in Poetic Structure

Rhythm is the sound pattern created by the arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables. This pattern can be regular or random. When the pattern of stresses is regular, it is referred to as Meter. Rhythm and meter are often used in conjunction with rhyme, alliteration, and other sound devices to imbue the writing with a musical quality.

To identify meter, one must look for a consistent pattern of stressed syllables. For example, in the lines: "I think that I shall never see / a poem lovely as a tree," the stressed syllables follow a regular cadence. The specific stressed syllables (indicated in the source by the color purple) are: "think," "I," "ne-" (from never), "see," "po-" (from poem), "love-" (from lovely), "as," and "tree." Because these stresses fall in a predictable sequence, the line is said to possess meter.

Rhyme and Rhyme Scheme Identification

Rhyme is the repetition of end sounds in words. There are two primary types of rhyme discussed: End rhymes and Internal rhymes. End rhymes appear at the end of two or more lines of poetry, such as in "Ring around the rosies / A pocket full of posies." Internal rhymes occur within a single line of poetry, as seen in the example: "Abednego was meek and mild; he softly spoke, he sweetly smiled. He never called his playmates names, and he was good in running games;"

Rhyme scheme, abbreviated as a.k.a. "also known as" rhyme pattern, is the specific pattern of end rhymes in a poem. To identify a rhyme scheme, letters of the alphabet are assigned to the ending sounds. The letter "a" is assigned to the first line and every subsequent line that rhymes with it. The letter "b" is assigned to the next unique ending sound, and so on sequentially.

Multiple examples illustrate this process. In the nursery rhyme "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star," the scheme is aabb: "star" (a), "are" (a), "high" (b), "sky" (b). In "Baa, Baa, Black Sheep," the scheme is abcb: "sheep" (a), "wool" (b), "sir" (c), "full" (b). Finally, in Robert Frost’s "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," the first stanza follows an aaba pattern: "know" (a), "though" (a), "here" (b), "snow" (a).

Onomatopoeia: Words as Sounds

Onomatopoeia refers to words that sound like their actual meaning or the sound they are meant to describe. This device bridges the gap between text and auditory sensation. A comprehensive list of such words includes: buzz, hiss, roar, meow, woof, rumble, howl, snap, zip, zap, blip, whack, crack, crash, flutter, flap, squeak, whirr, pow, plop, crunch, splash, jingle, rattle, clickety-clack, and bam!