Sound Effects and Meaning

Reading Poetry – Part I

Rhyme

• Rhyme – the repetition of the sound of a stressed vowel and any sounds that follow it within a word (nail and whale, material and cereal, icicle and bicycle)

We looked! Then we saw him Step in on the mat! We looked! And we saw him! The Cat in the Hat!

Rhyme Scheme

• A regular pattern of rhyme in a poem (usually end rhyme)

• Letters of the alphabet are used to represent new sounds

The Germ A mighty creature is the germ, A Though smaller than the pachyderm. AHis customary dwelling place BIs deep within the human race. BHis childish pride he often pleases CBy giving people strange diseases. CDo you, my poppet, feel infirm? AYou probably contain a germ. A

Ogden Nash

from Annabel Lee

It was many and many a year ago, In a kingdom by the sea, That a maiden there lived whom you may know By the name of Annabel Lee; And this maiden she lived with no other thought Than to love and be loved by me.

-Edgar Allan Poe

ABABCB

Approximate Rhyme

• Also called half rhymes, off rhymes, slant rhymes, near rhymes, imperfect rhymes

• Some sounds are repeated, but the words are not exact echoes.

hollow and mellowmoon and morn

End Rhyme

• A word at the end of one line rhymes with a word at the end of another line

Whose woods these are I think I know.His house is in the village, though;He will not see me stopping hereTo watch his woods fill up with snow.

Internal Rhyme

• A word inside a line rhymes with another word on the same line

The Boa Constrictor Song

I'm being swallered by a Boa Constrictora Boa Constrictor, a Boa ConstrictorI'm being swallered by a Boa Constrictorand I don't - like snakes - one bit!Oh no, he swallered my toe.Oh gee, he swallered my knee.Oh fiddle, he swallered my middle.Oh what a pest, he swallered my chest.Oh heck, he swallered my neck.Oh, dread, he swallered my - (BURP)

Repetition

• The repeated use of a word, phrase, stanza form, or effect in any form of literature.

• Repetition may bring comfort, suggest order, or add special meaning or emphasis to a piece of literature.

Other Sound Effects in Poetry• Onomatopoeia – the use of

words to mimic sounds

• Alliteration – the repetition of the initial consonant sound

• Consonance – the repetition of consonant sounds in neighboring words. (Not just at the beginning.)

• Assonance – the repetition of vowel sounds

Pop, bang, crash, buzz, oink, moo

“The silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain” (The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe)

“The silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain” (The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe)

“Slow the low gradual moan came in the snowing.”

- John Masefield

Metaphors

• When you read poetry, you will find some metaphors that are direct and some that are implied.

• Direct metaphors – compare two things by directly stating that one thing is another

“All the world’s a stage,And all the men and women

merely players.”- William Shakespeare

• Implied Metaphors – do not give the comparison directly. They use words that suggest the nature of the comparison.

“’Hope’ is the thing with feathers – That perches in the soul – And sings the tune without the words –And never stops – at all –”

-Emily Dickinson

Extended Metaphors

• An extended metaphor is a comparison developed over several lines of a poem.

The Road Not TakenTwo roads diverged in a yellow wood,And sorry I could not travel bothAnd be one traveler, long I stoodAnd looked down one as far as I couldTo where it bent in the undergrowth.

Then took the other, as just as fair,And having perhaps the better claim,Because it was grassy and wanted wear;Though as for that the passing thereHad worn them really about the same.

And both that morning equally layIn leaves no step had trodden black.Oh, I kept the first for another day!Yet knowing how way leads on to way,I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sighSomewhere ages and ages hence:Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--I took the one less traveled by,And that has made all the difference.

--Robert Frost