Poetic termsSound devices Alliteration Definition The repetition of

Poetic terms/Sound devices

Alliteration • Definition: The repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of multiple words. Example: “Peter Piper Picked a Peck of Pickled Peppers” Effect: Provides emphasis, creates rhythm

Assonance • Definition: Repetition of vowel sounds • Example: “the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain” • I must confess that in my quest I felt depressed and restless • Effect: Rhythm, emphasis, sometimes rhyme

Consonance • Definition: The repetition of consonant sounds at the end of multiple words. • Example: Mammals named Sam are clammy. • Pitter Patter • Effect- Emphasis, rhythm, sometimes slant rhyme

Cacophony • Definition: Creates an unpleasant sound, dissonance • Example: “And being no stranger to the art of war, I have him a description of cannons, culverins, muskets, carabines, pistols, bullets, powder, swords, bayonets, battles, sieges, retreats, attacks, undermines, countermines, bombardments, sea-fights…” – Swift • Effect: Jars, unsettles the reader

Euphony • Definition: Words create a flowing harmonious sound • Example: “Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun; Conspiring with him how to load and bless With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run; ” – Keats • Effect: Gives it a melodious quality

Rhyme scheme • Determined by end rhyme (look at the last word of each line) Tyger! burning bright In the forests of the night, What immortal hand or eye Could frame thy fearful symmetry? - William Blake

Slant Rhyme • Definition: Words create similar sounds but don’t fully rhyme • Example: Hope is the Thing with Feathers That perches in the soul, And sings the tune without the words, And never stops at all. • Effect: Contributes to the rhyme scheme (without forcing it)

Internal rhyme • Definition- words within the same line of poetry rhyme • Ex: Young and gifted, my tongue's prolific Effect: Rhythm , rhyme, emphasis

Enjambment • Definition: A sentence in poetry that continues beyond the line break • Example: It is a beauteous evening, calm and free, The holy time is quiet as a Nun Breathless with adoration; the broad sun Is sinking down in its tranquillity. Effect: Creates continuous flow, momentum

Anastrophe • Definition: the typical order of subject, verb, object is changed • Example: Potatoes I like. • Effect: Emphasis, draw attention to an idea by presenting it in a different way, Sometimes contributes to rhyme scheme

Turn/Shift • A place in a poem where the attitude shifts or intensifies. Typically occurs toward the end. • Effect: Surprises the reader or creates emphasis

Cataloguing • Definition: Including a list of items • Example: Snow melting Air warming Trees coming to life Flowers budding • Effect: momentum, provides a series of concrete examples