Poetic Sound Devices
Poetic Sound Devices
Practice
“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.”
Confound the cats! All cats--away—
Cats of all colors, black, white, gray; By night a nuisance and by day—
Confound the cats! All cats, always.
I dreamed a dream next Tuesday week,
Beneath the apple-trees; I thought my eyes were big pork-pies,
And my nose was Stilton cheese.
Big Balloons Bounce into the
Big Blue Sky
Up, up, and away
There they go
Buzz, goes the blue fly,
Hum, goes the bee,
Buzz and hum they cry,
And so do we
Rage, rage, against the dying of the light.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight,
Toss the glass, boss.
The zoo was amazing, especially the lizards and chimpanzees
I wish you would mash potatoes in this dish.
Examples of Assonance in Literature
Assonance is primarily used in poetry in order to add rhythm and music, by adding an internal rhyme to a poem. Let us look at some examples of assonance from literature.
Example #1
Try to notice the use of assonance in Robert Frosts poem “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”:
“He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dar and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.”
The underlined bold letters in the above extract are vowels that are repeated to create assonance.
Example #2
Assonance sets the mood of a passage in Carl Sandburg’s Early Moon:
“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.”
Notice how the long vowel “o” in the above extract helps emphasize the idea of something being old and mysterious.
Example #3
The sound of long vowels slows down the pace of a passage and sets an atmosphere that is grave and
Practice
“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.”
Confound the cats! All cats--away—
Cats of all colors, black, white, gray; By night a nuisance and by day—
Confound the cats! All cats, always.
I dreamed a dream next Tuesday week,
Beneath the apple-trees; I thought my eyes were big pork-pies,
And my nose was Stilton cheese.
Big Balloons Bounce into the
Big Blue Sky
Up, up, and away
There they go
Buzz, goes the blue fly,
Hum, goes the bee,
Buzz and hum they cry,
And so do we
Rage, rage, against the dying of the light.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight,
Toss the glass, boss.
The zoo was amazing, especially the lizards and chimpanzees
I wish you would mash potatoes in this dish.
Examples of Assonance in Literature
Assonance is primarily used in poetry in order to add rhythm and music, by adding an internal rhyme to a poem. Let us look at some examples of assonance from literature.
Example #1
Try to notice the use of assonance in Robert Frosts poem “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”:
“He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dar and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.”
The underlined bold letters in the above extract are vowels that are repeated to create assonance.
Example #2
Assonance sets the mood of a passage in Carl Sandburg’s Early Moon:
“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.”
Notice how the long vowel “o” in the above extract helps emphasize the idea of something being old and mysterious.
Example #3
The sound of long vowels slows down the pace of a passage and sets an atmosphere that is grave and