Chapter 18 Sound

Question 1

Cacophony

Answer 1

A harsh, discordant sound often mirroring the meaning of the context in which it is used. For example, “Grate on the scrabbled pipes of wretched straw” (Milton’s “Lycides”). The opposite of this is euphony.

Question 2

Onomatopoeia

Answer 2

A literary device that attempts to represent a thing or action by the word that imitates the sound associated with it (e. g., crash, bang, pitter-patter).

Question 3

Alliteration/ Initial Rime

Answer 3

The repetition of two or more consonant sounds in successive words in a line of verse or phrase. It can be used at the beginning of words (“cool cats” - initial alliteration) or internally on stressed syllables (“In kitchen cup concupiscent curds” - which combines initial and internal alliteration). Alliteration was a central feature of Anglo- Saxon poetry and is still used by contemporary writers.

Question 4

Initial Alliteration

Answer 4

Alliteration at the beginning of words (“cool cats”).

Question 5

Internal Alliteration/ Hidden Alliteration

Answer 5

Alliteration internally on stressed syllables (“In kitchen cups concupiscent curds”) - combined this/ initial alliteration.

Question 6

Assonance

Answer 6

The repetition of two or more vowel sounds in successive words, which creates a kind of rhyme. Like alliteration, the assonance may occur initially (“all the awful auguries”) or internally (“white lilacs”). It may be used to focus attention on key words or concepts. It also helps more a phrase or line more memorable.

Question 7

Rime/ Rhyme

Answer 7

Two or more words that contain an identical or similar vowel sound, usually accented, with following consonant sounds (if any) identical as well: queue and stew, prairie schooner and piano tuner.

Question 8

Exact Rime

Answer 8

A full rhyme in which the sounds following the initial letters of the words are identical in sound, as in follow and hollow, go and slow, disband and this hand.

Question 9

Slant/ Near/ Off/ Imperfect Rime

Answer 9

A rhyme in which the final consonant sounds are the same but the vowel sounds are different, as in letter and litter, bane and bean. It may also be called near rhyme, off rhyme, or imperfect rhyme.

Question 10

Consonance/ Slant Rhyme

Answer 10

A kind of rhyme in which the linked words share similar consonant sounds but different vowel sounds, as in reason and raisin, mink and mink. Sometimes only the final consonant sound is identical, as in fame and room, crack and truck. Used mostly by modern poets, it often registers more subtly than exact rhyme, lending itself to special poetic effects.

Question 11

End Rime

Answer 11

Rhyme that occurs at the ends of lines, rather than within them (as internal rhyme does). End rhyme is the most common kind of rhyme in English- language poetry.

Question 12

Internal Rime

Answer 12

Rhyme that occurs within a line of poetry, as opposed to end rhyme. Read aloud, these Wallace Stevens lines are rich internal rhyme: “Chieftan Iffucan of Azcan in Caftan/ Of tan with henna hackles, hait!” from “Bantams in Pine- Woods”).

Question 13

Masculine Rime

Answer 13

Either a rhyme of one syllable words (as in fox and socks) or - in polysyllabic words - a rhyme on the stressed final syllables: con-trive and sur-vive.

Question 14

Feminine Rime

Answer 14

A rhyme of two or more syllables with a stress on a syllable other than the last, as in tur-tle and fer-tile.

Question 15

Eye Rime

Answer 15

Rhyme in which the spelling of the words appears alike, but the pronunciations differ, as in laughter and daughter, idea and flea.

Question 16

New Formalism/ New Formalists

Answer 16

A term for a recent literary movement (begun around 1980) in which young poets began using rhyme, meter, and narrative again. They attempt to write poetry that appeals to an audience beyond academia. Timothy Steele, Gjertrud Schnackenberg, R. S. Gwynn, David Mason, and Marilyn Nelson are poets commonly associated with the movement.

Question 17

Echo Verse

Answer 17

A poetic form in which the final syllables of the line are repeated back as a reply or commentary, often using puns. It dates back to the late Classical Greek poetry. Fred Chappell’s “Narcissus and Echo” is a contemporary example of this form.

Question 18

Euphony

Answer 18

The harmonious effect when the sounds of the words connect with the meaning is a way pleasing to the ear and mind. An example is found in Tennyson’s line, “The moan of doves in immemorial elms,/ And murmuring of innumerable bees.” The opposite of euphony is cacophony.