Poetic Devices - The Sounds of Words

Question 1

Is a figure of speech in which the same sound repeats in a group of words, such as the “b” sound in: “Bob brought the box of bricks to the basement.” The repeating sound must occur either in the first letter of each word, or in the stressed syllables of those words.It is the repetition of sounds, not just letters. These words don’t have to be right next to each other. Other words can appear between them.

Examples:

• Dan declares that he deserves to debate.
• Crooks conspire with the unkind king.

Answer 1

Alliteration

Effects:

• To enhance the beauty of their writing
• To emphasise particular phrases or feelings
• To use the sounds they repeat (a soft “s” or a hard “t”, for instance) to mirror the ideas or events or feelings being described
• To make writing feel merry, musical, and mightily memorable.

Question 2

A figure of speech in which the same vowel sound repeats within a group of words.

Examples:

“Who gave Newt and Scooter the blue tuna? It was too soon!”

Answer 2

Assonance

Effects:

• Assonance tends to draw out the sonic quality of words in a group.
• It encourages the reader to spend more time looking at, sounding out, and thinking about those words.
• Assonance provides poetic writing with rhythm and musicality.
• It also mirrors or changes the mood of a poem in order to match the subject matter.

Question 3

Cacophony

see literary devices

Answer 3

Cacophony

see literary devices

Question 4

Euphony

see literay devices

Answer 4

Euphony

see literary devices

Question 5

Words that sound like their meanings. In Hear the steady tick of the old hall clock, the word tick sounds like the action of the clock, If assonance or alliteration can be onomatopoeic, as the sound ‘ck’ is repeated in tick and clock, so much the better. At least sounds should suit the tone – heavy sounds for weightiness, light for the delicate. Tick is a light word, but transpose the light T to its heavier counterpart, D; and transpose the light CK to its heavier counterpart G, and tick becomes the much more solid and down to earth dig.

Answer 5

Onomatopoeia

Effects:

• Makes a sentence a lot more vivid and descriptive.
• Enhances the expressiveness of written language to evoke the sounds and feeling of real life.
• To describe things with sound that are difficult to convey in any other way.

Question 6

The purposeful re-use of words and phrases for an effect. Sometimes, especially with longer phrases that contain a different key word each time, this is called parallelism. It has been a central part of poetry in many cultures.

Examples:

• I was glad; so very, very glad.
• Half a league, half a league,

Half a league onward…

Answer 6

Repetition

Effects:

Emphasis: The repetition of a word or phrase naturally serves to highlight it’s importance within a text and as a thing or idea.

Persuasion: Scientific studies have shown that simply repeating something is one of the most effective ways to convince people of its truth. Figures of speech that use repetition are common in speeches for just this reason.

Contrast: Sometimes by repeating the same thing in slightly different contexts it is possible to illuminate contrasts. For instance, in the sentence, “What you own ends up owning you,” the repetition of “own” highlights the contrast or twist in the sentence, which argues that the things you buy to improve your life can end up limiting and influencing your life choices.

Rhythm: Repetition creates a natural rhythm, like beats of a drum, within a sentence. Repetition, then, is not just valuable for how it can allow a writer to control the meaning of sentences. It also can help a writer to affect the feel of those sentences.