Poetry and sound devices

Performer - Culture & Literature Marina Spiazzi, Marina Tavella,

Margaret Layton © 2012

Poetry and sound devices

Performer - Culture & Literature

• Poetry derives its name from the Greek verb poiêin

which means ‘to create’. It was born as an oral art,

generally accompanied by dancing and music, and is

the oldest form of literature.

• People used poetry as a means

1. The origin of the terms

to express the most

remarkable events

in their lives

to convey the

feelings associated

with them

Poetry and sound devices

Performer - Culture & Literature

• Poetry is characterised by musical patterns of sounds

which are based on the natural qualities

of spoken language.

• Its language is far more condensed and intensified:

the poet combines words to make his reader feel what

he has felt, and experience what he has experienced.

2. Musical patterns

Poetry and sound devices

Performer - Culture & Literature

3. Basic structurals units

• A line of poetry in English is usually from eight to twelve syllables in length.

• Stanzas are normally from two to twelve lines long.

the line

(the basic unit)

the canto

or book

the stanza

(a section of a poem

which consists of

several lines)

All these can vary almost infinitely

The structural units of poetry are

Poetry and sound devices

Performer - Culture & Literature

• The types of stanzas are:

- the couplet (two lines);

- the tercet (three lines);

- the quatrain (four lines);

- the sestet (six lines);

- the octave (eight lines).

• A complete poem may consist of only two lines, as in the

case of the epigram, while narrative poems may extend

over thousands of lines.

4. Common types of stanzas

Poetry and sound devices

Performer - Culture & Literature

• the ballad, generally meant to be

sung and used to express basic

human emotions, such as love, hate

or fear and wonder at physical and

supernatural worlds

5. Some fixed forms of poetry

• the elegy, which

combines natural

settings with poetic

lamentation or

speculation on death

Some fixed forms are

Poetry and sound devices

Performer - Culture & Literature

5. Some fixed forms of poetry

• the sonnet, which,

though the most formal

among the lyric poems,

is capable of great

variety and intensity

• the ode, which is another classical

form, is quite long and complex. Its

form however is determined by the

theme (usually the celebration of an

abstract concept) and situation

Some fixed forms are

Poetry and sound devices

Performer - Culture & Literature

• The repetition of the same vowel sound can ‘colour’

part of a poem with that vowel quality. This device is

called assonance.

He was sad at heart,

Unsettled yet ready, sensing his death.

(Beowulf)

• See how the line is permeated with the /e/ sound which

creates a sense of doom. Beowulf’s mood recalls

the mood of tragic heroes.

6. Sound devices: assonance

Poetry and sound devices

Performer - Culture & Literature

• The repetition of the same initial consonant sound

in consecutive words or words which are close together,

is called alliteration.

Grendel they called this cruel spirit,

the fell and fen his fastness was,

the march his haunt.

(Beowulf)

• Sometimes the alliteration can come in the middle

or at the end of words too. It can help create the tone of

the poem or affect the regularity of rhythm.

7. Sound devices: allitteration

Poetry and sound devices

Performer - Culture & Literature

• Phrases or lines may be repeated in the course of a

poem to create a musical effect. This device is called

repetition.

O where ha’ you been, Lord Randal my son?

And where ha’ you been, my handsome young man?

8. Sound devices: repetition

Poetry and sound devices

Performer - Culture & Literature

Onomatopoeia

refers

to a word whose sound illustrates its meaning.

crack

screech bang

snuffle

9. Sound devices: onomatopoeia

Poetry and sound devices

Performer - Culture & Literature

• Lines are usually end-stopped. This is when the

end of a line coincides with a grammatical pause,

usually marked by a punctuation mark.

10. Sound devices: end-stopped lines

Poetry and sound devices

Performer - Culture & Literature

• If a line ends in the middle of a phrase and the meaning

break comes in the next line, we call this a run-on-line

or use the French word enjambement:

So the company of men led a careless life,

All was well with them: until One began

To encompass evil, an enemy from hell.

(Beowulf)

11. Sound devices: run-on-line

Poetry and sound devices

Performer - Culture & Literature

• Poems are said to rhyme when the last word of two or more lines has the same ending sound:

When in April the sweet showers fall

And pierce the drought of March to the root, and all

• Conventionally, rhyme has often been used to mark the end of the line (which also makes the poem easier to memorise). When rhyme is used within the line, it is called internal rhyme:

Her breath was strang, her hair was lang

(Anonymous ballad, Kemp Owyne)

• Rhymes are identified by the letters of the alphabet.

The pattern they create is called rhyme scheme.

12. Sound devices: rhyme