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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