The Sounds of Poetry

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Hear the Music

Make It Rhyme Rhythm and Meter

Free Verse
Sound Effects Practice

Hear the Music

Poetrys musical quality makes it different from other forms of literature. A good poem practically sings. To achieve this musical effect, poets use rhyme rhythm sound effects
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Make It Rhyme
Rhymerepetition of the sound of the stressed vowel and any sounds that follow it in words that are close together in a poem.
Listen to the poem and then identify the rhymes.

And haply a bell with a luring call Summoned their feet to tread Midst the cruel rocks, where the deep pitfall And the lurking snare are spread.
from Black Sheep by Richard Burton

Modern Poetry

Make It Rhyme
In an exact rhyme, all sounds from the stressed vowel to the end of the word are repeated.
immersionconversion pleasuretreasure sphererevere

In an approximate rhyme, some sounds are repeated, but the words are not exact echoes of each other.
regularlyFebruary landingscanning songgone

Make It Rhyme
Rhymes usually occur at the ends of lines. This type of rhyme is called end rhyme.
Golden pulse grew on the shore, Ferns along the hill, And the red cliff roses bore Bees to drink their fill;
from Golden Purse by John Myers OHara

Make It Rhyme
When rhyme occurs within a line, it is called internal rhyme.

The Sun came up upon the left, Out of the sea came he! And he shone bright, and on the right Went down into the sea.
from The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Make It Rhyme
A regular pattern of end rhyme, or rhyme scheme, defines the shape of a poem and holds it together.
Apple-green west and an orange bar, And the crystal eye of a lone, one star . . . And, Child, take the shears and cut what you will, Frost to-nightso clear and dead-still.
from Frost To-Night by Edith M. Thomas

a a b b

Make It Rhyme
Quick Check
Take this kiss upon the brow! And, in parting from you now, Thus much let me avow You are not wrong, who deem That my days have been a dream; Yet if hope has flown away In a night, or in a day, In a vision, or in none, Is it therefore the less gone? All that we see or seem Is but a dream within a dream.
from A Dream within a Dream by Edgar Allan Poe

Find the end rhymes in this excerpt, including approximate rhymes.

Make It Rhyme
Quick Check
Take this kiss upon the brow! And, in parting from you now, Thus much let me avow You are not wrong, who deem That my days have been a dream; Yet if hope has flown away In a night, or in a day, In a vision, or in none, Is it therefore the less gone? All that we see or seem Is but a dream within a dream.
from A Dream within a Dream by Edgar Allan Poe

Find the internal rhymes in this excerpt, including approximate rhymes.

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Rhythm and Meter

Rhythmmusical quality based on repetition. A common form of rhythm is meter, a regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in each line.
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high oer vales and hills
from I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud by William Wordsworth

Rhythm and Meter

Scanning a Poems Meter When you analyze a poem to show its meter, you are scanning the poem. Scanning is a way of taking a poem apart to see how the poet has created its music. Stressed syllables are marked with the symbol (). Unstressed syllables are marked the symbol ().

Rhythm and Meter

Footmetrical unit, usually consisting of one stressed syllable and one or more unstressed syllables. There are several different kinds of metrical feet. Iambunstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. His hair is crisp, and black, and long,
from The Village Blacksmith by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Rhythm and Meter

Quick Check
Our little house upon the hill Which syllables are stressed in the first two lines?

In summer time strange voices fill;

With ceaseless rustle of the leaves, And birds that twitter in the eaves,

And all the vines entangled so

The village lights no longer show.
from Our Little House by Thomas Walsh

Now, scan the rest of the excerpt. What is the predominant type of foot?
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Free Verse
Free versepoetry that does not follow a regular pattern of rhyme and meter.
This poetry gets bored of being alone, It wants to go outdoors to chew on the winds, to fill its commas with the keels of rowboats. . . .

from Living Poetry by Hugo Margenat

Notice that free verse sounds similar to prose or to everyday spoken language.

Free Verse
Poets writing free verse may not follow formal rules, but they do pay close attention to the rhythmic rise and fall of the voice balance between long and short phrases repetition of words and rhymes pauses
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Sound Effects
In addition to rhythm and rhyme, poets also use onomatopoeia, alliteration, and assonance to give their poems a musical quality. Onomatopoeiause of words that sound like what they mean.
I am a copper wire slung in the air, Slim against the sun I make not even a clear line of shadow. Night and day I keep singinghumming and thrumming:
from Under a Telephone Pole by Carl Sandburg

Sound Effects
Alliterationrepetition of the same consonant sound in several words, usually at the beginnings of the words.
A bird sang sweet and strong In the top of the highest tree. He said, I pour out my heart in song For the summer that soon shall be.
from Spring Song by George William Curtis

Sound Effects
Assonancerepetition of the same vowel sound in several words.
The baby moon, a canoe, a silver papoose canoe, sails and sails in the Indian west. A ring of silver foxes, a mist of silver foxes, sit and sit around the Indian moon.
from Early Moon by Carl Sandburg

Sound Effects
Quick Check Black riders came from the sea
by Stephen Crane

Black riders came from the sea. There was clang and clang of spear and shield, And clash and clash of roof and heel, Wild shouts and the wave of hair In the rush upon the wind: Thus the ride of Sin.

Find an example of each of type of sound effect: Alliteration Assonance

Onomatopoeia

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Practice
Find elements of poetry in the real world. List ten names. Identify the stressed and unstressed syllables. What tunes do the names make? Find political slogans that use rhyme and alliteration. Think of two exact rhymes and two approximate rhymes for ocean, wash, warm, beard, and power. Describe the following scenes, using onomatopoeia: a rainy, windy night

a cat eating dry cat food

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