Poetry Terms In the Ear

In the Ear—Alliteration The repetition of initial consonant sounds in words Example “We wear the mask that grins and lies,/” Paul Laurence Dunbar, “We Wear the Mask”

In the Ear—Consonance The repetition of consonant sounds in words Similar to alliteration, but not limited to first letter of words Example “We wear the mask that grins and lies,/ It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,--/” Paul Laurence Dunbar, “We Wear the Mask”

In the ear—Assonance The repetition of vowel sounds without repeating consonants Example: “Like stalks of tall, dry straw At poor peace I sing” Dylan Thomas, “Prologue”

In the Ear—Onomatopoeia The use of a word whose sound suggests its meaning Examples: Clang Buzz Twang swoosh

In the Ear—Repetition The repeating of a word, a phrase, or an idea for emphasis or effect We Real Cool By Gwendolyn Brooks The Pool Players. Seven at the Golden Shovel. We real cool. We Left school. We Lurk late. We Strike straight. We Sing sin. We Thin gin. We Jazz June. We Die soon.

In the Ear—End Rhyme /Rhyme Scheme The Storm James K. McAlister Wind rustled crunching leaves a That on the sidewalk lay. b There was a big storm coming c On a windy Autumn day. b Thunder rumbled overhead d And shook me through and through. e A jagged bolt of lightning struck! f The sky then cracked in two! e Rain washed down the dirty road. g It hissed, and gushed, and muttered. h The downpour swept dead leaves away i Into the bubbling gutter. h The rhyming of words that appear at the ends of two lines of poetry

In the Ear—Internal Rhyme Occurs when the rhyming words appear in the same line of poetry We Real Cool By Gwendolyn Brooks The Pool Players. Seven at the Golden Shovel. We real cool. We Left school. We Lurk late. We Strike straight. We Sing sin. We Thin gin. We Jazz June. We Die soon.

In the Ear—Rhythm Regular or random occurrence of sound in poetry Regular is called meter Random is called Free Verse Contemporary poetry often uses free verse