The Tools of Poetry 3: Sound Effects English I Honors Mr. Popovich

Rhythm in Poetry Like music, poetry is based on rhythm. In English, rhythm is created by stressed syllables. But remember that it is different in other languages.

Rhythm in Poetry The use of rhythm in poetry can take the form of Either metrical verse –a strict pattern of a certain number of stressed and unstressed syllables in each line of the poem –metrical verse usually includes a rhyme scheme –but it may not rhyme (this is called blank verse) Or free verse –a loose rhythm that sounds like natural speech –typically does not use a rhyme scheme –But does use other sound effects

In metrical verse, the stressed and unstressed syllables are arranged in a regular pattern. Listen to this excerpt. Mark stressed syllables (′). Meter The mountain mists, condensing at our voice Under the moon, had spread their snowy flakes, From the keen ice shielding our linkèd sleep. —from “Prometheus Unbound” by Percy Bysshe Shelley ˘ ’ ˘ ’ ˘ ’ ˘ ’ ˘ ’ ’ ˘ ˘ ’ ˘ ’ ˘ ’ ˘ ’ ˘ ˘ ’ ’ ’ ˘ ˘ ’ ˘ ’ Now mark the unstressed (˘) syllables of each line. Marking a poem this way is called scanning it. Is this an example of rhymed verse or blank verse?

Verse is made up of metrical units called feet. A foot consists of at least one stressed syllable and usually one or more unstressed syllables. FOOTTYPESCANSIONEXAMPLE Iamb Unstressed-Stressed insist Trochee Stressed-Unstressed double Anapest Unstressed-Unstressed-Stressed understand Dactyl Stressed-Unstressed-Unstressed excellent Spondee Stressed-Stressed football ˘ ’ ’ ˘ ˘ ˘ ’ ’ ’ ˘ ˘ Feet

Lines Lines of verse are categorized according to: What kind of foot it contains, –see previous chart –convert to an adjective How many feet it contains, –tetra = four –penta = five –hexa = six And ends in the suffix –meter –which means “measure”

By the shores of Gitchee Gumee —from “Song of Hiawatha” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow This is the forest primeval. The murmuring pines and the hemlocks of —from “Evangeline” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow When wasteful war shall statues overturn, —from “Sonnet 55” by William Shakespeare Verse Iambic Pentameter Dactylic Hexameter Trochaic Tetrameter ’ ˘ ’ ˘ ’ ˘ ’ ˘ Using scansion symbols, write out: What does Trochaic Tetrameter look like? What does Dactylic Hexameter look like? What does Iambic Pentameter look like? Quick Check ’ ˘ ˘ ’ ˘ ˘ ’ ˘ ˘ ’ ˘ ˘ ’ ˘ ˘ ’ ˘ ˘ ˘ ’ ˘ ’ ˘ ’ ˘ ’ ˘ ’

Because it is “free” of metrical rules, free verse sounds more like everyday speech than verse. Free verse is a kind of poetry that does not have a regular meter or a fixed rhyme scheme. Never, in all your career of worrying, did you imagine what worries could occur concerning the flying cat. You are traveling to a distant city. The cat must travel in a small box with holes. —from “The Flying Cat” by Naomi Shihab Nye Free Verse

Rhyme is the repetition of the accented vowel sound and all subsequent sounds in a word. A slumber did my spirit seal; I had no human fears: She seemed a thing that could not feel The touch of earthly years. —from “A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal” by William Wordsworth Rhyme Listen to this excerpt. What words rhyme?

End rhyme occurs at the ends of lines. Internal rhyme is rhyme within a line. This knowledge, from an Angel's voice Proceeding, made the heart rejoice —from “The Pilgrim’s Dream” by William Wordsworth The sails at noon left off their tune, —from “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” by Samuel Taylor Coleridge Rhyme

In an exact rhyme, the words rhyme perfectly. heart—start flicker—thicker ordering—bordering In an approximate rhyme, the sounds are similar but not exactly the same.approximate rhyme light—late whisper—winter bays—waves Rhymes may be exact or approximate. Rhyme

exact rhymes: numb/come frore/more approximate rhymes: again/green/pain Rhyme Identify the exact and approximate end rhymes in these stanzas. Quick Check All suddenly the wind comes soft, And Spring is here again; And the hawthorn quickens with buds of green, And my heart with buds of pain. My heart all Winter lay so numb The earth so dead and frore That I never thought the Spring would come Or my heart wake any more. —from “Song” by Rupert Brooke

Example: “A long, long yellow on the lawn” —Emily Dickenson Alliteration is the repetition of initial consonant sounds in words that appear close together. Other Sound Effects Consonance is the repetition of internal and final (but not initial) consonant sounds in words. Example: “As in guys she gently sways at ease” —Robert Frost Assonance is the repetition of internal vowel sounds. Example: “The crumbling thunder under the sea” —R.L. Stevenson

Alliteration: silken/sad Consonance: uncertain/rustling Other Sound Effects Identify the alliteration, consonance, and assonance in this line. Quick Check And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain —from “The Raven” by Edgar Allen Poe Assonance: purple/curtain

The End