Poetry makes a greater use of the “music” of language than prose does.
A poet chooses words for their meaning as well as their sound.
A poet achieves musical quality in two ways: 1. The choice and arrangement of sounds and 2. the arrangement of accents.
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Repetition and Variation
People like the familiar. People like variety. And we like them both combined.
Too much sameness= boredom
Too much variety= bewilderment and confusion.
A poet will repeat certain sounds in certain combinations and arrangements to add musical meaning.
Poets may repeat any unit of sound from the smallest to the largest. They can repeat individual vowel or consonant sounds, whole syllables, words, phrases, lines, or groups of lines,
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Why Repetition?
Please the ear
Emphasize the words
Give structure to the poem.
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Alliteration
The repetition of initial consonant sounds.
Rhyme and reason
Fish or fowl
Fit as a fiddle
Safe and sound.
Peter Piper Picked a Peck of Pickled Peppers
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Assonance
The repetition of vowel sounds (a, e, i, o, u).
Mad as a hatter.
How now brown cow?
Free and easy.
Lean, mean, green machine.
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Consonance
The repetition of final consonant sounds.
First and last
Short and sweet.
Stroke of luck
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Rhyme
It is the repetition of any accented vowel sound and the consonant sound that follows.
Masculine (or male) Rhyme: When the rhyme sound involves one syllable:
Hells Bells
Support and Retort
Above the dove
Feminine (or female) Rhyme: When the rhyme sounds involve two or more syllables.
Rhyming and chiming
Frightful and delightful
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Internal Rhyme and End Rhyme
The most common use in poetry is the end rhyme.
Internal Rhyme: When the rhyming words are within the line.
End Rhyme: The rhyming words appear at the end of the lines.
So what if a poet can’t find two words that rhyme perfectly? This is where an Approximate Rhyme (slant rhyme) will be used.
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Last minute things to remember
It’s all about the sound… not the letter!
Alliteration: Gem and gun. Nope.
Alliteration: Slide and sugar. Nope.
Alliteration: Cell and sin. Yep!
Alliteration: Philosophy of fairs. Yep.
Distance between the words and sounds: I usually teach that the sounds should be within the same line or the following line.