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AAPI Women Voices: Identity & Activism in Poetry

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LESSON 5

Repetition,

Alliteration, & Rhyme

Image Credit: Asian American Education Project

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Repetition, Alliteration, and Rhyme

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A. Repetition:

The use of the same words or phrases to create a beat, rhythm, or develop emphasis.

How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle, in the icy air of night!

B. Alliteration:

The repetition of the first sounds of words.

Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing.

C. Rhyme:

A type of echoing which uses a correspondence of sound

It was quite a shock to find my sock there atop the rock.

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Repetition

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	Repetition
1	I want her to live. I want her to breathe. I want her to be happy.
2	If you think you can win, you can win.
3	Almost nothing was more annoying than having our wasted time wasted on something not worth wasting it on.
	Identify the repetitions in the following:
4	And miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go before I sleep.
5	Common sense is not so common.
6	The horror! Oh, the horror!

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	Repetition
1	I want her to live. I want her to breathe. I want her to be happy.
2	If you think you can win, you can win.
3	Almost nothing was more annoying than having our wasted time wasted on something not worth wasting it on.
	Identify the repetitions in the following:
4	And miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go before I sleep.
5	Common sense is not so common.
6	The horror! Oh, the horror!

Repetition

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	Alliteration
7	She walked past the babbling brook every day.
8	Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
9	I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
	Identify the alliterations in the following:
10	Fair is foul, and foul is fair: hover through the fog and filthy air.
11	The soul selects her own society.
12	So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly in the past.

Alliteration

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	Alliteration
7	She walked past the babbling brook every day.
8	Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
9	I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
	Identify the alliterations in the following:
10	Fair is foul, and foul is fair: hover through the fog and filthy air.
11	The soul selects her own society.
12	So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly in the past.

Alliteration

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	Rhyme
13	I have measles and the mumps, a gash, a rash, and purple bumps.
14	This precious book of love, this unbound lover, to beautify him only lacks a cover.
	Identify the rhyme in the following:
15	From there to here, and here to there, funny things are everywhere.
16	True words end; lies extend.
17	Being two beings requires a rage for rigor, rewriteable memory, hybrid vigor.

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Rhyme

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	Rhyme
13	I have measles and the mumps, a gash, a rash, and purple bumps.
14	This precious book of love, this unbound lover, to beautify him only lacks a cover.
	Identify the rhyme in the following:
15	From there to here, and here to there, funny things are everywhere.
16	True words end; lies extend.
17	Being two beings requires a rage for rigor, rewriteable memory, hybrid vigor.

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Rhyme

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Which is repetition? Which is alliteration? Which is rhyme?

		Which sound device?
18	Through the balmy air of night, how they ring out their delight!
19	“Breathe, breathe, breathe,” I told myself.
20	What tale of terror, now, their turbulency tells!
21	Her socks wouldn’t fit Phillip’s feet.
22	How it tells of the rapture that impels to the swinging and the ringing of the bells.

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		Which sound device?
18	Through the balmy air of night, how they ring out their delight!	Rhyme
19	“Breathe, breathe, breathe,” I told myself.
20	What tale of terror, now, their turbulency tells!
21	Her socks wouldn’t fit Phillip’s feet.
22	How it tells of the rapture that impels to the swinging and the ringing of the bells.

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Which is repetition? Which is alliteration? Which is rhyme?

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		Which sound device?
18	Through the balmy air of night, how they ring out their delight!	Rhyme
19	“Breathe, breathe, breathe,” I told myself.	Repetition
20	What tale of terror, now, their turbulency tells!
21	Her socks wouldn’t fit Phillip’s feet.
22	How it tells of the rapture that impels to the swinging and the ringing of the bells.

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Which is repetition? Which is alliteration? Which is rhyme?

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		Which sound device?
18	Through the balmy air of night, how they ring out their delight!	Rhyme
19	“Breathe, breathe, breathe,” I told myself.	Repetition
20	What tale of terror, now, their turbulence tells!	Alliteration
21	Her socks wouldn’t fit Phillip’s feet.
22	How it tells of the rapture that impels to the swinging and the ringing of the bells.

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Which is repetition? Which is alliteration? Which is rhyme?

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		Which sound device?
18	Through the balmy air of night, how they ring out their delight!	Rhyme
19	“Breathe, breathe, breathe,” I told myself.	Repetition
20	What tale of terror, now, their turbulence tells!	Alliteration
21	Her socks wouldn’t fit Phillip’s feet.	Alliteration
22	How it tells of the rapture that impels to the swinging and the ringing of the bells.

AsianAmericanEdu.org 13 AASC.UCLA.edu

Which is repetition? Which is alliteration? Which is rhyme?

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		Which sound device?
18	Through the balmy air of night, how they ring out their delight!	Rhyme
19	“Breathe, breathe, breathe,” I told myself.	Repetition
20	What tale of terror, now, their turbulency tells!	Alliteration
21	Her socks wouldn’t fit Phillip’s feet.	Alliteration
22	How it tells of the rapture that impels to the swinging and the ringing of the bells.	Rhyme

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Which is repetition? Which is alliteration? Which is rhyme?

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“2 Degrees” by Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner

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Image Credit: U.S. Department of the Interior (public domain image)

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“2 Degrees” by Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner

The other night my 🡺Stanza 1

1-year-old was a fever

pressed against my chest

We wrestled with a thermometer 🡺Stanza 2

that read

99.8 degrees

the doctor says

technically

100.4

is a fever

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Image Credit: Pixabay (Royalty Free)

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across my lap, listless

LiPeinam

“2 Degrees” by Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner

Alliteration

but I can see her flushed face

how she drapes

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Identify the sound devices

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“2 Degrees” by Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner

Alliteration

wobbly walking toddler all chunks and

duck footed shaky knees

stomping squeaky yellow light up shoes across

the edge of the reef

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🡺Stanza 3

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“2 Degrees” by Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner

And I think 🡺 Stanza 4

what a difference

a few degrees

can make

Scientists say 🡺Stanza 5

if humans warm the world

more than 2 degrees

then catastrophe will hit

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“2 Degrees” by Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner

Repetition

Rhyme

Imagine North American wildfires increasing by 400%

animal extinction rising by 30%

fresh water declining by 20%

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🡺Stanza 6

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“2 Degrees” by Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner

thousands, millions displaced

left wandering

wondering

what

happened?

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Identify the sound devices

Image Credit: Pixabay (Royalty Free)

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“2 Degrees” by Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner

Alliteration

Rhyme

thousands, millions displaced

left wandering

wondering

what

happened?

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Image Credit: Pixabay (Royalty Free)

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“2 Degrees” by Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner

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At a climate change conference

a colleague tells me 2 degrees

is an estimate

I tell him for my islands 2 degrees

is a gamble

at 2 degrees my islands, the Marshall Islands

will already be under water

this is why our leaders push

for 1.5

🡺Stanza 7

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“2 Degrees” by Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner

AsianAmericanEdu.org 24 AASC.UCLA.edu

At a climate change conference

a colleague tells me 2 degrees

is an estimate

I tell him for my islands 2 degrees

is a gamble

at 2 degrees my islands, the Marshall Islands

will already be under water

this is why our leaders push

for 1.5

Repetition

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“2 Degrees” by Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner

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Seems small

like 0.5 degrees

shouldn’t matter

like 0.5 degrees

are just crumbs

like the Marshall Islands

must look

on a map

just crumbs you

dust off the table, wipe

your hands clean

🡺Stanza 8

Image Credit: NASA (public domain image)

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“2 Degrees” by Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner

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Seems small

like 0.5 degrees

shouldn’t matter

like 0.5 degrees

are just crumbs

like the Marshall Islands

must look

on a map

just crumbs you

dust off the table, wipe

your hands clean

Repetition

Rhyme

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“2 Degrees” by Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner

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Today LiPeinam is feeling better

she bobs around our backyard

drops pebbles and leaves

into a plastic bucket

before emptying the bucket out

and dropping pebbles in again

🡺Stanza 9

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“2 Degrees” by Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner

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As I watch I think about futility

I think about the world

making the same mistakes

since the industrial revolution

since 1977

when a scientist said 2 degrees

was the estimate

🡺Stanza 10

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“2 Degrees” by Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner

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🡺Stanza 11

On Kili atoll

the tides were underestimated

patients with a nuclear history threaded

into their bloodlines, sleeping

Image Credit: Pixabay (Royalty Free)

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“2 Degrees” by Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner

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in the only clinic on island woke

to a wild water world

a rushing rapid of salt

closing in around them

a sewage of syringes and gauze

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“2 Degrees” by Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner

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in the only clinic on island woke

to a wild water world

a rushing rapid of salt

closing in around them

a sewage of syringes and gauze

Rhyme

Alliteration

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Repetition, Alliteration, Rhyme Homework

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Finish the Interpreting & Recognizing Alliteration, Repetition, and Rhyme chart of the worksheet as homework.
Answer the discussion questions.
Complete the Alliteration, Repetition, and Rhyme Exercise.

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“I Am” Poem Homework

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• This homework is modeled after Janice Mirikitani’s “Desert Flower II” poem.

• Choose a community you want to write about. Examples:

• A community of causes: environmental, Black Lives Matter, LGBTQ, immigration, women’s rights, labor rights, ethnic rights, language rights, housing rights, education rights, healthcare rights, disability rights.

• Your family, your neighborhood, a group of friends, any kind of community you want to write about.

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“I Am” Poem

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• What are you trying to convey in your poem?

• What characteristics or aspects of the community are you trying to emphasize in your poem?

• What is your concluding line to convey your message?

• You will perform your own poem in front of the class at the end of the unit.

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Homework 2 - “Filipino Boogie” poem by Jessica Hagedorn

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Background of the poem:

• 1898 - 1933 The Philippines was a colony of America

• 1942 - 1945 The Philippines was occupied by Japan

• Sitting Bull was an American Indian warrior, 1834–90.

• Minnehaha is a fictional Native American �woman.

• Mohawk people are an indigenous people of �North America.

• Yellow Peril is a term referring to an unjust �and misguided widely held fear of Asians in �the West in the late 1800s and early 1900s.�It is used as a satire in this poem.

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons (public domain image)

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Homework 2 - “Filipino Boogie” by Jessica Hagedorn

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• Notice how Jessica Hagedorn writes �about American cowboys, Native �Americans, and Filipino Americans

Complete the Repetition, Alliteration, �Rhyme Homework 2.

• Identify at least one of each of the �three sound devices in “Filipino Boogie.”

Image from Untold Stories Through Poetry

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AAPI Women Voices: Identity & Activism in Poetry

Curriculum Developer:

Megan Roberto

Curriculum Contributors:

Prabhneek Heer, Kristy Phan

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