ELEMENTS OF POETRY: SOUND x

 RHYTHM
Rhythm is the repetition of sound patterns. It describes the beat or sound
that the poem produces. Rhythm is created in stressing the syllables. It is
also created mainly by using letters that produce the same sounds at the
end of every line.
EXAMPLE: Tyger! Tyger! Burning bright, In the forest of the night’ What immortal
hand or eye Could frame thy Fearful symmetry

 ALLITERATION
Alliteration is referred to as the initial or head rhyme. It is the use of
conspicuous repetition of consonant sounds in a sequential pattern.
EXAMPLE: Betty Botter by: Mother Goose
Betty Botter bought a bit of butter; “But, ” she said, “this butter’s bitter! If I put it in
my batter It will make my batter bitter. But a bit o ‘better butter Will make my
batter better. ” Then she bought a bit o ‘ butter better than the bitter butter, Made
her bitter batter better. So It was Better Betty Botter Bought a bit o ‘ better butter.

 ASSONANCE
Assonance refers to the repetition of vowel sounds. The internal vowels
sounds are usually repeated.
EXAMPLE: Baa Baa Black Sheep Baa, baa, black sheep have you any wool?
Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full. One for the master And one for the dame, And
one for the little boy Who lives down the lane.

 CONSONANCE
Consonance refers to the repetition of consonant sounds or the presence
of identical consonant in a sequence of words, the vowel of which are
different such as “bed and bad” or “Tip and tap.”
EXAMPLE: The Acrobats by: Shel Silverstein
I’ll swing by my ankles she ’ll cling to your knees. As you hang by your nose,
From a high-up trapeze. But just one thing please, As we float through the
breeze, Don’t sneeze.

 CACOPHONY
Cacophony use words that gives an unmelodious sound to achieve the
desired outcome or create a different rhythmic effect to enhance the
listening experience.
EXAMPLE: The Jabberwocky by: Lewis Carroll
“Twas brilig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe All mimsy were
the borogoves And the mome raths outgabe.

 EUPHONY
 Euphony is the opposite of cacophony. It is the use of vowels and
consonant sounds that blend and create a pleasant effect
EXAMPLE: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star How I wonder what you are, Up above the world so
high, Like a diamond

 ONOMATOPOEIA
Is a sound device that is the careful use of words that phonetically mimics
and resembles the sound of nature or the sound that the author intends to
describe.
EXAMPLE: Cynthia in the snow (Gwendolyn Brooks)
It SHUSHES it hushes The loudness in the road. It flitter-twitters, And laughs a
lovely whiteness, And whitey whirls away, To be Some otherwhere, Still white as
milk or shirts, So beautiful it hurts.
Generally, the sound elements of poetry are used by authors and poets to
improve the reading experience of children and adolescents and relate
more to the texts.