1. Sound Effects in Poetry
Alliteration, Assonance and Rhyme
& how they can contribute to
meaning

2. Alliteration
Repetition of consonant sounds
My stick fingers click with a snicker
Light footed my steel feelers flicker
. . . I’m light like the moon

3. Assonance
Repetition of vowel sounds
My stick fingers click with a snicker
Light footed my steel feelers flicker
. . . I’m light like the moon

4. Focus on sound not spelling
a “Sleigh,” “ rain”, “page” assonate
though they are spelled differently.
a “Cycle” and “sail” alliterate though
they are spelled differently.
a “Ice” and “fish” don’t assonate. The
“ i” sound is different though it is
spelled the same.

5. onomatopoeia
a Words that sound like what they
mean
• Some single words are
onomatopoeias
– buzz, ding-dong, bang, hush
– meow, woof, quack
– squeak, whisper, titter

6. onomatopoeia
• Alliteration or assonance can
create an onomatopoeia
– “the monstrous anger of the
guns: the stuttering rifles rapid
rattle”
The repeated r and t sounds
make this line sound like
machine gunfire

7. Rhyme--words with a similar
sound
a Exact Rhyme-- a Examples of Exact
perfect assonance Rhyme
on a stressed • cat/sat
syllable followed • kitten/mitten
by the exact same • bumbling/fumbling
sounds • alone/stone
a Eye Rhyme--looks a Examples of Eye
like exact rhyme Rhyme
but pronounced • Blood/Food
differently Cow/Low
• Love/Move

8. Near Rhyme
a Consonance-- same final consonant
• home/same death/truth
a Alliteration + Assonance+ different final sound
• blade/blame tight/tide
a Initial Alliteration + Consonance
• blade/blood same/some
a identical unstressed syllable following a different
stressed sound
• drowning/moaning

9. Other names for rhymes
a Exact Rhyme is also called
Perfect Rhyme.
a Near Rhyme is also called
• slant rhyme
• approximate rhyme
• half rhyme
• off rhyme
a I will use “exact” and “near.”

10. Positions of rhymes
aBoth rhyming words come at
the end of lines = end rhyme.
a At least one of the rhyming
words comes at someplace
other than the end = internal
rhyme.

11. Positions of rhymes
a The splendor falls on castle walls
a And snowy summits old in story
a The long light shakes across the
lakes
a And the wild cataract leaps to glory
a falls/walls shakes/lakes are internal
rhymes. story/glory is an end rhyme.
All these rhymes are exact

12. Masculine versus feminine
a Masculine rhymes a moon/June
rhyme on a single car/star
stressed syllable. a shakes/tykes
a stone/alone
a Feminine rhymes
rhyme on a a coming/strumming
stressed syllable
followed by one or
a quiver/shiver
more unstressed a echo/gecko
syllables. a sighing/fighting

13. Rhyme scheme
a A rhyme scheme is a pattern of end
rhymes used in a poem.
a Certain fixed forms call for certain
rhyme schemes.
a We mark a rhyme scheme by labeling
the first final sound a. If the next
final sound rhymes with the first it
also gets an a, otherwise a b and so
on.

14. Labeling a Rhyme Scheme
The world is charged with the grandeur of God.
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?
Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;
And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;
And wears man’s smudge and shares man’s smell: the soil
Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.

15. Labeling a Rhyme Scheme
The world is charged with the grandeur of God. a
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil; b
It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil b
Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod? a
Generations have trod, have trod, have trod; a
And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil; b
And wears man’s smudge and shares man’s smell: the soil b
Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod. a

16. Look for Internal Rhyme
The world is charged with the grandeur of God.
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?
Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;
And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;
And wears man’s smudge and shares man’s smell: the soil
Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.

17. Look for Internal Rhyme
The world is charged with the grandeur of God.
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?
Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;
And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;
And wears man’s smudge and shares man’s smell: the soil
Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.

18. Look for Assonance and
Alliteration
The world is charged with the grandeur of God.
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?
Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;
And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;
And wears man’s smudge and shares man’s smell: the soil
Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.

19. Look for Assonance and
Alliteration
The world is charged with the grandeur of God.
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?
Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;
And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;
And wears man’s smudge and shares man’s smell: the soil
Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.

20. Look for Figures of Speech
The world is charged with the grandeur of God.
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?
Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;
And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;
And wears man’s smudge and shares man’s smell: the soil
Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.

21. Metonymy, simile, synecdoche, hyperbole, metaphor
(explained on the next pages]
The world is charged with the grandeur of God.
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?
Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;
And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;
And wears man’s smudge and shares man’s smell: the soil
Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.

22. Metonymy
a “Reck his rod” is a metonymy
meaning to obey God. A rod is a
staff or stick such as a shepherd
uses to lead his flock, but it can also
be used to beat. So “reck his rod”
can both mean to “fear God’s power”
with rod standing for the power to
punish with it, or to “follow God’s
direction,” with rod standing for the
process of leading.

23. Metonymy and synecdoche
the soil/ Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.
The soil is a synecdoche for the earth. The soil is one part of the earth,
but appropriately the part associating with growing crops. Saying the
soil is bare is a way of saying that the world now is experiencing some
literal barrenness, as result of pollution or exhaustion of the land,
practical barrenness as a result of conversion from natural or
agricultural into urban usage (we could grow things but do not use the
land for that purpose), and spiritual barrenness. “Foot” is a
synecdoche for humanity and “being shod” is a metonymy for being
civilized. Being shod literally means wearing shoes. We wear shoes
as we move away from our natural state. A foot in a shoe cannot feel
the earth. A person in a urban environment no longer feels an
emotional or spiritual connection with nature and its creator.

24. Metaphor
a “Generations have trod, have
trod, have trod”
a This literally means that generations
have marched roughly over the
earth. This is a way of describing
exploiting the earth for profit or
other advantage with little regard for
the effect on the environment.

25. More metaphors
a “seared with trade” “smeared with
toil” are also metaphors for the
effects of industry on the
environment and our appreciation of
it. To sear is to scorch, to damage
by burning. To smear is to spread
something (unpleasant) over
something else. The peasant who
works all day in the fields cannot
look at them and see beauty, for they
are “smeared with toil.”

26. Hyperbole
a I also marked these lines “all is
seared with trade, smeared,
bleared with toil” as hyperboles,
because Hopkins is overstating
the case for effect.

27. End-stopped vs. Enjambed
In end-stopped lines there is a pause in the meaning
of the poem at the end of a line. In other words, the
end of the line coincides with the end of a thought,
or a pause in the thought.
In strongly end-stopped lines the pause is created by
the end of a sentence and marked by a period,
question mark, exclamation point, or a semi-colon.
In weakly end-stopped lines the pause is created by
the end of a phrase and is marked by a comma.

28. End-stopped vs. Enjambed
In enjambed lines the meaning continues on to the
next line without a pause. There is no punctuation
mark at the end of the line. When reading aloud, do
not pause at the end of enjambed lines.

29. Which lines are end-stopped and
which enjambed ?
The world is charged with the grandeur of God.
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?
Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;
And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;
And wears man’s smudge and shares man’s smell: the soil
Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.

30. End-stopped vs. Enjambed
The world is charged with the grandeur of God.
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?
Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;
And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;
And wears man’s smudge and shares man’s smell: the soil
Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.

31. Sound & meaning
a Sound effects emphasize and link
certain words to reinforce the poet’s
meaning.
• world charged grandeur God
– linked by r and d sounds
• grandeur God gathers greatness
– linked by g sounds
a Both examples above almost
illustrate their meaning through
sound effects.

32. Sound & meaning
a Sound effects emphasize and link
certain words to reinforce the poet’s
meaning.
• seared bleared smeared
– linked by rhyme
• smeared, smudged, smell
– linked by alliteration of sm sound
a Both of these examples heighten the
tone of disgust by emphasizing
negative words.

33. Sound & Meaning
a Sound effects create cacophony or
euphony and alter the flow or rhythm
of the poem in ways that fit the
poet’s meaning.
• Cacophony--”Why do men then now nor
reck his rod?” Difficult to say, slows
reader down, sounds short and choppy
to reflect man’s perversity.
• Euphony in the second stanza reinforces
the positive turn of the poem.

34. Sound & Meaning
a End rhymes may embody or
reinforce a theme or tone of the
poem.
• God/ rod emphasizes God the
father’s capacity to punish
heedless mankind.
• Springs/wings emphasizes the
uprising of the Holy Spirit's loving
concern for the “bent world.”

35. Sound & Meaning
a A shift from exact rhyme to near
rhyme or from masculine to feminine
rhyme or vice versa may correspond
to the meaning of that part of the
poem.