Assonance – the repetition of vowel sounds within ...



Assonance – the repetition of vowel sounds within nonrhyming words. An example of assonance is the repetition of the u sound in the following line:

Only their usual maneuvers, dear

-W.H. Auden, “O What Is That Sound”

Alliteration – the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words. Note the repetition of d in the following:

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

Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before

-Edgar Allan Poe, “The Raven”

Rhythm – the pattern or flow of sound created by the arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables, used to bring out a musical quality in language.

Iambic pentameter – a pattern of poetic meter made up of 5 units, each unit made up of 2 syllables, the first unstressed and the second stressed.

But soft! What light through yonder window breaks?

It is the East, and Juliet is the sun!

- William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

Sonnet – a 14-line lyric poem, commonly written in iambic pentameter

- Petrarchan sonnet

1st 8 lines (octave) presents a problem or raises a question

abba, abba rhyme scheme

end 6 lines (sestet) resolves or comments on the problem

cdecde or cdcdcd rhyme scheme

- Shakespearean sonnet

3 sets of 4 lines (quatrain) abab, cdcd, efef scheme

1 pair of rhyming lines (couplet) gg rhyme scheme

Personification – a figure of speech in which human qualities are given to an object, animal, or idea.

The grey-eyed morn smiles on the frowning night

- William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

Metaphor – a figure of speech that makes a comparison between two things that are basically unlike but have something in common. Unlike similes, metaphors do not contain the word like or as.

Simile – a figure of speech that makes a comparison between two unlike things, using the word

like or as.

Idiom – a common figure of speech whose meaning is different from the literal meaning of its words. For example, “raining cats and dogs.”

Oxymoron – a special kind of concise paradox that brings together two contradictory terms. For example, “bright smoke” or “feather of lead.”

Paradox – a seemingly contradictory or absurd statement that may nonetheless suggest an important truth.

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