Slide 1

Musical Poetry Terminology

Mrs. A. Rotker

Weak and weary

Assonance The repetition of vowel sounds followed by different consonants in two or more stressed syllables. It is found in the phrase weak and weary in Edgar Allan Poes The Raven.

Weak and weary

consonance The repetition of similar consonant sounds at the ends of accented syllables. The repeated t and ch sounds in the spurt of a lighted match create consonance. It is used to create musical effects and to emphasize particular words.

Poetry- One of three major types of literature; the others are prose and drama. Highly concise, musical , and emotionally charged language. May include imagery, figurative language and rhyme.

Prose- Ordinary form of written language which occurs in fiction or non-fiction. This writing is not poetry, drama or song.

Repetition The use of any element of language- a sound, word, phrase, clause, or sentence more than once. Alliteration, assonance, rhyme, and rhythm are repetitions of certain sounds and sound patterns.

BANG!

Onomatopoeia The use of words that imitate sounds. Whirr, thud, sizzle, and hiss are typical examples. Writers can deliberately choose words that contribute to a desired effect.

BANG!

Rhyme The repetition of sounds at the ends of words.

Meter A poems rhythmical pattern. The pattern is determined by the number and types of stresses, or beats, in each line.

Couplet- A pair of rhyming lines, usually of the same length and meter. It generally expresses a single idea.

Stanza- Unit of a poem often repeated in the same form throughout a poem; a unit of poetic lines often separated by spaces. Sometimes named for number of lines in them (couplet=two line stanza, tercet=three lines, quatrain=four lines,etc.)

Roses are redViolets are blueSugar is sweet And so are you!

Alliteration The repetition of initial consonant sounds. Writers use alliteration to give emphasis to words, to imitate sounds, and to create musical effects.

Study so these words are music to your ears.

Mrs. A. Rotker