Poetry Sound Devices Meter - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Poetry

Sound Devices

Slide2

Meter

poetry's rhythm, or its pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables.

Meter is measured in units of

feet

; the five basic kinds of metric feet are indicated below.

Accent marks indicate stressed ( / ) or unstressed ( u ) syllables.

Slide3

Type of Metric Feet

i

amb ˘ ˉ

ba-lloon

Troche ˉ

˘ so-da

Spondee ˉ ˉ man-made

Anapest

˘

˘

ˉ

con-

tra

-

dict

Dactyl

ˉ

˘

˘

ma-ni-

ac

Slide4

Metrical units are the building blocks of lines of verse: lines are named according to the number of feet they contain:

Number of Metric Feet Type of Line

one foot monometer

two feet dimeter

three feet

trimeter

four feet tetrameter

five feet pentameter

six feet hexameter

seven feet heptameter

eight feet

octometer

Slide5

Stanzas are integral to the organizational structure of many poems equivalent to a paragraph in an essay, and also described by the number of lines they contain:

Number of lines Name of stanza

Two lines couplet

Three lines

tercet

Four lines quatrain

Five lines

cinquain

(or

quintain

)

Six lines sestet

Seven lines septet

Eight lines octave

Slide6

Scansion

is the analysis of these mechanical elements within a poem to determine meter. Feet are marked off with slashes

( / ) and accented appropriately

( ˉ -stressed, ˘ -unstressed).

 

Slide7

Feminine ending

Believe it or not, not every line of iambic pentameter contains ten syllables. Sometimes even Shakespeare himself will go to eleven or twelve. This is most commonly achieved by using an

amphribrach

for the last foot. Ending with an extra unstressed syllable like this is known as a feminine ending.

u / u / u / u / u / u

To be | or not | to be| that is | the question

Slide8

Triple ending

Then to really throw you off when you’re trying to scan and figure out meter, sometimes authors like Shakespeare will throw in a double feminine ending as in

u / u

u

u / u / u / u

u

What’s Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba

Slide9

Emily Dickinson's "Because I Could Not Stop For Death"

Because I could not stop for Death –

He kindly stopped for me –

The Carriage held but just Ourselves –

And Immortality.

We slowly drove – He knew no haste

And I had put away

My labor and my leisure too,

For His Civility –

We passed the School, where Children strove

At Recess – in the Ring –

We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain –

We passed the Setting Sun –

Slide10

Emily Dickinson's "Because I Could Not Stop For Death"

Or rather – He passed Us –

The Dews drew quivering and Chill –

For only Gossamer, my Gown –

My Tippet – only Tulle –

We paused before a House that seemed

A Swelling of the Ground –

The Roof was scarcely visible –

The Cornice – in the Ground –

Since then – 'tis Centuries – and yet

Feels shorter than the Day

I first surmised the Horses' Heads

Were toward Eternity –

Slide11

Emily Dickinson's "Because I Could Not Stop For Death"

Because / I could / not stop / for Death

He kind- /

ly

stopped / for me

The car- /

riage

held / but just / our-selves

And

Im

- /

mor-tal

- /

ity

.

The feet in these lines are iambic ( u / ). The first and third lines have four feet and can be identified as iambic tetrameter. The second and fourth lines, with three feet each, are examples of

catalexis

. Therefore, the basic meter is iambic tetrameter.

This oscillation between iambic tetrameter and iambic trimester is also known as

ballad meter

.

Slide12

What’s The Point?

Poets often manipulate meter to speed or slow the rate at which a reader reads the line.

Stressed syllables serve to slow the pace

Unstressed syllables do the opposite

Slide13

Similar Devices

Poets also manipulate vowels, consonants, and consonant blends to achieve a similar purpose

Vowels are open and can be spoken rapidly

Consonants (and particularly consonant blends) are more difficult to form, hence they slow the pace of the line

Slide14

caesura

:a pause in the meter or rhythm of a line.

How do I love thee? || Let me count the ways.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Slide15

enjambment

a run-on line, one continuing into the text without a grammatical break. The opposite is referred to as an end-stopped line.The inmates of my cottage, all at rest,  end stopHave left me to that solitude, which suits Abstruser musings: save that at my side My cradled infant slumbers peacefully.  end stop'Tis calm indeed! so calm, that it disturbs And vexes meditation with its strange And extreme silentness.“Frost at Midnight” Samuel Taylor Coleridge

enjambment

enjambment

Slide16

Assonance

repetition of two or more vowel sounds within a line.

Burnt the f

i

re of

th

i

ne

e

yes

(William Blake, "The Tiger")

Slide17

Consonance

The repetition of consonant sounds in a line.

Who

s

e wood

s

the

s

e are I think I know

Robert Frost

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Slide18

Alliteration

repetition of two or more initial sounds in words within a line.

“I hear

l

ake water

l

apping with

l

ow sounds by the shore

William Butler Yeats “The Lake of Innisfree”

(

l

= liquid sound)

 

Slide19

Onomatopoeia

the technique of using a word whose sound suggests its meaning.

I felt a funeral in my Brain

A

nd mourners to and fro

Kept

treading – treading

– till it seemed

That sense was breaking through –

And when they all were seated,

A service, like a drum –

Kept

beating – beating

– till I thought

My mind was going numb –

Emily Dickinson

Slide20

Euphony

the use of compatible, harmonious sounds to produce pleasing, melodious effect.

True

ease in writing comes from art, not chance, 

As

those move easiest who have learned to dance. 

'Tis

not enough no harshness gives offense, 

The sound must seem an echo to the sense: 

Soft is the strain when Zephyr gently blows, 

And the smooth stream in smoother numbers flows; 

But when loud surges lash the sounding shore, 

The hoarse, rough verse should like the torrent roar; 

When Ajax strives some rock's vast weight to throw, 

The line too labors, and the words move slow; 

Not so, when swift Camilla scours the plain, 

Flies o'er the unbending corn, and skims along the main. 

Hear how Timotheus' varied lays surprise, 

And bid alternate passions fall and rise! 

Alexander Pope “Sound and Sense

Which lines are the euphonious ones? How do you know?

Slide21

Cacophony

the use of inharmonious sounds in close conjunction for effect; opposite of euphony.

Or, my scrofulous French novel

On grey paper with blunt type!

Simply glance at it, you grovel

Hand and foot in Belial's gripe:

Robert Browning

Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister

Slide22

RHYME

Slide23

End Rhyme:

rhyme occurring at end of verse line; most common rhyme form.

 

I was angry with my

friend

,

I told my wrath, my wrath

did end

.

(William Blake, "A Poison Tree")

Slide24

Internal Rhyme:

rhyme contained within a line of verse.

The splendor

falls

on castle

walls

And snowy summits old in story:

The long light

shakes

across the

lakes

And the wild cataract leaps in glory.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson,

“Blow, Bugle, Blow”

Slide25

Rhyme Scheme

pattern of rhymes within a unit of verse; in analysis, each end rhyme-sound is represented by a letter.

She

walks in beauty like the

night a

Of cloudless climes and starry

skies

; b

And all that's best of dark and

bright a

Meet in her aspect and her

eyes

: b

Thus mellowed to that tender

light a

Which heaven to gaudy day

denies

.

b

Lord Byron

She Walks in Beauty

Slide26

Masculine Rhyme:

rhyme in which only the last, accented syllable of the rhyming words correspond exactly in sound; most common kind of end rhyme.

She walks in beauty like the

night

Of cloudless climes and starry

skies

;

And all that's best of dark and

bright

Meet in her aspect and her

eyes

:

Thus mellowed to that tender

light

Which heaven to gaudy day

denies

.

Lord Byron

She Walks in Beauty

Slide27

Feminine Rhyme

rhyme in which two consecutive syllables of the rhyme-words correspond, the first syllable carrying the accent; double rhyme.

Thy gowns, thy shoes, they bed of r

os

es

,

Thy cap, thy kirtle, and thy p

os

i

es

Soon break, soon wither, soon forg

ot

ten

–

In folly ripe, in reason r

ot

ten

.

Sir Walter Raleigh “The

Nyph’s

Reply to the Shepherd

Slide28

Half Rhyme (Slant Rhyme):

imperfect, approximate rhyme.

God bless America, you know we all love

him

Yesterday I got a call like from my dog like

101

Said they killed his only son because of insufficient

funds

Kendrick Lamar “XXX”

Slide29

C’mon, do authors and musicians actually use this stuff?

Dr. Seuss did:4 iambs = Iambic tetrameter I will not take them soft or scrambled, femDespite an argument well-rambled. endingsNo fan I am of the egg at hand. Destroy that egg! Today! Today! Today I say! Look! A pun on iamb!Without delay!

Slide30

Yeah, but what about today? . . .

Rappers, song writers, musicians, all kinds of writers use various strategies to control prosody, create rhythm, and build phonetic coherence.

Subtexts

and reinforcement of subject matter can also happen through sound and meter, as we saw with “Because I could not stop for death,” Let’s look at another example:

Slide31

Yeah, but what about today? . . .

Eminem: “The Way I am”

Anapestic tetrameter + . . .

assonance

I sit

back

with this

pack

of Zig-

Zags

and this

bag

more assonance

Of this

weed

it give

me

s---

need

ed to

be

Assonance form the previous line giving way to slant rhyme

The

m

ost

m

ean

est

M

C

on this, on this

Earth

Slant+alliteration

to rhyme/repetition

And since

birth

I’ve been

cursed

with this

curse

to just

curse

Slanting hard with both assonance and consonance

And it

sells

and it

helps

in it

self

to re

lieve

More slant/assonance/consonance

All this

ten

sion dis

pens

ing these

sen

tences

And more still, with

s

and

e

sounds

Getting this

stress

that’s been

eat

ing me

re

cently

off

of this

chest

Slide32

“My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke

The whiskey on your breath

Could make a small boy dizzy;

But I hung on like death:

Such waltzing was not easy.

 

We romped until the pans

5

Slid from the kitchen shelf;

My mother’s countenance

Could not unfrown itself.

 

The hand that held my wrist

Was battered on one knuckle;

10

At every step you missed

My right ear scraped a buckle.

 

You beat time on my head

With a palm caked hard by dirt,

Then waltzed me off to bed

15

Still clinging to your shirt

.

 

Slide33

“My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke

Waltz:

a

ballroom dance in

3

⁄

4

time with strong accent on the first beat and a basic pattern of step-step-close (Merriam- Webster) or one-two-three, one-two-three, one-two-three, one-two-three,

which

Roethke recreates through the meter of this poem, although occasional lines contain an extra syllable or half foot, i.e. a missed step.