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Common Sound Devices

The document outlines common sound devices used in poetry and prose, including alliteration, assonance, consonance, cacophony, euphony, onomatopoeia, repetition, and rhyme. Each device is defined with examples to illustrate its application and effect in language. The document also categorizes different types of rhyme, such as full, slant, near, and sight rhymes.

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4 views

Common Sound Devices

The document outlines common sound devices used in poetry and prose, including alliteration, assonance, consonance, cacophony, euphony, onomatopoeia, repetition, and rhyme. Each device is defined with examples to illustrate its application and effect in language. The document also categorizes different types of rhyme, such as full, slant, near, and sight rhymes.

Uploaded by

sharmz unabia
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Common Sound Devices

1. Alliteration is the repetition of similar sounds, either consonants or vowels, at the beginning of closely
spaced words.
Suffering Stan stays in the sun to keep from having to stutter.
2. Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds that form internal rhymes in a line.
Faye’s days are lazy and wasteful.
3. Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds, usually at the end of words.
Wash the leash off of mush to keep Ash from having a rash.
The sh sound is repeated but different vowel sounds precede the end consonant in the words wash, leash,
mush, Ash, and rash.
4. Cacophony is the use of jarring, unpleasant sounds, usually harsh because the sounds do not go together;
meant to convey disorder and would sometimes be hard to pronounce.
“Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves And the mome raths outgrabe”
Excerpt from “Jabberwocky” by Lewis Carroll
The italicized words do not have any meaning (their definitions were created by Carroll); however, their sounds
are disordered to convey the message of chaos and disarray.
5. Euphony is the use of devices such as alliteration, rhyme, and assonance; meant to create a pleasant
experience to the ear.
“Than Oars divide the Ocean, Too silver for a seam— Or Butterflies, off Banks of Noon Leap, plashless as they
swim.”
Excerpt from “A Bird came down the Walk” by Emily Dickinson
6. Onomatopoeia is the use of words that mimic the natural sound of what is being described.
buzz, meow, bark, hiss, squeak
The examples can easily be identifiable as a bee, cat, dog, snake, and mouse because of the sound those
animals are associated with.
7. Repetition is the repetition of words or phrases to form rhythm or to emphasize an idea.
“In every cry of every man,
In every infant’s cry of fear In every voice,
In every ban The mind-forg’d manacles I hear”
Excerpt from “London” by William Blake
In the example above, the phrase “in every” is repeated for rhythm and emphasis.
8. Rhyme is the repetition of identical (or similar) sounds in two or more words, most often at the end of lines in
a poem. There are four different kinds of rhymes:
the full rhymes, slant or half rhymes, near rhymes, and sight rhymes.
a. Full rhymes are words that sound alike on both the consonant and vowel sounds; all their syllables rhyme.
beach, reach, teach linger, finger
b. Slant or half rhymes are words that have the same final consonant sounds but different initial consonants
and vowels.
call, bowl, sell back, wreck, tuck
c. Near rhymes are words with the same final vowel sounds but different final consonants.
soil, coin, choice crane, rake, tale
d. Sight rhymes are when words or the end of words are usually spelled the same but are pronounced
differently.
love, trove bough, enough call, appall

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