English 9 / Unit 4: Figurative Language and Poetry
4.3 Sound Devices
Notes
Poets use the sounds of words to create music and emphasis.
- Alliteration: repeated beginning consonant sounds ("Peter Piper picked").
- Assonance: repeated vowel sounds within words ("the rain in Spain").
- Consonance: repeated consonant sounds, often at the ends or middles of words ("pitter-patter").
- Onomatopoeia: words that imitate sounds (buzz, sizzle, crash).
- Rhyme: matching end sounds. Internal rhyme happens within a line. Slant rhyme is a near rhyme (soul / all).
- Repetition: repeating words or lines for emphasis.
Practice
"Silver snakes slid silently through the sand." The main sound device is:
The repeated "s" sound starts most words.
Which line contains onomatopoeia?
"Sizzled" and "popped" imitate sounds.
"Go slow over the road" repeats the long o sound inside words. This is:
Repeated vowel sounds are assonance.
Ready for more? Take the Unit 4 test.