Set 4: Sonic and Rhythmic Devices, Structure

• Alliteration: Repetition of consonant sound in the initial position
• Assonance: Repetition of a vowel sound
• Consonance: Repetition of a consonant sound in any position
• Euphony: Soft, pleasing sounds
• Cacophony: Harsh sounds
• Onomatopoeia: Word whose sound suggests meaning
• Metric Feet: spondee, iamb, anapest
• Amphibrach: Unaccented, accented, unaccented syllable
• Metric Lines:

  • Ex. Tetrameter
  • Ex. Pentameter
  • Ex. Hexameter stanzas
• Stanzas:

  • Ex. Couplet
  • Ex. Quatrain
  • Ex. Octave
• Ballad Stanza: abcb, alternating tetrameter and trimester
• Rhyme Scheme: End rhyme expressed alphabetically (abbacdcd)
• Blank Verse: Unrhymed iambic pentameter
• Free Verse: Poetry with no regular rhyme or rhythm
• Heroic Couplet: Two rhymed lines of iambic pentameter; complete thought