Sounds of Poetry

Vowels and consonants

• Vowels (a, e, i, o, u, and their sounds) are open, flowing sounds made with no blockage of air. Every syllable has a vowel sound.

• Consonants (b, k, s, t and so on) are made by blocking or shaping the air with the lips, tongue or teeth.

• Poets use them for effect. Long vowels sound slow and soft (“moan”, “slow”). Sharp consonants sound quick or harsh (“crack”, “spit”).

Sound devices built from them

• Alliteration: repeated consonant sounds at the start of words (“sweet silent thought”).

• Assonance: repeated vowel sounds inside words (“fleet feet sweep”).

• Consonance: repeated consonant sounds anywhere in words (“pitter-patter”).

Syllable: one beat of sound, built around a vowel. “Poem” has two syllables (po-em), and “summer’s” has two (sum-mer’s).

Stress: the stronger beat in a word. In “today” it falls on the second syllable (to-DAY).

Rhyme: words that end with the same sound, from the last stressed vowel onward (day/say, light/night).

Rhyme scheme: the pattern of line-end rhymes, marked with letters. Lines that rhyme share a letter.

• ABAB: lines 1 and 3 rhyme, lines 2 and 4 rhyme.

• AABB: couplets, with each pair rhyming.

• ABBA: the outer lines rhyme, the inner lines rhyme.

• Shakespearean sonnet: ABAB CDCD EFEF GG.

Foot
A foot is one unit of rhythm in a line of verse, usually two or three syllables built around a stressed beat. Common feet:

• Iamb: da-DUM (to-DAY)

• Trochee: DUM-da (GAR-den)

• Anapest: da-da-DUM (in-ter-RUPT)

• Dactyl: DUM-da-da (POE-et-ry)

Meter
Meter is the rhythmic pattern of a line, named by the type of foot and how many feet the line has.

• 1 foot: monometer

• 2 feet: dimeter

• 3 feet: trimeter

• 4 feet: tetrameter

• 5 feet: pentameter

• 6 feet: hexameter

So five iambs make iambic pentameter, the meter of Shakespeare’s sonnets.

Marking the beat (scansion): x for unstressed, / for stressed.
Shall I com-PARE thee TO a SUM-mer’s DAY? → x / x / x / x / x /