Slide 2 The repetition of initial identical consonant sounds or
any vowel sounds in successive or closely associated syllables,
especially stressed syllables. Example 1: The slithery snake
slipped through the slippery grass Example 2: Ay, that incestuous,
that adulterate beast, With witchcraft of his wits, with traitorous
gifts Purpose: The repetition may imitate the sound of what is
talked about, as in Example 1. However, often the connection is
much more subtle and creates a mood or rhythm to influence the
reader, much like background music in a movie. Repetition of both
the s sound and the t sound accent the intensity of the statement.
Slide 3 The repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of
successive phrases, clauses, or lines. Example: We shall not flag
or fail. We shall to on to the end. We shall fight in France, we
shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing
confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our
island, whatever the cost may be. Winston Churchill Purpose: The
repetition creates a rhythm that can build to a crescendo. The
technique is often used by politicians and preachers to raise the
emotional level of their audience. Repetition also makes the ideas
easier to remember. Slide 4 A figure of speech in which someone
(usually but not always absent), some abstract quality, or a
nonexistent personage is directly addresses as though present.
Example 1: Busy old fool, unruly sun, Why dost though thus, Example
2: Papa Above! Regard a Mouse. Purpose: Apostrophe is used to
express deep emotions. The speaker often challenges or pleads to
something abstract and unchangeable or a higher power. Instead of
saying, The sun woke me up the poet addresses the sun and is able
to directly communicate his displeasure, as in Example 1. Slide 5
Same or similar vowel sounds in stressed syllables that end with
different consonant sounds. (Rhyme has the same or similar vowel
sounds and ending consonant sounds.) Example: The bows glided down,
and the coast Blackened with birds took a last look At his
thrashing hair and whale-blue eye; The trodden town ran its cobbles
for luck. Purpose: Repeating vowels sounds is much more difficult
to hear than alliteration. However, the effect is similar: the
repetition adds to the musical quality of the poem, accenting mood
and meaning. The above example forces the reader to open the inside
of his/her mouth to create the repeated vowel sounds ow and oo. The
effect slows the tempo, adds melancholy tone and accents the
contemplation of the moment. Slide 6 A strong pause within a line
of verse. Example: He thought hed list, perhaps, Off-hand-likejust
as I Was out of work-had sold his traps No other reason why.
Purpose: The caesura in the middle two lines of the above quote is
identified by the dash at the end of the line, indicating a longer
pause than normal. It can signify a pause in the thought process of
the narrator or a slight change in the direction of the poem and
forces the reader to pause to consider, too. Slide 7 A pattern in
which the second part is balance against the first but with the
parts reversed. Example 1: Flowers are lovely, love is flowerlike.
Example 2: Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you
can do for your country. Purpose: As in the second example by
President Kennedy, the chiasmus creates an easily remembered and
understood clause. Also, like antithesis, it emphasizes the
comparison between the two objects or ideas presented. Slide 8 The
emotional implications and associations that words may carry, as
distinguished from their denotative meanings. Connotation depends
on usage in a particular linguistic community and climate. A purely
private and personal connotation cannot be communicated; the
connotation must be shared to be intelligible to others. Example:
Bob sees Sallys horrendous hair and says, Nice haircut. Purpose: An
author or poet carefully chooses words to have the correct
connotations so the correct tone and attitude will be communicated.
For example, if the author wants the reader to have a negative
impression of a character he might describe the character as
grotesquely obese. If he wanted the reader to be more
compassionate, he might describe the character as pleasantly plump.
Slide 9 The basic meaning of a word, independent of its emotional
colorations or associations; the dictionary meaning of a word.
Example: epiphany any sudden and important manifestation or
realization Purpose: The purpose is fairly self-explanatory.
However, realize that a poet or author is very sensitive to both
the denotation(s) and connotation(s) of words and may intend the
meaning of more than one definition. When you analyze, keep a
dictionary handy. Slide 10 In linguistics it means word choice.
Often it refers to both vocabulary (plain or fancy, current or
archaic, native or foreign, etc.) and syntax (arrangement of words;
simple or complex, complete or fragmentary, loose or periodic,
etc.). Example: Whose woods these are I think I know [simple
vocabulary but complex syntax] Purpose: The purpose of diction
caries greatly by usage. Slide 11 A complex symbol where every part
contains significance. An emblem consisted of a motto expressing a
moral idea and was accompanied by a picture and a short poem.
Example: The motto Divesque Miserque, both rich and poor,
illustrated by a picture of King Midas sitting at a table where
everything was gold and by a verse explaining how Midas, though
rich, could not eat his gold. In poetry, Donne uses emblems like
the compass or the bubble. Purpose: Emblems add depth to the poem.
It allows the reader to delve deeply into the meaning of the poem
and still derive substance from the symbol. Slide 12 A run-on line
of poetry in which logical and grammatical sense carries over from
one line into the next. An enjambed line differs from an
end-stopped line in which the grammatical and logical sense is
completed within the line. In the opening lines of Robert Brownings
My Last Duchess, for example, the first line is end- stopped and
the second enjambed. Example: Thats my last Duchess painted on the
wall, Looking as if she were alive. I call That piece a wonder, now
. Purpose: When a line ends, the readers mind continues in a train
of thought. By ending the line at a particular point, the reader
may be expecting a particular idea. The poet can then subtly
communicate two messages: the one the reader expects and the one
that the next line clarifies. Both are intended and the contrast
between them should be explored. Slide 13 Exaggeration. Example:
No; this my hand will rather The multitudinous seas incarnadine [
to dye flesh colored or crimson ], Making the green one red.
Purpose: May be used to heighten effect, or it may be used for
humor. Slide 14 An analogy identifying one object with another and
ascribing to the first object one or more of the qualities of the
second. Metaphor is similar to SIMILE but creates a stronger
connection between the objects being compared. Example: The iron
clouds threatened rain. Purpose: See simile. Metaphors can have a
stronger, farther reaching effect than similes. An allegory may be
considered an elaborate metaphor where the original object is never
mentioned. Pilgrims Progress creates an allegory of Christian life
by using such places as the Swamp of Despair. Slide 15 A figure of
speech in which a closely related term is substituted for an object
or idea. See Synecdoche. Example: We have always remained loyal to
the crown. Purpose: Be aware of how metonymy (or synecdoche) may
distance the reader from a more specific or complete idea and draw
attention to a slightly different concept. In the above example, if
king was used instead, the loyalty would apply more directly to the
person of the king rather than the office. Slide 16 A
self-contradictory combination of words. Example: Bittersweet,
jumbo shrimp, military intelligence. Purpose: Oxymorons tend to
emphasize duality, that a person can feel two things at once or an
object can be two things at the same time. For example, when Romeo,
still love-sick over Rosaline, stumbles across the remnants of a
brawl he declares: Why, then, O brawling love! O loving hate! O
anything of nothing first create! O heavy lightness! Serious
vanity! Romeos declaration expresses not only his own inner turmoil
at having his love unrequited, but also foreshadows the violence to
come because of his love for Juliet. Slide 17 The use of words to
imitate the sounds they describe. Example: When Ajax strives some
rocks vast weight to throw, The line too labors, and the words move
slow. Most often, however, onomatopoeia refers to words and groups
of words, such as Tennysons description of the murmur of
innumerable bees, which attempts to capture the sound of a swarm of
bees buzzing. Obviously, this device overlaps with assonance and
alliteration. Slide 18 A figure that endows animals, ideas,
abstractions, and inanimate objects with human form; the
representing of imaginary creatures or things as having human
personalities, intelligence, and emotions. Example: Keats described
a Grecian urn as a, Sylvan historian, who canst this express/ A
flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme. Purpose: Personification
adds power and interest. It also allows then poet or author to
engage more directly with the thing they are talking about. For
example, in The Sun Rising, Donne speaks directly to the sun
(apostrophe) and endows the sun with human characteristics. Since
Donnes argument is presented directly to the sun as a rational
entity, there is a much more dynamic discussion than if he were
talking to an inanimate object. Slide 19 Most simply, the ending
vowel and succeeding consonants of two or more words sound the
same. There are a great variety of rhymes (end, internal,
masculine, feminine, triple, true, identical rhyme) which can be
used. Example: eternity, symmetry Purpose: Often times the rhymed
words interrelate. Especially in free verse poetry, take special
note of rhyming words; they are meant to be compared and
contrasted. Rhyming words may also provide emphasis of a particular
point. Slide 20 The pattern in which rhyme sounds occur in a
stanza. Every word that has the same rhyme receives the same letter
of the alphabet. Example: My mistress eyes are nothing like the
sun; A Coral is far more red than her lips red; B If snow be white,
why then her breasts are dun; A If hairs be wires, black wires grow
on her head. B Purpose: Especially in sonnets, the rhyme scheme
will accent the development of the poem. As in the above portion of
Shakespeares sonnet #130, the four lines contain a complete thought
and the rhyme scheme compliments it. The next eight lines are
divided likewise, and the couplet at the end accents the punch line
or main point. When rhyme scheme appears, even in vague forms, pay
close attention. Slide 21 Directly expresses similarity between two
objects using like, as, or than. Example: A dungeon horrible, on
all sides round. As one great furnace flamed... [The connection
between dungeon (Hell) and the furnace is directly expressed using
as.] Purpose: Comparing two unlike things does two things. First,
it allows the reader a frame of reference, something s/he can
relate to in order to describe something unfamiliar. Second, the
choice of the comparison object can be highly connotative and
influential in the readers perception. Compare, Her lips were as
red as apples. and Her lips were as red as blood. Slide 22 A figure
of speech in which a part is substituted for the whole. See
Metonymy. Example: Lend me a hand. Purpose: Often synecdoche, like
the above example, is an idiom. However, within a poem, it can
place emphasis on a particular detail to develop a theme or idea.
In some poems, synecdoche may help establish a theme or
fragmentation.
