Lecture11 Stylictics

PARALLELISM AND
SOUND DEVICES
Lecture
11
THE “WHY”
WHY IS POETRY IMPORTANT?
• Poetry takes a simple concept and makes
it more powerful and beautiful
• Which one of these poems is better?

Why?
The Turtle
breaks from the blue-black
skin of the water, dragging her shell
with its mossy scutes
across the shallows and through the
rushes
The Turtle
and over the mudflats, to the uprise,
comes out of the water
to the yellow sand,
walks across the sand
to dig her ungainly feet
digs a nest
a nest, and hunker there spewing
and lays some eggs
her white eggs down
into the darkness…
By: Mr. Brooks
By: Mary Oliver

WHAT IS A SOUND DEVICE?
• The effect of a poem can depend on
the sound of its words.
• HERE ARE SOME EXAMPLES…

SOUND DEVICE:
SOUNDS LIKE ONOMATOPOEIA
- the use of words whose sounds suggest their
meanings.
Examples of onomatopoeia:
• “The bang of a gun.”
• “The hiss of a snake.”
• “The buzz of a bee.”
• “The pop of a firecracker.”
SOUND DEVICE:
I RHYME ALL THE TIME AND I GUESS IT
SOUNDS FINE…
- repetition of sound at the ends of words. (Rhyme occurring
within a line is called internal rhyme. Rhyme occurring at
the end of a line is called end rhyme)
Rhyme Scheme – the pattern of end rhyme in a poem. Lines

that rhyme are given the same letter.
Example of internal rhyme, end rhyme, and rhyme scheme:

• I looked at the shell in the ocean a
• I looked at the bell in the sea, b
• I noticed the smell and the motion a
• Were very peculiar to me.” b
Elizabeth Bishop’s “One Art”.
I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,
some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.
I miss them, but it wasn't a disaster.
—Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture
I love) I shan't have lied. It's evident
the art of losing's not too hard to master
though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.
Elizabeth Bishop’s “One Art”.
I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster, (A)
some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent. (B)
I miss them, but it wasn't a disaster. (A)
—Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture (A)
I love) I shan't have lied. It's evident (B)
the art of losing's not too hard to master (A)
though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster. (A)
SOUND DEVICE: ASSONANCE
- repetition of VOWEL SOUNDS at the
BEGINNING, MIDDLE or END of at least two
words in a line of poetry.
Examples of Assonance
• Repeating the “eh” sound in the words:
“crescent,” “flesh,” “extending,” “medicine”
and “death”
The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe
Another example of assonance can be found in Poe's famous
work " The Raven.
"Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December,

And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the
floor.
Eagerly I wished the morrow; - vainly I had sought to borrow
From my books surcease of sorrow - sorrow for the lost
Lenore -
For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels named
Lenore -
Nameless here for evermore"
The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe
Another example of assonance can be found in Poe's famous
work " The Raven.

• Watch how the short /e/ and long /o/ vowel sounds
"Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December,

And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the
floor.
Eagerly I wished the morrow; - vainly I had sought to borrow
From my books surcease of sorrow - sorrow for the lost
Lenore -
For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels named
Lenore -
Nameless here for evermore"
SOUND DEVICE: CONSONANCE
- repetition of CONSONANT SOUNDS at the
BEGINNING, MIDDLE or END of at least two
words in a line of poetry.
Examples of Consonance
Repeating the “sh” sound in the words: “shush,”
“wish,” “sharp,” “cushion” and “quash”
'Twas Later When the Summer
Went by Emily Dickinson
• "'Twas later when the summer went
Than when the cricket came,
And yet we knew that gentle clock
Meant nought but going home.
'Twas sooner when the cricket went
Than when the winter came,
Yet that pathetic pendulum
Keeps esoteric time."
'Twas Later When the Summer
Went by Emily Dickinson
• In Emily Dickinson's "'Twas Later When the Summer Went". There are a
few other repeated consonant sounds, including "m" and "p.“
• "'Twas later when the summer went

Than when the cricket came,
And yet we knew that gentle clock
Meant nought but going home.
'Twas sooner when the cricket went
Than when the winter came,
Yet that pathetic pendulum
Keeps esoteric time."
SOUND DEVICE: ALLITERATION
- repetition of CONSONANT SOUNDS at the
BEGINNING of at least two words in a line of
poetry. Example of alliteration:
Examples of Alliteration
• “the frog frolicked frivolously on the forest floor.”
• “…Little skinny shoulder blades Sticking through
your clothes…”
• “…struck out by a steed flying fearless and
fleet…”
Much Madness is divinest Sense
by Emily Dickinson
• Much Madness is divinest Sense -
“
To a discerning Eye -
Much Sense -- the starkest Madness -
'Tis the Majority
In this, as All, prevail -
Assent - and you are sane -
Demur - you're straightway dangerous -
And handled with a Chain -”
Much Madness is divinest Sense
•
by Emily Dickinson
"Much Madness is divinest Sense" by Emily Dickinson uses alliteration of the
"m" sound in the title. This is repeated in the poem itself to encourage readers
to contemplate what it means to be mad.
• “Much
Madness is divinest Sense -
To a discerning Eye -
Much Sense -- the starkest Madness -
'Tis the Majority
In this, as All, prevail -
Assent - and you are sane -
Demur - you're straightway dangerous -
And handled with a Chain -”
The Sentence
• So far, we have talked about clauses rather
than sentences. The reason for this is simple:
sentences don’t exist.
• The only workable definition of a sentence is
as something which begins with a capital letter
and ends with a full stop—it only exists in
written texts.
Analysing clause structure
• The best way to analyse clauses is to begin by
finding the main verb (V): it is the one which
can’t be deleted.
• Then find the subject (S)—most frequently the
noun phrase.
• Within X, adverbial (Av) elements will often be
deletable and mobile.
• Wives were the ladies found tied to scuttled boats at
the bottom of the lake, their hair embraced by the
seaweed.
• 1 Find the main verb, which should not be deletable:
*Wives…the ladies found tied to scuttled boats at the
bottom of the lake, their hair embraced by the
seaweed.
Wives were the ladies at the bottom of the lake, their
hair embraced by the seaweed. were can’t be deleted.
• 2 Locate the subject, most likely to be to the left of
the main verb. The main verb should agree with this
in terms of person/number. Element to the left of the
main verb:
S(Wives) V(were)…
Check for agreement by changing number
• 3 Locate X either by deletion, substitution, or
movement:
*Wives were…
In this clause, although everything after were could
swap places with
Wives, it cannot be deleted. X is therefore mobile, but
not deletable, and is therefore not an adverbial. We
could replace the whole of this X element with the
word this.
• 4 Analysis: S(Wives) V(were) X(the ladies found tied
to scuttled boats at the bottom of the lake, their hair
embraced by the seaweed).
Note that the very large X element can be simplified
here by replacing it with one word:
Wives were X(this).

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PARALLELISM AND

• Which one of these poems is better?

By: Mary Oliver

• HERE ARE SOME EXAMPLES…

Rhyme Scheme – the pattern of end rhyme in a poem. Lines

Example of internal rhyme, end rhyme, and rhyme scheme:

work " The Raven.

"Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December,

work " The Raven.

"Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December,

• "'Twas later when the summer went

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