Sound in Poetry
Poems usually begin with words or phrase which appeal more because of their sound than their meaning, and the movement and phrasing of a poem. Every poem has a texture of sound, which is at least as important as the meaning behind the poem. Rhythm, being the regular recurrence of sound, is at the heart of all natural phenomena: the beating of a heart, the lapping of waves against the shore, the croaking of frogs on a summer's night, the whisper of wheat swaying in the wind. Rhythm and sound and arrangement -the formal properties of words-allow the poet to get beyond, or beneath the surface of a poem. Both Gwendolyn Brooks' "Sadie and Maud" (799) and Anne Bradstreet's "To My Dear and Loving Husband" (784) emphasize poetic sound to express their themes. Used to enhance sound in a poem, alliteration is the repetition of sound in consecutive or neighboring words, usually at the beginning of words. Both Brooks and Bradstreet make use of alliteration in their poems. "Sadie stayed at home. / Sadie scraped life..." (2-3) the repetition of s is evident in these two lines, reflecting the sassiness and independence that Sadie possessed. "Then while we
Poets, too, create rhyme by using repeated words and phrases. "Sadie scraped life/ with a fine-toothed comb" (3-4) and "Sadie had left as heritage/ her fine-tooth comb" (15-16). The repeated phrases "Sadie" and "Maud", which shift from one subject to the other and back again "Maud went to college/ Sadie stayed at home" (1-2). The poem has a singing rhythm that resembles a song that children play to. The remembrance of carefree childhood ironically contrasts with the adulthood that both Sadie and Maud now face as they grow up: Sadie stays home and has two children out of wedlock; Maud goes to college and ends up "a thin brown mouse". Repeated phrases in Bradstreet's poem include "if ever" and "love". "If ever two were one then surely we. / If ever man were loved by wife then thee" (1-2). "My Love is such that rivers cannot quench, / Nor ought but love from the give recompence" (9-10). With such recurrence, the poem is like a slow romantic song and the repeated words are its rhythm. Although the end of a line may mark the end of a metrical unit, it does not always coincide with the end of a sentence. Poets may choose to indicate a pause at this point, or they ma continue, without a break, to the next line. Both Brooks and Bradstreet use end-stopped lines-lines that have distinct pauses at the end. "Thy love is such that I can in no way repay, / The heavens reward thee manifold I pray." (8-9). "When Sadie said her last so long/ Her girls struck out from home." (13-14). These lines give he poem a more sharp, abrupt effect like the lines in a song. Meter, the pattern of stres
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1068
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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