Sound in Poetry

Lesson 2

Assignment 3-2


Target


Assignment





Poetry is what turned me into a songwriter. Taylor Swift
Poetry is song talk. Its phrases must sound right to the listener and please the ear. Rhythm, rhyme, and other sound devices achieve musical effects.


View "The Crocodile's Toothache" by Shel Silverstein below.    


Shel Silverstein (1930- 1999)
The Crocodile went to the dentist
And sat down in the chair,
And the dentist said, "Now tell me, sir,
Why does it hurt and where?"
And the Crocodile said, "I'll tell you the truth,
I have a terrible ache in my tooth,"
And he opened his jaws so wide, so wide,
The dentist, he climbed right inside,

And the dentist laughed, "Oh isn't this fun?"
As he pulled the teeth out, one by one.
And the Crocodile cried, "You're hurting me so!
Please put down your pliers and let me go."
But the dentist laughed with a Ho Ho Ho,
And he said, "I still have twelve to go-
Oops, that's the wrong one, I confess,
But what's one crocodile's tooth more or less?"

Then suddenly, the jaws went SNAP,
And the dentist was gone, right off the map,
And where he went one could only guess...
To North or South or East or West...
He left no forwarding address.
But what's one dentist, more or less?