Page 4 Sound Patterns in Poetry

Page 4 Sound Patterns

Onomatopoeia

Poets of the past wrote about the patterns in nature.

Onomatopeia is words that imitate sounds in nature.

Listen to the monotonous sound of the bees in the lines.

The murmur of innumerable bees

Sometimes onomatopeia can be a phrase or group of words or it can be a single word.

Frogs in Chorus

by Andrew Barton Paterson

The chorus frogs in the big lagoon
Would sing their songs to the silvery moon.
Tenor singers were out of place,
For every frog was a double bass.
But never a human chorus yet
Could beat the accurate time they set.

The solo singer began the joke;
He sang, "As long as I live I'll croak,
Croak, I'll croak,"
And the chorus followed him: " Croak, croak, croak!"

Alliteration

Alliteration is the repetition of initial consonant sounds.

Poets wrote about rhythm in riding horses.

Man from Snowy River

by Andrew Barton Paterson

He sent the flint stones flying, but the pony kept his feet,
He cleared the fallen timber in his stride,
And the man from Snowy River never shifted in his seat -
It was grand to see that mountain horseman ride.

Through the stringy barks and saplings, on the rough and broken ground,
Down the hillside at a racing pace he went;