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

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Poets may choose to indicate a pause at this point, or they ma continue, without a break, to the next line.

Assonance—the repetition of the same or similar vowel sound, especially in stressed syllables—can also enrich a poem.

Rhyme can also be classified according to the position of the rhyming syllables in a line of verse. Both Brooks and Bradstreet use end-stopped lines—lines that have distinct pauses at the end. An obvious rhyme scheme like the one in Bradstreet’s poem is aabb, ccdd can communicate meaning by forcing attention on a relationship between two people that are not normally linked. The poem’s theme speaks of the husband and wife becoming one, the poem’s rhyme scheme is of two consecutive lines belonging together and having one sound.

With sound and rhythm being at the heart of our everyday lives, we begin not to notice how much of an effect it has on us. With such recurrence, the poem is like a slow romantic song and the repeated words are its rhythm. These lines give he poem a more sharp, abrupt effect like the lines in a song. Both Brooks’ and Bradstreet made rhythm and sound evident in conveying the themes of their poems. “I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold/ My love is such that rivers cannot quench/ Thy love is such I can in no way repay”(5, 7, 9). Assonance can be used to unify a poem as in Bradstreet’s poem in which it emphasizes the thematic connection among words and unifies the poem’s ideas of the husband and wife becoming one. It contributes to the overall effect of the poem because all of the words about one, we, thee, are stressed or emphasized; thus reinforcing the theme of the poem. Repeated phrases in Bradstreet’s poem include “if ever” and “love”.

Approximate Word count = 1063
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

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