Creative Writing 5-1 Sound devices

Creative Writing Unit 5-1

Poetry, Part 2

​5-1 Due Date 4/24

5-2 Due Date 4/26

5-3 Due Date 5/01

5-4 Due Date 5/06

5.5.2 CST & 5.5.3 TST Due Date 5/09

​Objectives

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• Explore how alliteration and assonance give musical qualities to poetry.

• Discover the connections between how a word sounds and how it makes you feel.

• Create a list of lines and phrases driven by the sounds of the words for possible later use in a poem.

​5.1.1 page 1

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We know that words have a visual presence on the page, as well as a "sound presence" when we say them or hear them read aloud. With their careful attention to language, poets throughout the centuries have used sound to help shape and enrich their work.

One sound tool that poets in many languages often turn to is alliteration, which is the repetition of sounds in a series of words, often occurring in the first syllable or the emphasized part of a particular word.

​5.1.1 page 3

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One thing you might notice when you speak alliterative lines aloud is that they seem to sing. They seem to have a forward momentum and a "musicality," like the melody of a song. For readers or listeners, there's something pleasing about the repetition of sounds that often makes them want to hear more.

Alliteration helps us pay attention to the words' musical quality while we are also enjoying their meaning and the images they create. You might imagine the tool of alliteration as being like the piper himself, pulling the reader further into the poem with his tune.

​5.1.1 page 4

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Besides adding musical elements to your writing, alliteration can also create the sensation that words just "sound right" together — making the language of your poem more likely to stick in the reader's mind and thus strengthening the impact of its meaning.

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Do or die.
Sink or swim.
Blind as a bat
Trick or treat
Now or never
Safe and sound
Head over heels
Good as gold
Right as rain
Look before you leap.
Where there's a will, there's a way.

​5.1.1 page 7 Been around a long time

​The poetic tool of alliteration has been used for thousands of years in many different languages. For example, we know that during the Republic period in ancient Rome, a craze of alliteration swept through literary circles, as poet and satirist Ennius (239 BC – 169 BC) shows us here, with good humor:

O Tite tute Tati tibi tanta tyranne tulisti.

(Translation: O you tyrant, Titus Tatius, such great troubles you brought upon yourself!)

​5.1.1 page 9

​Another sound tool frequently used in poetry is assonance. Assonance occurs when the vowel sounds within different words in a line or group match, even when the consonants surrounding them do not.

In a manner similar to alliteration, assonance creates sound effects that can make words "feel right" or seem to go together, while also increasing the poem's musicality and helping to pull the reader in.

​5.1.1 page 10 Check out the vowel sounds

​5.1.1 Review page 13

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• Alliteration is the poetic tool that matches sounds at the beginnings of words in a group, line, or sentence, as in "Long live Lucy!"

• Matching consonants, clusters of consonants, or even vowel sounds at the beginning of words can all be examples of alliteration.

• Alliteration can be used to help create a variety of tones, from the humorous (especially with heavy use) to the dramatic.

• Assonance is the poetic tool that uses matching vowel sounds within two or more words in a group.

• Assonance may be harder for a reader to detect than alliteration, but it can still have a powerful effect.

• Assonance is often combined with alliteration in poems that utilize sound play.

​5.1.3 page 2

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When a word imitates the sound of what it is describing, that word is called onomatopoeia.

You might recognize some of the onomatopoeic words below from cartoons and comic books. In comics, when something hits something else — or crashes, falls, or explodes — this is often expressed through onomatopoeia.

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Saying these words is almost the same as hearing the sound in action!

The words mimic the actual sound the action might make, bringing the moment to life and expressing sensory detail in the word itself.

​5.1.3 page 3 Who knew?

​You can also hunt for more words like this in a dictionary or thesaurus. (There's even a book called KA-BOOM! A Dictionary of Comic Book Words, Symbols & Onomatopoeia, if you're lucky enough to have this reference book handy!) You can also invent words that contain the sounds you want to express, as Lewis Carroll did in "Jabberwocky" and as many comic book artists have done in the decades that followed.

​5.1.3 page 4

​Another form of onomatopoeia is a word that mimics a sound to describe something visual. This type of synesthesia probably sounds more complicated than it is; in fact, you probably use it all the time without even realizing it!

For example, words likebling andsparkle describe a visual detail (in this case, the ways light reflects off something shiny) by associating this detail with a sound.

​5.1.3 page 5

​Another example of onomatopoeia is words that describe animal sounds. You might remember learning to make different sounds for common animals as a kid.

For example, in English, pigs say "oink oink," cats say "meow," cows say "moo," dogs "bark" or say "woof woof," sheep say "baa baa," lions "roar," and frogs typically "ribbit" or "croak."

​5.1.3 page 13

​Listening intently to the sounds and feelings contained in your words can help you make important word-choice decisions. It can also help you understand the power one word can exert over those around it, sometimes coloring the tone of an entire passage or piece.

When used intentionally, this can create a more complex and rich mix of feelings and images for the reader.

​5.1.3 Review page 15

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• Onomatopoeia refers to the use of a word that imitates the sound of the thing it is describing.

• Some common places to find onomatopoeia in our language are in action words (such as crash and kaboom) and words that refer to animal sounds.

• Onomatopoeia across languages and cultures has some similarities and some intriguing differences. Poets can use this as inspiration to open up new possibilities in onomatopoeic words.

• Some words that may not be officially onomatopoeic may nonetheless contain sounds that suggest the meaning or feeling they express.

• Vowels often serve as the emotional center of words, as they are associated with many of our initial emotional responses.

• Certain word sounds may suggest a feeling or tone beyond the word's official meaning, due to the effects of vowels or consonants.

​5.1.5 Journal The Spy's Notebook

​For this assignment, you'll be gathering words based on their sounds from various sources, including printed material and overheard conversation. Each section will guide you toward a slightly different gathering technique or type of sound.

In the end, the words, lines, and phrases that you gather may be useful material to spark your imagination, or to borrow from when you want to include more exciting elements of sound in your creative writing.