Alliteration Alliteration is the repetition of first letters Assonance Assonance is repetition of vowel sounds.

Internal Rhyme or Cross Rhyme or Conventional (end of line) Rhyme Internal Rhyme is a word or sound rhyming within a line Cross Rhyme is a word or sound rhyming across two or more lines Consonance, including sibilance [or sibilant sounds]. Consonance is repetition of consonant sounds. Sibilance is repetition of s sounds Consonance, Cross Rhyme and Internal Rhyme may incorporate Alliteration and Asso nance. Try to add your own further examples to those below. If you refer to these techniques when answering on a poet, state their purpose i n re-enforcing meaning or creating the language construct that a poem is. Presen t them as evidence of the poet s craft. Always argue that the verbal music or soun d effects add to the lyrical quality of the images and make the poem an impressi ve piece of art.

The following are sample analyses that you should try to repeat on other poems, especially if you have not studied the poems analysed: Note the harsh sound effects, cacophony, achieved in the opening of Finisterre : the last fingers, knuckled and rheumatic, Cramped on nothing. Black Admonitory cliffs The six k sounds and the four r sounds create the harsh effects. Other consonant sou nds like mped , n n , ng bl , dm and ff reinforce the dissonant noise here. The discor e sound technique here mirrors the ugly personification of the rocks. The sound effects in the second stanza of Finisterre are a mixture of sharp and mo urnful sounds. The lamenting effect is achieved by the use of long e sounds, the v arious long i sounds, the long o sounds and the u sounds. Sharp and unpleasant effects are achieved with the short e sound found in the word death . This sound occurs part icularly in the first and sixth lines. The spelling of these consonant sounds va ries and is not a reliable guide. You have to use your ear to catch the verbal m usic effects. Select part of this stanza to illustrate mournful musical effects, especially the fifth and sixth lines. The cliffs are edged with trefoils, stars and bells Such as fingers might embroider, close to death, Almost too small for the mists to bother with. The mists are part of the ancient paraphernalia --Souls, rolled in the doom-noise of the sea. They bruise the rocks out of existence, then resurrect them. They go up without hope, like sighs. I walk among them, and they stuff my mouth with cotton. When they free me, I am beaded with tears . Note the cross-rhyme involving mists above and the ugly udge sound below. Meaning is also reinforced by the assonantal ea in the next example. The n sound achieves cons onance, echoing the impact of the waves: The sea cannons into their ear, but they don't budge. Other rocks hide their grudges under the water .

Note the examples of assonance in Morning Song . Note the short e , the long i , the shor t a and the long a and the u sounds. Note also the cross-rhyme of our . These repeatin ounds capture the emotion of the adults and the cry of the newborn:

Our voices echo, magnifying your arrival. New statue. In a drafty museum, your nakedness Shadows our safety. We stand round blankly as walls . Another type of repetition particular to Plath is the way some poems end with a repetition, an internal rhyme: These are the isolate, slow faults That kill, that kill, that kill [Elm] Let be, let be [Pheasant] But colourless. Colourless [Poppies] Rhyme Line rhyme supports meaning in many of Plath s poems. Some of her poems are in fre e verse and therefore lack rhyme pattern. Read the notes about rhyme inArrival of the Beebox andChild on the Ordinary Leve l English web page. There rhyme is clearly connected to meaning.