Onomatopoeia – is a combination of speech sounds, which aims at imitating sounds
produced in nature (wind, sea, thunder), by things (machines or tools), by people (sighing,
laughter, patter of feet, etc) and by animals. A message, containing an onomatopoeic word
is not limited to transmitting the logical information only, but also supplies the vivid
portrayal of the situation described. Onomatopoeia can be direct and indirect. Direct
onomatopoeia is words that imitate natural sounds, as ding-dong, buzz, bang, cuckoo,
mew, roar and the like. When we hear these words we can immediately associate them
with things, which produce these sounds. These words have different degrees of imitative
quality; these words can be used in a transferred meaning (ding-dong – bells rung
continuously, may mean noisy, strenuously contested – a ding-dong struggle). Indirect
onomatopoeia is a combination of sounds, which make the sound of the utterance an echo
of its sense. It is sometimes called “echo-writing.”
For example: “And the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each purple curtain”
(E.A.Poe)
The repetition of the sound “s” actually produces the sound of the rustling of the
curtain. Indirect on.unlike alliteration demands some mention of what makes the sound, as
rustling (of curtain).
Alliteration gives melodic effect to the utterance, by the repetition of similar sounds,
especially consonant sounds
For example: “The possessive instinct never stands still. Through florescence and feud,
frosts and fires it follows the laws of progression” (Galsworthy J.)
Alliteration does not bear any lexical or other meaning, but when certain sound repeated it
gives an effect, which can be specified. For example: the sound [m] in the poem “The
lotus eaters” by Tennyson gives a somnolent effect
“How sweet it were…….
To lend our hearts and spirits wholly
To the music of mild-minded melancholy
To muse and brood and live again in memory”
Therefore alliteration is generally regarded as a musical accompaniment of the
author’s idea, supporting it with some vague emotional atmosphere which each reader
interprets for himself. Thus the repetition of the sound [d] in the lines quoted from Poe’s
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poem “The Raven” prompts the feeling of anxiety, fear, horror, anguish or all these
feelings simultaneously.
Sometimes a competent reader, if unable to decipher the implied purpose of the
alliteration, may grow irritated if it is overdone and be ready to discard it from the arsenal
of useful stylistic devices.
Alliteration in the English language is deeply rooted in the traditions of English
folklore. In old English poetry alliteration was also used, but differed greatly from those of
present-day English poetry. In old English poetry alliteration was one the basic principles
of verse and considered along with rhythm to be its main characteristic. Each stressed
meaningful word in a line had to begin with the same sound or combination of sounds.
The traditions of folklore are exceptionally stable and alliteration as a structural
device of Old English poems and songs has shown remarkable continuity. it is frequently
used as a we4ll-tested means not only in verse but in emotive prose, in newspaper
headlines, in the titles of books, in proverbs and sayings, as for example in the following:
Tit for tat; blind as bat; betwixt and between; it is neck or nothing; to rob Peter to pay
Paul; or in the titles of books: “Sense and Sensibility”(J.Austin); “The School for
Scandal”(Sheridan); “A Book of Phrase and Fable” (Brewer).
Rhyme is the repetition of identical or similar terminal sound combinations of
words. Rhyming words are generally placed at a regular distance from each other. in verse
they are usually placed at the end of the corresponding lines.
Identity and particularly similarity of sound combinations may be relative. For
instance, we distinguish between full rhymes and incomplete rhymes. The full rhyme
presupposes identity of the vowel sound and the following consonant sounds in a stressed
syllable, as in might, right; needless, heedless. When there is identity of the stressed
syllable (in polysyllabic words), we have exact or identical rhymes.
Incomplete rhymes present a greater variety. They can be divided into two main
groups: vowel rhymes and consonant rhymes. In vowel rhymes the vowels of the syllables
in corresponding words are identicall, but the consonants may be different as in flesh-
fresh-press. Consonant rhymes, on the contrary, show concordance in consonants and
disparity in vowels, as in worth-forth; tale-tool-Treble-trouble; flung-long.
Compound rhymes-when combinations of words is made to sound like one words;
bottom-forgot’em-shot him
Eye-rhyme when the letters and not the sounds are identical; as in love-prove, flood-
brood, have-grave.
The difference between compound rhyme and eye-rhyme that in first rhyme can be
perceived in reading aloud, eye-rhume is perceived in the written verse.
Internal rhyme – the rhyming words are placed not at the end of the lines but within
the line: “I bring fresh showers for the thirsting flowers” (Shelley). They break the line
into two distinct parts.
According to the way the rhymes are arranged within the stanza, certain models
have crystallized, for instance;
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couplets-when the last words of two successive lines are rhymed. This is commonly
marked aa
triple rhymes – aaa
cross rhymes – abab
framing or ring rhymes – abba
Rhythm exists in all spheres of human activity and assumes multifarious forms. It is
a mighty weapon in stirring up emotions whatever its nature or origin, whether it is
musical, mechanical, or symmetrical as in architecture.
The most general definition of rhythm may be expressed as follows: “rhythm is a
flow, movement, procedure, etc., characterized by basically regular recurrence of elements
or features, as beat, or accent, in alternation with opposite or different elements or
features” (Webster’s New World Dictionary)
Rhythm brings order into the utterance. It in language demands oppositions that
alternate: long, short; stressed, unstressed; high, low and other contrasting segments of
speech. Some people are said to be completely deaf to rhythm and whatever efforts ear
exerted to develop this sense in them inevitably fail. But this is not true. A person may not
be able to produce a flow of rhythmitical units, but he can certainly acquire a feeling for
rhythm if he trains his ear.
Rhythm reveals itself most conspicuously in music, dance and verse. Rhythm is also
used in prose.
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