Enjambement /Run-on-line

Enjambement /Run-on-line are the terms we use when the sense of the sentence extends into the next line:

‘And in the frosty season, when the sun

was set, and visible for many a mile

the cottage windows blazed through twilight gloom,..’

Caesura

If a strong break occurs in the middle of the line it is referred as Caesura:

‘A thing of beauty is a joy forever

Its loveliness increases; it will never

Pass into nothingness.’

Enjambement /Run-on-line and Caesura give their own particular rhythm to poetry.

Rhymeless verse is called ‘blank verse’ (белый стих- in Russian).It is mostly used by playwrights (Shakespeare, e.g.)

The structure of verse Stanza

Two or more verse lines make a stanza/a strophe, so a stanza is a verse segment composed of a number of lines. The ballad stanza has four –lines, only the second and the fourth lines rhyme. The heroic couplet consists of two lines

Alliteration

Alliteration /эlitэ `rei n / is the repetition of similar sounds (usually consonants) at the beginning of successive words:

‘And g reen and g olden I was h untsman and h erdsman…’

Alliteration in the English language is deeply rooted in the tradition of English folklore. In Old English poetry alliteration was one of the basic principles of verse and its main characteristic.

Alliteration in Old English verse was used to consolidate the sense within the line and therefore is sometimes called initial rhyme.

As a phonetic stylistic device alliteration aims at imparting a melodic effect to the utterance. Therefore alliteration is generally regarded as a musical accompaniment of the author’s idea, supporting it with some emotional atmosphere which each reader interprets for himself. Certain sounds, if repeated, may produce a special effect.

Thus the repetition of the sound /d / from Poe’s poem ‘The Raven’ may give a feeling of fear, anxiety, anguish or all this feelings together.

 ‘ D eep into the d arkness peering, long I stoo d there won d ering, fearing,

 D oubting, d reaming d reams no mortals ever d ared to d ream before.’

The sound /m/ is used by some poets to produce a somnolent effect:

“How sweet it were,…

To lend our hearts and spirits wholly

To the m usic of m ild- m inded m elancholy;

To m use and brood and live again in m e m ory.”

В современной английской поэзии аллитерация является не ведущим, а вспомогательным средством: аллитерируемые слова выделяют важнейшие понятия. Благодаря аллитерации внимание читателя фиксируется на ущербном мировоззрении говорящих:

‘We would rather be ruined than changed

We would rather die in our dread

Than climb the cross of the moment

And let our illusions die. ’

Инструментовка - это соответствующая настроению сообщения фонетическая организация текста. Важную роль в инструментовке играют повторы, как отдельных звуков, так и слов. Чем теснее расположены повторы, тем они заметнее. Близость повторяющихся звуков называется теснотой ряда.

Ассонанс, или вокалическая аллитерация - повторение ударных гласных внутри строки или фразы.

Консонанс – повторение согласных внутри строки или фразы, но в отличие от аллитерации звуки расположены не в начале слов, а в середине или в конце (в составе приблизительной рифмы).

Onomatopoeia

Onomatopoeia /onэmэtэup?i:э/ is a combination of speech sounds which aims at imitating sounds produced in nature (wind, water, leaves, etc.),by animals, by people, and by things (machines or tools). There are two varieties of onomatopoeia: direct and indirect.

Direct onomatopoeia imitates natural sounds, as buzz, bang beep, vroom, clap, click, cuckoo, rustle, giggle, mumble, whistle, crunch, splash, bubble, ping-pong, tick-tock, etc.

 Animal sounds:

cat–miaow, purr;

bird - chirp, tweet;

crow - caw,dog – woof, grrr, bow-wow;

lion – roar;

horse – neigh;

mouse – squeak;

pig –oink;

wolf – ow ow owooooo, howl;

human – blab, blah-blah, murmur

Indirect onomatopoeia is a combination of sounds that echoes the sense of the utterance: ‘And the s ilken, s ad, un c ertain ru s tling of each purple curtain…’ where the repetition of the sound /s/ produces the sound of the rustling of the curtains.

The sound /w/ may reproduce the sound of wind:

‘ W henever the moon and stars are set,

W henever the w ind is high,

 All night long in the dark and w et

A man goes riding by.’

Indirect onomatopoeia is sometimes used by repeating words which themselves are not onomatopoetic, as in Poe’s poem ‘The Bells’:

‘Silver bells…how they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle

…From the bells bells, bells, bells,

Bells, bells, bells-

From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells’.

Another skilful example of onomatopoetic effect is shown in the poem ‘How the water comes down in Ladore’ by a romantic poet Robert Southey:

‘And nearing and clearing,

And falling and crawling and sprawling,

And gleaming and streaming and steaming and beaming,

And in this way the way the water comes down at Ladore’.

Сходство на фонетическом уровне влечет за собой возникновение новых смысловых связей.Явление парономасии заключается в близости звучания слов:

Graphons is unusual, non-standard spelling of words, showing authentic pronunciation, some peculiarity in pronouncing words or phrases emphatically.

‘Thquire! Your thervant! Thith ith a bad pieth of buithnith…’ (i.e. ‘Squire! Your servant! This is a bad piece of business’.

Most graphons show features of territorial or social dialect of the speaker.

‘Is that my wife? …I see it is, from your fyce …What gyme ‘as she been plying ’? You gotta tell me ‘ (London cockney dialect)

As for American English, here is an example of the Missouri Negro dialect from ‘The Adventures of Tom Sawyer’:

‘You know dat one-leigged nigger dat b’longs to old Misto Brandish? Well he sot up a bank, en say anybody dat put in a dollar would git fo’ dollars mo’ at en ‘er de year…’

Cacophony

Cacophony is a combination of harsh, unpleasant sounds:

‘Gloved hands twisting knobs…’

‘I wakened on my hot, hard bed…’

Euphony

Euphony is rather close to assonance because it is a combination of sounds that we hear as pleasant and beautiful:

‘The lone and level sands stretch far away…’

Analysis

Analyzing a poem

The following steps will guide you in analyzing a poem:

1. Read the poem thoroughly: firstly silently, then read the poem aloud several times, listening to the sounds of the words as you read them. Ask yourself what effect is created by the sounds of the poem.

2. Answer the following questions in your writing analysis:

Author: Who is the author of the poem?

Title: What is the poem’s title? Does the title suggest the poem’s subject or theme?

Genre: What type of poem is it? (lyric? narrative? dramatic? - what emotions are expressed? who is the speaker? what is the plot? who are the characters? what is used, a dialogue or a monologue? what is the setting?)

Form: is the poem divided into stanzas? how many lines are there in the poem? Is the poem written in a traditional form? Is the poem written in free verse? What does the poem’s form contribute to its meaning?

3. What is the theme of the poem? How is the theme revealed?

Devices of sound: metrical feet, rhyme, rhythm, alliteration, assonance, consonance, euphony, cacophony, refrain.

Imagery: What images of sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell are used in the poem to convey sensations and emotions? What do these images describe (exact moments, setting, mood, feeling)? What effect is created by these images?

Other elements: What is the overall mood of the poem? What devices create this mood?

Does the author tell you anything new about life or experience? Does he move or amuse you or make you think?

Be honest about your reaction to the poem,

but make sure that you back up your views

with evidence from the poem itself.