Friday, April 9, 2010

Figurative Language - Alliteration

Setting The Stage
Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words or syllables. It is the sound, not the letter, which is important.

The function of alliteration, like rhyme, might be to accentuate the beauty of language in a given context, or to unite words or concepts through a kind of repetition. Alliteration, like rhyme, can follow specific patterns. Sometimes the consonants aren't always the initial ones, but they are generally the stressed syllables. Alliteration is less common than rhyme, but because it is less common, it can call our attention to a word or line in a poem that might not have the same emphasis otherwise (vituaLit)

Response Stance
Invite students to reread the poems, particularly The Raven, with the lens of listening to the rhythm of the poem. Students record specific examples of sound devices and the effect each sound device creates.

Discuss if the use of alliteration contributes to the theme of the poem by drawing attention to specific words.

40 comments:

  1. Hi!!!
    Today I read the poem Snow-flakes by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. In this poem, I think he is trying to get the image of snow falling softly and gently to the ground. To do this, he used alliteration and used multiple s's. By using the s's he made the poem gentle and calm, just like snow. I got the image of the snow slowly fluttering to the ground. At the end of the poem where the s's were, it sort of slowed down and got quiet. I think if that were the only part of the poem, it would still be beautiful. The alliteration in this poem helped the tone to be gentle as I'm sure the poet wanted it to be.

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  2. I read the poem Snow-Flakes, and I liked that the poet came up with so many creative things that describes the snow. I thaik that the poet used alliteration to put emphasis on the poem to say that he loves snow, or the benefits that winter gives him or someone else. I agree if that is what he is trying to say that winter makes the world look better.

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  3. Hi. I'm Shay. I'm here to talk to you about In Just by e.e.cummings. I don't know why he used alliteration because I don't he used very much. If he used more it would have been easier. But I di find a little bit of alliteration in it so this is what I think. I think he alliterated because he wanted to show the freshness of spring. It also wanted to repeat in his own way just like spring repeats itself. I think he had more than one alliterating letter. The ones I noticed were W and L. The focus is switching back and forth from the ballonman and then the children and then what they were doing. The tone is joyous and bright. Where are the kids? Are they at school? Why the rush? That's what i'm wondering. Why did he call the ballonman lame? Do the kids like balloons? Maybe if I did more research I could find out.Anyway, thank-ya for reading!!!

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  4. The poem Blow, Bugle, Blow has alliteration, but it also incorporates repetitions and patterns, because at the end of every verse it says, "Blow, bugle; answer, echoes, dying, dying, dying."I also find it interesting that the poet uses periods in the poem.

    I think that he uses I think the allitertion in the line "Blow, bugle, blow" is more urging than just Blow, bugle (it's also more poetic). The "B" sound in the phrase sounds like a bugle being blown.

    I think it says dying 3 times because before it says echoes before and it sounds like it's echoing.

    This might be a older poem because there's a bugle and not a horn. It also says, "horns of Elfland, "so I think elfs are blowing the bugle.

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  5. Blow, Bugle, Blow

    The alliteration makes the poem seem very calm and serene because the soft sounds overpower the forceful f's.

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  6. The poem Snow Flakes by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow has allterations showing how a Little snowflake travels through a land filled with happiness and ends with soft silent words such as sizzling. I like how Henry Wadsworth can start softly and end with soothing words.

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  7. I think that in "Blow,Bugle,Blow", the "b" sound is supposed to be the bugle being blown. Since bugles are very loud, the "b" sound is supposed to the bugles. he athor also used words like splendour and I think that is supposed to make it sound lively.

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  8. Snow-Flakes


    I think the poet wanted to make it sound calm ,peaceful and make it rhyme with the rest of the words.

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  9. Snow flakes-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
    I think the poem snow flakes used alliteration for:exitement,rythyme,and lots more purposes!Some examples of alliteration in Snow Flakes are:out,out,over,over,silent,soft,and slow.

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  10. hi!!

    Henry wadsworth Longfellows poem Snow-flakes is a poem about how the snowflakes fall gently on the earths surfes. and they dont weigh anething I can see why he wrote about it. they fall in the forest and he wrote it like he did because nothing can go higher than them. and how thay sore above everything its a very cooooool poooooooeeeeeeemmm!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  11. I think snow flakes is a really uniqe poem the way the silent and soft and slow descends the snow. e.e.cummings poems are really cool and I think he is a uniqe poet the way he expresses his poems like in just a uniqe expresseve poem.

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  12. Hi my name is Tony L.

    Snow flakes
    By:Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

    I like the alliteration
    in Snow flakes because
    it describes a lot of things
    like the blosoms,clouds
    and snow.

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  13. Snow Flakes
    I like how the poet used alliteration with almost every word. When there was alliteration there was a lot of them.

    In Just-
    When E.E. Cummings put mud-luscious he put a line break after mud- and put luscious on the next line it was to make it have alliteration with luscious, little and lame.It also has a lot of alliteration.

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  14. Hi my name is Rylan H.

    What I love about Snow-Flakes is it has alot of alliteration. I like this part of the poem
    Out of
    Out of
    Over the
    Over the
    it's really cool that he thought of that.

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  15. Hi my name is Ivan the poem im talking about is Snow-Flakes. Snow-Flakes has alleteration that is when lot of words have the same beginning sound.In Snow-Flakes there are lot's of O and B sounds.

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  16. Blake here! The Raven is a good poem because it has lots of words that start with the same letter and when you read it you can see a picture in your head and the raven only says: never more and The Raven the poem is really long and detail.

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  17. hi my name is Melissa,
    I liked this poem because the words repeat.
    I like this poem also because i like alliteration poems!!!!

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  18. Hi my name is jean im blogging about the poem the raven.The raven has lot of alliteration like weak and weary,lost and lenore and so on and the bird keep saying "nevermore"

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  19. Hi my name is Thon W. and what I think of the raven is that he's very lonley then a raven comes to his window and he lets i t in. I think it was really sad that his girlfriend/wife died. It was touching when he was saying if he would see if Lenore(his girlfriend) in heaven and since all the raven could say is nevermore it said that. Now thats what I think of raven and good morning and if I dont see you good afternoon, good evening and good night.

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  20. I read the poem Snow-Flakes by henry wadsworth longfellow. When I read the poem Snow-Flakes I had an image of the snow slowly falling. When it said brown and bare it made it sound like it was the first snow fall of the year. The alliteration in this poem makes it flow and the words Silent,soft, and slow makes me feel calm and gentle. There was alliteration in almost every line of the poem.

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  21. Hi!!
    I read the poem "From As You Like It".
    I think the purpose of the alliteration in this poem is to make the feeling or way it is read change. The 'f' and 'h' sounds are more smooth sounds and the 's' and 'w' sounds are more sharp sounds. When I read this poem the first and third paragraphs are happy and exciting but the second is depressing.

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  22. I like the poem Snow-Flakes because it talks about how the snow falls silently. The use of the silent and soft words make it seem like a poem that has more meaning. When he uses words that start with s, it makes it feel like it poem that is not a poem that you will be scared of.

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  23. I read snowflakes. I think the reason for alitteration is to help with the imagery of the poem, and also to help the sound to support the image. The "s" sound in the silent, and soft,and slow imitates the calm peaceful falling of snow, instead of the hard blowing blizzard

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  24. Danielray said...

    I found alliteration like a pattern.
    The writer wants you to say the sound over and over again.So you will remember.

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  25. I am responding to Snowflakes, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

    I think he used alliteration to help the reader visualize the snow flakes fluttering to the ground. He also used alliteration, to make the poem easier to remember. An example would be the line; Silent, and soft, and slow. I remember that line better than any other line in the poem, because the words all begin with the letter 'S' (excluding the "ands").

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  26. Blow, Bugle, Blow
    I think that the poem is supposed to be a kind of fast chant. The alliterative sound adds to and emphasises the image of the poem.

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  27. From the poem 'I wish I knew'

    By Beverly McLoughland

    This poem is a very emotional style, and the narrator (perhaps Beverly?) is wondering how the Winter creates each design of snowflake. She is extremely interested in how the Winter works and does all of its activities. The very ending lines:
    ------------------------------------------------

    Winter,
    I wish I knew
    The secret of your mind.
    ------------------------------------------------

    Perhaps the author is trying to represent that he/she wants to be winter? For that is almost the only way to know the ways of Golgoth, the god of winter.

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  28. Nikita and NamrataMay 24, 2011 at 10:47 AM

    Nikita and Namrata
    Snow-flakes
    this poem made us feel like i was in a very cold enviroment.I think this poem would take place on a farm. Freshly fallen snow flakes hitting the ground silently. The allitertaion is that O sound and it makes the poem sound better.

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  29. Im response to daddys gone hunting its very short and odd and you know whats funny on the first page that there is a rabbit :) but the poem is sad if you think about it because it says that they are a very poor family and can't afford blakets

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  30. I would like if you describe a little more because I really did'nt get a picture in my mind of what you were saying.

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  31. I really like how
    blake uses describtive words in his poem like in his poem "Two Sunflowers Move in the Yellow
    Room" he uses these describtive words "where the topaz tortoises run."

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  32. Hi Ryan think the poem is sad cause they cant afford blankets.

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  33. Hi Nikita and Namrata!! :) I really like your comment because you are really saying what you think and how it makes you feel. I would like to see a little more detail but it still is a very good comment!

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  34. I like how you said how you felt and how you guess where it took place.I had a picture in my head when you said you think it was on a farm.

    Kelsie.h

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  35. Hi Nickita and Namrata I liked how you told the picture you saw in your head, because it gave me a picture of hapiness and I felt good when I read it. I liked how you described the picture and how you told you liked the alliteration of the O sound and how it made it better.I hope to read another of your comments!

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  36. Hi ryan i think you could use more discribtion i like your work

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  37. Well Ryan, is that the only thing that you were sad about because there might be something that was sad about because you said that they were poor so could they afford food or do they have any water? And why did you think it was funny that there was a rabbit? Is there something on him or did he look just funny? I liked how you said about that stuff you used big words and I thought about what you said and I got a sad picture that they couldn't afford anything

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  38. Hi Nakita and Namrata , I liked it how you said "the freshly fallen snowflakes hitting the ground silently".It reminded me of winter.

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  39. When I looked at your ryan comment I had a picture in my head of a poor family that is cold and sick in an abanded house and a dad hunting four food when i looked at the tittle.

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