Sunday, December 15, 2013

What are some examples in this poem of an alliteration, consonance, and onomatopoeia?

Thomas Gray's "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" is a
poem that is replete with sound devices.


ALLITERATION - The
repetition of the same or similar consonant sounds in words that are close together. 
Here are some examples by numbered stanzas:


1.  weary way ,
2. solemn stillness 3.  The moping owl does to the
moon complain  5. The swallow
twittering from the straw-built shed 
6. the blazing hearth shall
burn, Or climb his knees the
envied kiss to share. 8. The short and simple annals 9.the
pomp of power  10. their tomb no trophies  12. the living lyre  14. born to blush  17.
their crimes confined   20. shapeless sculpture  22. longing lingering look  25. Haply
some hoary-headed swain   26. listless length; brook that babbles by   27.  woeful-wan; 
Or crazed with care, or crossed


ONOMATOPEIA - The use of a
word whose sound imitates or suggests its meaning.  Here are examples marked by
stanza:


1. The plowman homeward
plods


2. the beetle wheels his
droning flight


    And
drowsy tinklings


5. The
swallow twittering


10. The
pealing anthem


26. the brook
that babbles


COSONANCE - The
repetition of the same or similar final consonant sounds on accented syllables or
important words.  Here are examples marked by stanza:


1. 
tolls the knell


5. 
...shrill...shall


16.
listening...smiling...


17. Forbade to
wade



 

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