When you write poetry, you are playing with words to create meaning. I am a firm believer that poetry should be read aloud. Unfortunately, that is hard to do in an online class, but I hope you are reading out loud as you write and that you will share with your friends and family. With that said, playing with sound in your poems can add meaning and help you control your readers’ reaction. Lullabies use soft, soothing sounds (like the alliteration there?) to calm a sleepy baby. Poets have used long rolling sentences and smooth sounds to mimic the sound of the sea. You can also build intensity by using choppy sentences and hard consonants. Use onomatopoeia to create suspense with the THUD, THUD, THUD of footsteps. It really is quite fun when you get the hang of it. The only way to get the hang of it is to PRACTICE!

For this activity, create a list of word pairs and phrases that are built around alliteration or assonance. Remember, alliteration is when words in close proximity start with (or contain) the same consonant sound (as in pretty picture). Assonance is when words in close proximity echo vowel sounds (bent pen). It might be best to use similar sounds throughout the list. Try to come up with at least ten of each. The more, the better.

Use the words from your lists to write a ten to fifteen line poem. See if you can control meaning and emotion with sound.