“El Dorado” by Edgar Allan Poe – Poe provides a gold mine of sound devices in Eldorado. Instruct students to identify ‘o’ sounds in the poem and analyze their purpose. In addition, “Eldorado” serves as an excellent example of a poem with repetition.“Anabel Lee” by Edgar Allan Poe – Poe’s deft use of repetition, assonance, consonance, repetition, and internal rhyme make “Anabel Lee” a classic love poem.“The Eagle” by Lord Alfred Tennyson – the repetition of the hard k sound mirrors the harshness of the eagle’s habitat. The Eagle makes a great poem for
poetry speed analysis.“Travel” by Edna St. Vincent Millay – Millay uses assonance to replicate the mingled voices on a train. Instruct students to write a poem about an ordinary place that they enjoy–the school cafeteria, the halls during passing period, the school bus, for example. Require them to use assonance in addition to other appropriate sound devices.“Beat! Beat! Drums” by Walt Whitman – I’ve never in my life used the phrase “Tour de Force.” It’s a cheesy, trite expression whose meaning is unclear. That being said, Walt Whitman’s “Beat! Beat! Drums!” is a Tour de Force: it’s got consonance; it’s got assonance; it’s got internal rhyme; it’s got alliteration. It captures the war pulse like no other piece of writing can.
Links
Poetry Collections at ELACommonCoreLessonPlans.comSound Devices in Poetry PostSound Devices in Poetry Lesson Plan
