Literary Analysis: Poetic Sound Devices

Name______Date______

“The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” and “Kubla Khan” by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Literary Analysis: Poetic Sound Devices

Alliteration is the repetition of a consonant sound at the beginnings of words. Consonance

is the repetition of consonant sounds in stressed syllables with dissimilar vowel sounds. Assonance is repetition of vowel sounds in stressed syllables with dissimilar consonant sounds. Internal rhyme is the use of rhyming words within a line. Slant rhyme occurs with the use of sounds that are similar but not identical, such as shore and share.

DIRECTIONS: In each of the following passages from “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” and

“Kubla Kahn,” certain letters are italicized. For each passage, write on the line the sound device

that is used.

1. “As who pursued with yell and blow”______

2. “The ice did split with a thunder-fit” ______

3. “He holds him with his skinny hand” ______

4. “The ship was cheered, the harbor cleared” ______

5. “‘From the fiends that plague thee thus!– / Why look’st thou so?’ ‘With my crossbow / I

shot the Albatross.’” ______

6. “And we did speak only to break” ______

7. “Red as a rose is she” ______

8. “All in a hot and copper sky” ______

9. “The Wedding Guest he beat his breast” ______

10. “The death fires danced at night” ______

11. “The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew”

12. “ ‘Through utter drought all dumb we stood! / I bit my arm, I sucked the blood.’ ” ______

13. “His flashing eyes, his floating hair!” ______

14. “A damsel with a dulcimer” ______

15. “For he on honeydew hath fed,” ______

16. “And close your eyes with holy dread” ______

17. “And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil seething” ______

18. “And ’mid this tumult Kubla heard from far / Ancestral voices prophesying

war!’” ______

ANSWERS

“The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” and “Kubla Khan” by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Literary Analysis: Poetic Sound Devices

1. consonance; 2. internal rhyme; 3. alliteration; 4. internal rhyme; 5. slant rhyme; 6. consonance;

7. alliteration; 8. assonance; 9. internal rhyme; 10. assonance; 11. alliteration; 12. slant rhyme;

13. alliteration 14. alliteration; 15. alliteration; 16. assonance; 17. assonance 18. slant rhyme;

Grade 12, Unit 4