Sound Patterning: An Index for Generating Meaning in Poetry
Monday Ojevwe Akpojisheri · Tropical Journal of Arts and Humanities · 2020
The paper examines the functions of sound elements in poetry. Phonic features such as alliteration, rhyme, assonance and rhythm are used by writers not only as ornaments but also as containers of meaning. As a distinct genre of literature, poetry makes judicious use of sound elements and figurative expressions which enable the writer to say many things with few words. These sound elements are patterned in such a way to make the message of the writer vivid to the reader, unfortunately, the inability of the learner to recognize the functions of the phonic features, makes the study of poetry a “nightmare”. In this study some excerpts were selected and analysed, paying due attention to the patterning of the sound elements. The findings reveal that figures of sound are crafted by writers in a way to generate meaning. The paper concludes that to penetrate the message of a poet, one should consider how the writer manipulates the various phonological features.