Questions and tasks

Task 1

Comment on the scheme of sound instrumentation (table 3) and illustrate the usage of phonetic EM and SD to create the effect of euphony and cacophony.

Table 3

Sound instrumentation

Euphony Cacophony

Alliteration Assonance Onomatopoeia

The Cataract of Lodore

By Robert Southey

“How does the water Come down at Lodore?” ………………………… From its sources which well In the tarn on the fell; From its fountains In the mountains, Its rills and its gills; Through moss and through brake, It runs and it creeps For a while, till it sleeps In its own little lake. And thence at departing, Awakening and starting, It runs through the reeds, And away it proceeds, Through meadow and glade, In sun and in shade, And through the wood-shelter, Among crags in its flurry, Helter-skelter, Hurry-skurry. Here it comes sparkling, And there it lies darkling; Now smoking and frothing Its tumult and wrath in, Till, in this rapid race On which it is bent, It reaches the place Of its steep descent. And hurrying and skurrying, And thundering and floundering The cataract strong Then plunges along, Striking and raging As if a war raging Its caverns and rocks among; Rising and leaping, Sinking and creeping, Swelling and sweeping, Showering and springing, Flying and flinging, Writhing and ringing, Eddying and whisking, Spouting and frisking, Turning and twisting, Around and around With endless rebound: Smiting and fighting, A sight to delight in; Confounding, astounding, Dizzying and deafening the ear with its sound. Collecting, projecting, Receding and speeding, And shocking and rocking, And darting and parting, And threading and spreading, And whizzing and hissing, And dripping and skipping, And hitting and splitting, And shining and twining, And rattling and battling,

And shaking and quaking, And pouring and roaring, And waving and raving, And tossing and crossing, And flowing and going, And running and stunning, And foaming and roaming, And dinning and spinning, And dropping and hopping, And working and jerking, And guggling and struggling, And heaving and cleaving, And moaning and groaning; And glittering and frittering, And gathering and feathering, And whitening and brightening, And quivering and shivering, Dividing and gliding and sliding, And falling and brawling and sprawling, And driving and riving and striving, And sprinkling and twinkling and wrinkling, And sounding and bounding and rounding, And bubbling and troubling and doubling, And grumbling and rumbling and tumbling, And clattering and battering and shattering; Retreating and beating and meeting and sheeting, Delaying and straying and playing and spraying, Advancing and prancing and glancing and dancing, Recoiling, turmoiling and toiling and boiling, And gleaming and streaming and steaming and beaming, And rushing and flushing and brushing and gushing, And flapping and rapping and clapping and slapping, And curling and whirling and purling and twirling, And thumping and plumping and bumping and jumping, And dashing and flashing and splashing and clashing; And so never ending, but always descending, Sounds and motions for ever and ever are blending All at once and all o'er, with a mighty uproar, And this way the water comes down at Lodore.

Task 2

Compare and define the cases of euphony and the cases of cacophony in the following passages below:

Those evening bells,

Those evening bells

How many a tale their music tells

Of youth and home

and that sweet time

When last I heard

their soothing chime.

The murmuring of enumerable bees.

The murdering of innumerable beeves.

Task 3

Comment on the following cases of alliteration and their stylistic function:

1. Silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain. (E.A.Poe)

2. The furrow followed free. (S.T.Coleridge)

3. The Italian trio tut-tuted their tongues at me. (T.Capote)

4. Nothing so exciting, so scandalous, so savoring of the black arts had startled Aberlaw since Trevor Day, the solicitor was suspected of killing his wife with arsenic. (A.Cronin – Citadel)

5. “Gaunt as the ghastliest of glimpses that gleam through the gloom of the gloaming when ghosts go aghast”-poet parodies his own style. (Swinburne - Nephelidia)

6. The possessive instinct never stands still. Through florescence and fend, frosts and fires it follows the laws of progression”. (Galsworthy)

7. Deep into the darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing, // Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortals ever dared to dream before”. (E.A.Poe)

8. Nor soul helps flesh now // more than flesh helps soul (R.Browning)

9. Dreadful young creatures – squealing and squawking. (D.Carter)

Task 4

Comment on the following cases of assonance and their stylistic function:

It is the hour when from the boughs

The nightingales’ high note is heard;

It is the hour when lovers’ vows

Seem sweet in every whispered word,

And gentle winds and waters near,

Make music to the lovely ear. (Byron).

Task 5

Find examples of different types of rhymes in English prose and poetry.