Sound Patterns

 Rhythm

English has what we call a stress - timed rhythm, which means that the stressed syllables come at approximately equal intervals of time , regardless of the number of the intervening unstressed syllables.

Take a sentence like 

A ' change of 'air would 'do you 'good .

The stressed syllables are marked with the sign before them . Here we have 8 syllables of which 4 are stressed , and they come at equal intervals of time . So we have a rhythmic pattern consisting of unstressed syllables and stressed syllables coming alternately.

This kind of rhythm is quite common in poetry and is called imabic metre. 'Metre' is the term used to indicate the number of stressed syllables that form the beats (or feet) and the arrangement of stressed and  unstressed syllables in each line of a poem. So in the line give  above has four beats or four feet. If we have a pattern in which one week ( unstressed) syllables is followed by one strong syllable , we call it ' iambic metre'.

Rhyme 

It is the term used for the similarity of sounds in the final syllable ( or syllables ) of two or more lines of the verse .for two lines to rhyme , the last stressed vowel sound and all the sound after it , must be the same .

Rhyme is frequently used at the end of lines of poetry for particular effects 

1) The recurrence of the same sequence of sounds has a pleasing effect, because it fulfils the reader's expectancy

2) It also marks the end of the line .

3) By adopting a particular rhyme scheme in a stanza the poet can bind the lines together and thus achieve unity.

Nursery rhymes appeal to us and are so easy to remember because they all have 'rhyme'. Children memorize them easily and love to recite them .Most lyrics,songs and ballads use rhyme . 

Alliteration

The term 'alliteration' refers to the appearance of the same consonant sound or sounds at the beginning of two or more words that are next to or close to each other.

The fair breeze blew , the white foam flew,

The furrow followed free,

We were the first that ever burst 

Into that silent sea.

1)Sound /f/ occurs in the beginning of fair,foam,flew,furrow,followed,free and first.

2) The sound /b/ occurs at the beginning of breeze , blew and burst .

3)The sound /w/ occurs at the beginning of white , we and were.

4) The sound /s/ occurs at the beginning of silent and sea.