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Sound in Poetry

5/20/2019

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by Alexander Kosoris
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​​I quite enjoy poetry, but it took a heck of a lot of reading to begin to get a sense of the styles I prefer within the form. And there’s something elusive about poetry. Even after years of active reading, I feel that I’m barely able to scratch the surface of understanding why certain passages speak to me. I believe that this is part of the explanation as to why the form can seem a bit daunting or even inaccessible.
 
But every so often something comes along that allows a glimpse into the underlying techniques that make poems sing. In my recent poetry binge, Kayla Czaga’s Dunk Tankclearly showed me how sound repetition can be used to influence rhythm, pacing, and flow. And this specific aspect greatly interests me because it allows for subtle direction and structure that can be felt without jumping out at you, like more overt techniques employed to similar ends, such as tight rhyming or alliteration. I’ll illustrate what I mean and how this can be used with a handful of passages. In order to maintain specificity in the discussion, I’ll be using International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) symbols to describe various sounds, but I’ll give examples where possible for the sake of clarity.
 
I want to start off with a passage that stood out to me on my first read-through. From the poem “Girl Like”:

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​Try reading it in your head and again aloud. Listen to the ebb and flow of the passage. Now look at it once more, with three common sounds highlighted:

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​In this verse, aɪ and ɜ:rform a structural backbone, while ɪ is one of the driving sounds of the overall passage. The ɜ:rsound, specifically, punctuates the passage, while the overlap of sounds creates a blending effect that smoothes the flow.
 
This technique can also be used to dictate pacing. For instance, refer to a passage from “Fun and Games”:
 
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Note how the alliteration that moves between the first and second lines pulls your attention. But compare the final line. When I first read this, I found that I lingered there; the poem slows. Note how often the ʌ sound (UH, as in fun) occurs. This sudden build-up of one sound effectively slows the pacing, drawing attention to the concept presented, all without breaking flow overtly as when alliteration is used this way.

I want to end with an entire poem with multiple repeating sounds highlighted, “Sleeping is the Only Love”:

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​The eɪ sound never greatly builds up at any point in the poem, but it occasionally recurs, acting as a soft, cohesive point throughout, while the repetition of the sound in the first and final lines effectively underlines the common idea. The remaining four sounds are ever-present, heavily overlapping, but each increases in frequency at different times, each being the main driver of a subtle rhythm when this occurs. These, of course, aren’t the only recurring sounds within this poem. I invite you to consider the effect the frequently repeated ɪ sound creates with regard to the rhythm and pacing, or to look into consonant use throughout. (What does the strong use of the harsher S sounds at the start evoke compared with an increase in rolling Ls shortly thereafter?)
 
The next time a poem stands out to you for reasons that aren’t readily apparent, try to look for repeated sounds and their relation to one another. And consider these sounds when writing your own poetry; you may end up with something musical.
 

​Alexander Kosoris is a book reviewer who regularly contributes to The Walleye, Thunder Bay’s arts and culture magazine.
 
“Girl Like,” “Fun and Games,” and “Sleeping is the Only Love” are taken from Dunk Tank, copyright © 2019 by Kayla Czaga. Reproduced with permission from House of Anansi Press, Toronto. www.houseofanansi.com.

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Deborah Ellis and Writing for  Young Minds

5/5/2019

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The Challenge of Reaching out to Young Minds
​by Donna White

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​Authors who write for children face a unique challenge. They are writing for young minds: young impressionable, malleable minds; minds that can be shaken and challenged, uplifted and restored.

But in this task a middle or young adult author must beware. In this attempt to show the ways of the world, to teach or present a moral, he or she must do it subtly, between the lines, so to speak, because any hint of anything didactic will be felt on the very pages a child turns and the book will be closed, never to be opened again.


The author of books for children understands the need, the craving children have in wanting to understand the world around them. They know that their audience is very capable of hearing the truth about the injustices that go on outside of their four walls.  
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Deborah Ellis is a master of this. She has exposed thousands of children, and adults, to the inequalities of our world through her fine grasp of storytelling. Stories that shed light on the horrid treatment of women and children in Afghanistan, the plight of AIDS victims in Malawi, and the slavery of children in cocaine trafficking in Columbia. Her books place the issues of poverty, racism, terrorism, and homosexuality to the forefront and shake the readers’ core, leaving them informed and equipped to make a difference in the world.

Ellis is the recipient of the Governor General's Literary Award, the Jane Addams Children's Book Award, the Vicky Metcalf Award, the Ruth Schwartz Award, the Middle East Book Award, Sweden’s Peter Pan Prize, the Children's Africana Book Award Honor for Older Readers, the Ontario Library Association’s President’s Award for Exceptional Achievement and named to the Order of Canada. In 2017, her novel, The Breadwinner, debuted as a feature animated film, produced in association with Angelina Jolie.

But nothing makes note of Ellis true character than the fact that she donates the royalties of her books to such organizations as "Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan", Street Kids International, the Children in Crisis Fund of International Board on Books for Young People, and UNICEF. Her goodness and compassion are in step with her exceptional skills as a writer.
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Hope you can come to NOWW’s LitFest events this coming Friday and Saturday, May 10th and 11th. We have a fantastic spread: A reading and conversation with CBC Radio’s Cathy Alex and Deborah Ellis at the Thunder Bay Art Gallery on Friday May 10th at 7:00, a workshop with Ellis at the Mary J.L. Black Library from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday, May 11th, and of course, the Gala that evening at the Art Gallery at 7:00, for a chance to mingle and congratulate the winners of this year’s writing contest.
See you there!



Donna White is the author of the Stones trilogy. An avid traveler, she enjoys visiting other countries and experiencing everything each culture has to offer. From interviewing former child soldiers in Gulu, Uganda, to celebrating Shubho Noboborsho in Chittagong, Bangladesh, and sitting amongst a troop of chimpanzees in the rainforest, Donna embraces every experience to the maximum. Her writing takes on a very serious role: to reveal situations in the world that aren’t regarded as newsworthy but should be.
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She resides in Canada with her husband, children, dogs, cats and horses on their hobby farm in Northwestern Ontario. You can visit her website at www.donnawhitebooks.com to find photo galleries, teaching resources, and much more. 
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