The skies they were ashen and sober;
The leaves they were crispéd and sere—
The leaves they were withering and sere;
It was night in the lonesome October
Of my most immemorial year;
It was hard by the dim lake of Auber,
In the misty mid region of Weir—
It was down by the dank tarn of Auber,
In the ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir.
Here once, through an alley Titanic,
Of cypress, I roamed with my Soul—
Of cypress, with Psyche, my Soul.
These were days when my heart was volcanic
As the scoriac rivers that roll—
As the lavas that restlessly roll
Their sulphurous currents down Yaanek
In the ultimate climes of the pole—
That groan as they roll down Mount Yaanek
In the realms of the boreal pole.
Our talk had been serious and sober,
But our thoughts they were palsied and sere—
Our memories were treacherous and sere—
For we knew not the month was October,
And we marked not the night of the year—
(Ah, night of all nights in the year!)
We noted not the dim lake of Auber—
(Though once we had journeyed down here)—
We remembered not the dank tarn of Auber,
Nor the ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir.
Source: Poe, Edgar Allan. “Ulalume.” Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation, n.d. Web. 24 June 2011.

Identify at least one example each of alliteration, assonance, consonance, and imagery. Discuss the effect of these devices.

Respuesta :

Alliteration is a special case of consonance when the consonant sound of the stressed syllable is repeated. Example of Alliteration is in Stanza 3 line 1 in words 'serious' and 'sober' of 's' sound:

“Our talk had been serious and sober,”

Assonance is the repetition of the vowel sound in nonrhyming stressed syllable in a line. Example of assonance is in Stanza 1 line 3. The 'I' sound in the word 'it' and 'in':

“It was night in the lonesome October”


Consonance is the repetition of consonant sound in a line. Example of consonance is in Stanza 1 line 5 in words 'my,' 'most' and 'immemorial' of' sound:

“Of my most immemorial year;”


Poe had used end rhyme throughout the poem “Ulalume.” throughout the poem the first line rhymes with the fourth line and the second line rhymes with the third. The poem is about a man who is wandering in his unconscious mind towards the tomb of his beloved. His beloved had died exactly the day one year ago. Poe has used gothic imagery and rhythms which hypnotizes the readers. Death of a beautiful woman is the central scene of the poem. The allusions to the Greek mythology have a significant role in the poem.