Charles Baudelaire: Poems
How does sound contribute to the effect of the poem "The Waste Land"?
does it rhyme, repetition, alliteration, assonance, onomatopoeic, cacophony, euphony.
does it rhyme, repetition, alliteration, assonance, onomatopoeic, cacophony, euphony.
Honestly, the best way to HEAR the poem is to listen to a recording of Eliot reading it. The link is in sources. The Wasteland is fecund with poetic device. I will turn to a page and give some examples, since to be exhaustive would take ages. As a rule, the poem does not rhyme, though there are countless examples. I will use "The Fire Sermon" to show how Eliot uses sound. There is an onomatopeia - "Twit twit twit/jug jug jug," there is a rhyme "Year to year...time to time I hear." This also uses a repeated word in two consecutive lines. An alliteration on this page "a taxi throbbing waiting/I tiresias." Just glance at any section and you can find countless examples.