Question

Read the excerpt below from the poem “Ulalume” by Edgar Allan Poe and answer the question that follows.

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.

Mark this and return

Answer 1

Alliteration is the repetition of a word of sound within the same phrase, such as "Ulalume"; Asonance is a vowel coincidence in the termination of two words, such as "it was night in the lonesome october

of my most immemorial year"; the consonance is an unmotivated use of words that are very close for each other, such as " we noted not the dim lake of Auber- (though once we had journeyed down here)"; and the poetic image describes something real through words, such as "these are days when my heart was volcanic", which explains his heart beats too strong.