He used "pondered," "wrought," "implore" and "peering" to replace bland synonyms that were neither as effective nor as forceful. Also, words such as "lore" in place of tale, were utilized in order to help create end rhyme. These examples are only a few among the many words chosen by Poe that create his desired effect. With diction, Poe was able to utilize certain literary techniques. Through the poem's progression, Poe makes use of the refrain of "nevermore." However, in his eighteen stanza poem, the first stanza alone displays internal rhyme, end rhyme, alliteration and assonance. All of these devices contribute to the smoothness of the poem and to the ease with which it is read: Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary.Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore--While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tappingAs of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door" 'T is some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door--Only this and nothing more." (Macdonald 77)The first, third and fifth lines all clearly display internal rhyme with rhyming pairs like "dreary...and weary." Lines two, four, five and six distinctively show the end rhyme of "lore," "door," and "more." The alliteration of the letter 'w' in line one and that of the 'n' in line three are easily detected. Poe's use of the repetition of initial letters of words within in a line undoubtedly increased the fluidity of the poem significantly. Plus, he used a more subtle method to create the same effect as alliteration, as seen by assonance. An example of his assonance linking different words is seen and heard in this phrase: "...volume of forgotten lore-." Here, Poe connected two different examples of assonance with the word "forgotten." This word contains the same 'o' sound as the first two words and the same 'or' sound as the last word. Though each literary device has its own job, as a whole, the poet used ...
