The Haunted Palace

Poe frequently uses repetition of sounds in his writing. He uses assonance—the repetition of vowel sounds—and alliteration—the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginnings of words—to emphasize certain words and create a sense of musicality in his poems. Assonance differs from alliteration in that alliteration refers solely to the first letter of a word, whereas assonance refer to repetitions of vowel sounds in any part a word.

For instance, in Line 8, Poe uses alliteration in “fabric half so fair,” which emphasizes the beauty of the palace’s appearance; in Line 40 he writes “wit and wisdom.” Poe uses assonance in Lines 33 and 35, with the words “robes,” “sorrow,” “mourn,” and “morrow” emphasizing the long “o” sound, which highlights the feeling of suffering in this stanza. He also both assonance and alliteration in Line 10: “On its roof did float and flow,” emphasizing the “o” and “f” sounds in the words “float” and “flow.”

Poe uses caesuras, or pauses, to increase the dramatic intensity of the poem at moments of great emotional significance. These caesuras are achieved using dashes that slow the rhythm of the poem and draw the reader’s attention to moments meaningful for the allegorical purposes of the poem. In Lines 3-5, Poe places dashes that emphasize palace’s gorgeous exterior, with pauses before and after the description “stately palace—radiant palace—.”

Poe also uses caesura in Lines 11-12, highlighting the fact that the palace was beautiful a very long time ago with the dramatic pause: “This—all this—was in the olden / Time long ago.” The final line has the most memorable use of caesura, emphasizing the grotesque image of mental unwellness: “And laugh–but smile no more” (Line 48).