To Sound or not to Sound

In "A Poetry Handbook" Mary Oliver explores the importance of "sound" in poetry. She first explains to the reader that the use of certain words, not only grants a distinct sound to the piece as a whole, but also own their own individual sound and "feel." The author goes into great detail of letter construction within words as they are made up of vowels and consonants, mutes and semivowels. All these groups of letters have their on "hard" and "soft" sounds that construct the feeling and meaning behind each word. The strategic placement of these characters within words and the placement of words themselves produce the feel of the entire piece.
Oliver later investigates further into "sound" by discussing three devices that help produce distinct sounds within a poem. These devices consist of alliteration, assonance, and onomatopoeia. The author explains how alliteration is the repetition of initial sounds in words, such as "baby bottle." As a reader I've noticed that the use of alliteration contributes immensely to the "flow" of rhyme as it simplifies the structure and allows the words to roll quickly off the tongue. Following, is the discussion of assonance which is explained to the reader as the repetition of vowel sounds within words. This device creates "near-rhyme" which, in my opinion, creates a sort of theme for the poem; allowing each line to be a part of the grand picture. Finally, the literary device of onomatopoeia is discussed. Onomatopoeia is the use of words that sound of a sense that of which they define (ex. slosh, rumble, buzz). These words add clear, expressionistic sounds and meaning to a poem.
Of all these devices I feel that I personally need to work on incorporating more assonance and onomatopoeia in my writing. I sometimes lack repetitive vowel sounds within my structure, creating a choppy image or overall theme. I also limit my descriptive imagery without the use of literal "sound" words. I think incorporating more of these two devices in my poetry will help me produce stronger rhyme schemes.