Alliteration, Assonance, and Consonance in Poems

Understanding alliteration, assonance and consonance and their functions in poetry
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assonance-consonance-and-alliteration
Assonance and consonance in a poem

Poems use assonance and alliteration to enhance the rhythm of the poem. While assonance makes use of vowel sounds, alliteration makes use of consonant sounds. Both assonance and consonance are repeated in words that appear close to each other in a line of a poem.

Read the poem below and identify assonance and consonance.

Path Choices

Best, Boy, Believe

That, There, Two

Placed, Possible, Paths

Willing, Wanting, Waiting

Appraising, Asking, Applying

Lessons, Learned, Leads

Compass, Chosen, Course

Fools, Find, Fate

Sin, Street, Set

Driven, Determine, Destiny

Searching, Seeking, Seeing

Offering, Openly, Often

In the poem above, some words are starting with the same consonant sounds. For example

  • Best, Boy, Believes – sound /b/ has been repeated.
  • Placed, Possible, Paths – sound /p/ is repeated

This repetition of initial consonant sounds is alliteration.  Illustrate other instances of alliteration in the poem.

In the poem, we also find that some vowel sounds are repeated in words that are close to each other. Examples we have seen are:

  •  Seeking, seeing – the sound /i:/ has been repeated.
  • Openly, Often – the sound /e/ has been repeated.

The repetition of the vowel sounds in words that are close to each other is called assonance.

Further Practice
Read the poem below and identify all the instances of assonance and consonance

My Puppy Punched Me in the Eye

My puppy punched me in the eye

My rabbit whacked my ear

My ferret gave a frightful cry

And roundhouse kicked my rear

 

My lizard flipped me upside down

My kitten kicked my head

My hamster slammed me to the ground

And left me nearly dead

 

So my advice? Avoid regrets;

No matter what you do

Don’t ever let your family pets

Take lessons in Kung Fu

 Consonance

Consonance is very similar to alliteration as both refer to the use of similar consonant sounds in words that are close to each other. However, similar sounds in consonance do not appear at the beginning of the words. Instead, similar sounds in consonance appear at the middle of the words or at the end.

Examples of consonance.

From the poem above ‘My Puppy Punched Me in the Eye’ consonance has been used in the following words:

  • rabbit whacked – the sound /t/ has been repeated.
  • hamster slammed – there is a repetition of the sound /m/

Note: While looking out for assonance, consonance and alliteration, we focus on the sound made by letters and not the letters themselves.

The function of assonance consonance and alliteration

  • Provide musical rhythm.
  • Make poem interesting.
  • Make the poem easier to memorize.

Exercise

Read the poem below and then identify, with illustrations, instances of alliteration, assonance and consonance.

Black Breweries Braveness

            By John Chizuba

Black breweries braveness

In ink incorporative individualism

Those tinny tracers ticking Time

Be-little black braveness baselessly

Mirror my motion moves momentously

Directed diagonal deeply

 Hurt humans heart heavy

Because better black believes

Dedication, determined destinies

Of our oddity, obviously occupied

We welcome world words with warrant

Blacks built braveness buxom butterflies

Enlightenment enchanting ego enlarged

Decade braveness debut delightfully.

 

 

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