It’s also very common in more commercial writing, such as marketing taglines, brand names, and even in naming superheroes. It is used very often in lyric poetry, and appears regularly in novels, plays, and other literature. Alliteration ExamplesĪlliteration appears all over the place. An example of assonance is the “oo” sound in this sentence: “The sm ooth ball oon fl ew up and bl ew up when it hit the r oof.” Note that in this example, because all of the repeated sounds occur on stressed syllables, this example is both assonance and alliteration.Īlliteration, then, is a specialized form of assonance or consonance in which the repeated sounds occur only on stressed syllables. So, for example, in the sentence “ A tru ck full of unlu cky du cks careened into the a quedu ct,” the hard “k” consonant sound doesn’t just occur on stressed or first syllables, making this an example of consonance but not alliteration.Īssonance is exactly the same as consonance, but with vowel sounds instead of consonant sounds. The repeated sound can occur at any point within the word, not just on first or stressed syllables. Here are quick descriptions of each:Ĭonsonance is the repetition of similar consonant sounds across several words. There are two close relatives of alliteration, both of which are often confused with each other and with alliteration itself. For instance, they might argue that the example “Sam speeds with skill through the storm” is not alliterative because the clusters of “sp,” “sk,” and “st” have their own distinct sounds and therefore don’t alliterate with each other or with a single “s.” This is not a hard and fast rule by a long shot (and we have an example below from none other than Charles Dickens that actually does alliterate with “st” and “sp”) but the way that consonant clusters can affect the degree of alliteration is still worth knowing about. Consonant Clusters Affect AlliterationĪlliteration sticklers may contest that the best use of alliteration takes into consideration how certain combinations of consonants affect the resulting sounds. That said, "open octagon" isn't really alliterative because the "o" makes different sounds in those two words. For instance, “ American alliteration” is alliterative. While alliteration nowadays most often refers to repetition of the sounds of consonant, vowels can alliterate. Even today many people who really care about alliteration-poets, for instance-would insist that the stressed syllable viewpoint is correct. But, not so long ago, only the stressed-syllable version of alliteration was considered legitimate. So which side is right? The short answer is that both definitions of alliteration are currently accepted. In the second example, it occurs in the second syllable of “unkind,” but that second syllable is the stressed one: "un- kind.” In the first example, the “d” sound clearly occurs in the first syllable of each word, but in three of the words it occurs on an unstressed syllable (de- clares, de- serves, de- bate). Dan declares that he deserves to debate.People holding these two separate views on alliteration would disagree on whether the following two examples are alliterative: Some people believe that alliteration occurs whenever the repeating sounds occur in the first syllable of a word, while others argue that alliteration only occurs when the sounds occur on stressed, or emphasized, syllables. Alliteration, First Syllables, and Stressed Syllables This example is alliterative because the “c” and “k” produce the same sound even though they are different letters. Peter picked a peck of pickled peppers.Īlliteration Refers to Repeating Sounds, Not LettersĪlliteration isn’t just about repeated letters.For instance, the example below is alliterative despite the “a” and “of”. A phrase can still contain alliteration if the repeated sounds are separated by other words. The repeated sounds of alliteration do not have to appear in sequential words, one immediately after another. Alliteration Doesn’t Require Sequential Words Here's how to pronounce alliteration: uh-lit-uh- ray-shun Understanding the Rules of AlliterationĪlliteration is complicated enough, and there are enough misconceptions about it, that it’s worth taking a closer look at the rules that cover how alliteration works. Alliteration is found often in poetry and prose, as well as in commercial writing like brand names and marketing taglines.Alliterative words don’t have to be right next to each other.Alliteration is the repetition of sounds, not just letters.Some additional key details about alliteration: What is alliteration? Here’s a quick and simple definition:Īlliteration is a figure of speech in which the same sound repeats in a group of words, such as the “b” sound in: “ Bob brought the box of bricks to the basement.” The repeating sound must occur either in the first letter of each word, or in the stressed syllables of those words.
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