Alliteration, Assonance and Consonance
Poems often utilize many devices to be effective and successful. Three related concepts, which are in the poetry sound alliteration, assonance and consonance. These three terms are often used for another, or in lieu of any other use, confused. Although they are related, they are quite different.
We want to consider them separately:
Alliteration
Alliteration is the repetition of consonants in words in close proximity. Alliteration usually refers to the sounds at theStart of a word. Here are two literary examples:
Beowulf was written in Old English and contains many lines of alliteration:
feasceaft find, he þæs ^ Jacketquote used gebad,
weox under wolcnum, weorþ-myndum þah
In the first line is the letter "F" are used in the repetition, and the same with "w" in the second row.
In Gerard Manley Hopkins's "Pied Beauty":
Glory to God for dappled things …
Landscapes plotted and sewn-fold, fallow –and plow;
And to combat all trades, their gear and and trim.
The letter "G" is used in the repetition of the first line, "p" and "f" in the second row and "t" in the third row.
In another example, Shakespeare parodies alliteration in Peter Quince prologue in A Midsummer Night's Dream:
Then, with the knife blade, with bloody shame,
He bravely his breach'd Cooking bloody chest.
Assonance:
Assonance is the repetitionof vowel-sounds within non-rhyming words.
In Poe’s, “Bells” he uses assonance of the vowel “e:”
Hear the mellow wedding bells.
Assonance of the vowel “u” used by Robert Louis Stevenson:
The crumbling thunder of seas
Consonance:
Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds within words. Consonance is very similar to alliteration, but the distinction between the two lies in the placement of the sounds. If the repeated sound is at Beginning of words, it's alliteration. If it elsewhere, it is consonance. In most cases, refers to the end consonant sound (like "NK" in blank and think
Consonance in "The Silken Tent" by Robert Frost
"Guys, how it varies slightly at ease"
Comparing alliteration, assonance and consonance:
It is an example of these three concepts in one line of the poem "The Raven" written by Edgar Allan Poe:
And the silken sad uncertainRustling of each purple curtain
This line is clearly all three, and can show the difference between assonance, consonance and alliteration.
Assonance is the repetition of ur sound in "purple" and "Curtains."
Consonance is the repetition of the s-sound in "unsafe" and "noise".
Alliteration is the repetition of the s sound at the beginning of the "silked" and "sad."
These concepts are very closely related, although the difference between themcomes in the determination of vowels versus consonants, and then the placement within the words.
