Hi, it's Mr. Sato.
Alliteration is a poetic device in which you repeat consonants. Consonants are all the
letters of the alphabet that aren't vowels: a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes y. Those are
vowels. Everything else is a consonant.
The most obvious example of alliteration is a tongue twister, like: Peter Piper picked
a peck of pickled peppers. You see how that P sound is repeated? That s alliteration.
Sports teams use alliteration a lot. Seattle Seahawks, Buffalo Bills, Tennessee Titans,
that's alliteration. Our ears like that sound.
But alliteration is also used less obviously, as in this song by Tupac Shakur (and I apologize,
I can't legally include a clip of Tupac rapping these lines):
(reading these lines)
Look at those lyrics. What consonants do you hear repeated? Alliteration is most noticeable
at the beginnings of words, but alliteration can be at the middle or end as well.
Here, let me highlight some letters.
(reading these lines)
By the way, these S's aren't highlighted
because they re a Z sound not an S sound. And this one is highlighted because it's an
S sound, even though it isn't actually an S. OK, so you hear all those Ss and Ps? When
you hear that song, you probably don't go, "hey, Tupac is repeating consonants!" No, it
just sounds good. Your ear processes those sounds and words as sounding good together.
They please your ear.
And that's what makes language poetry. It's the use of poetic devices and careful word
choices to supercharge the language, to make it special or heightened in some way.
Poetic devices like alliteration distinguish language from everyday speech.
There's a related poetic device called assonance. So now you know that alliteration is the repetition
of consonant sounds. Assonance is the repeated use of a vowel sound. It's even more subtle
than alliteration. You really have to look and listen for it.
There are only about 18 vowel sounds in American English, give or take--it depends on who you talk to --
so you're going to see random repetition of vowel sounds in any piece of writing: a
Wikipedia article, a grocery list.
But here are some examples of intentional assonance in a truly great sonnet by Claude
McKay. It was written in 1919 about why Black Americans who were being hunted and lynched
should turn, face the enemy, and fight back.
(reading these lines)
Isn't that powerful?
I highlighted the repeated vowel sounds that I heard. Some of those are probably coincidental,
but look for clusters that look deliberate, like they couldn't have all been put there
by random chance.
Not like hogs, spot, bark, dogs, mock, lot. Those words in the first four lines sound
good together. Our ears like it. Some of them rhyme, that's necessary, but others half-rhyme
like bark and mock because rhymes require that the words have the same vowel sounds.
Bark and mock are what are known as near-rhymes.
And look at the fifth line; it's kind of interesting. If we must die, O let us nobly die. Look closely.
There s a repeated series of vowel sounds in there : uh, I, oh uh, oh, I.
That's kind of cool, kind of complicated, a parallel series of vowel sounds but with
a little variation thrown in there just to keep it interesting. It makes that important
line stand out. And it doesn't sound random or accidental to me.
There's a clear use of assonance in that Tupac song too. These lines are from the same song.
Extra, stressing, question, death, breath, when, rest, suppression, questions, all in
the space of just four lines. Those repeated "eh" sounds help create the sound and rhythm
of those lines.
However, it is possible that some writers are not consciously using alliteration and
assonance, and that their ears simply hear that the words sound good together. Probably
not Tupac or McKay, both of whom seemed to craft their language very consciously. But
some writers word choices may be intuitive, and that's fine. It's the scholar's job to
point out what the poem's words are doing to create their magic.
Let's face it, no one notices assonance when reading casually. No one. It's kind of invisible,
but it affects how our minds process those sounds. So you have to listen for it intentionally.
Alliteration, on the other hand, is more noticeable. It stands out.
If you're writing a poem, try choosing words that are near one another that have similar
sounds. It will take conscious effort.
Alliteration and assonance will make your masterpiece more musical and memorable. And
if you're studying a poem, as opposed to writing one, read the poem out loud, sounding it out,
and listen closely for clearly echoed consonants and vowels.
OK, well, have fun with alliteration and assonance.