Lesson 2

• Assonance

  Repetition of a vowel sound in a phrase or sentence to create internal rhythm
• Alliteration was a key tool for making works memorable enough to be told repeatedly
• Alliteration in Literature

  • Example #1: Beowulf as translated by Seamus Heaney
  • Example #2: Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
• Assonance in Literature

  • Extract from "I wandered lonely as a cloud" by William Wordsworth
• It is the vowel sound that creates assonance, not the letter itself
• Alliteration


  • Common feature in poetry, songs, raps, speeches, and other kinds of writing
  • Found in frequently used phrases like "pretty as a picture" and "dead as a doornail"
• Shakespeare frequently used alliteration in his plays and poetry
• Alliteration was particularly important in Old English for passing down the tradition of oral storytelling
• Alliteration

  Consonant sounds in two or more neighboring words or syllables are repeated
• Alliteration

  1. In its simplest form reinforces one or two consonant sounds

  2. A more complex pattern is created when consonants at the beginning of words and stressed syllables are repeated
• Seamus Heaney paid special attention to the rhythm and alliteration in his translation of Beowulf
• Assonance can be noticed in words that start with consonants
• Consonance is a literary device used in both poetry and prose, involving repetitive consonant sounds
• Contemporary poets still use assonance, consonance, and alliteration to provide more subtle phonemic unity
• Assonance in literature

  • Several proverbs in English contain examples of assonance, making them more memorable in a subtler way than through rhyming words
• Rhyme was not common in Old English verse; instead, the chief poetic techniques were rhythm, meter, consonance, and assonance
• Consonance is different from assonance, rhyme, and alliteration
• Examples of Assonance From Literature

  • Example #1: Beowulf translated by Seamus Heaney
  • Example #2: Sonnet 55 by Shakespeare
  • Example #3: "Today" by Frank O'Hara
  • Example #4: "After Apple-Picking" by Robert Frost
• Consonance

  Repetitive sounds produced by consonants within a sentence or phrase, different from assonance and rhyme
• Rhyme became popular in English poetry after the Germanic language took on new words from Romance languages
• Consonance is commonly employed in a range of situations, from poetry to prose writing
• A writer normally employs the tool of consonance for the purpose of reiterating the significance of an idea or theme
• Consonance adds a lyrical feeling to poetry that otherwise cannot be added
• Examples of phrases containing consonance

  • All’s well that ends well
  • The early bird gets the worm
  • Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers
  • Curiosity killed the cat
  • A blessing in disguise
• Languages that don’t have as many rhymes, such as English, often depend on other poetic techniques like consonance to create cohesion and internal rhythm
• The use of consonance makes the structure of poetry or prose appealing for the reader
• Consonance in poetry is often used to make the imagery clearer
• Rhyme

  Consonant sounds can be present at the beginning, middle, or end of several successive words, rather than merely at the ends of words
• Consonance has played a big part in the creation of works of literature in many languages
• The use of consonance is significantly greater in poetry writing than in the prose form
• Example #2


  • Excerpt from Edgar Allen Poe’s poem “Annabel Lee”
• Consonance is used frequently in poetry and drama as a technique to add aural harmony and rhythm
• Example #1

  • Speech from Shakespeare’s Hamlet
• Consonance

  Involves repetition of consonant sounds only
• Onomatopoeia refers to a word that phonetically mimics or resembles the sound of the thing it describes
• The use of consonance provides the structure of poetry with a rhyming effect
• Consonance is especially significant in English and has been found in works dating back to Old English epics, such as Beowulf
• Consonance can also be found in prose, but it is not as common or obvious of a technique as in poetry
• Consonance is used by poets to underscore the emotions behind their words that simple words cannot convey
• Consonance enables the poet to formulate a fine and powerful structure for his poetry and to create a background for the themes underlying the poetry