User:Chantol/What is an Alliteration?



Alliteration is a term that describes a literary stylistic device. Alliteration occurs when a series of words in a row (or close to a row) have the same first consonant sound. For example, “She sells sea-shells down by the sea-shore” or “Peter Piper Picked a Peck of Pickled Peppers” are both alliterative phrases. In the former, all the words start with the “s” sound, while in the later, the letter “p” takes precedence. Aside from tongue twisters, alliteration is also used in poems, song lyrics, and even store or brand names.



 Alliteration plays a very crucial role in poetry and literature:

Today, alliteration is often used to make slogans more memorable or to make children’s stories more fun to read out loud.
 * It provides a work with musical rhythms.
 * Poems that use alliteration are read and recited with more interest and appeal.
 * Poems with alliteration can be easier to memorize.
 * Alliteration lends structure, flow, and beauty to any piece of writing.

To further understand the meaning it often helps to take a look at examples of alliteration in poems.



There are numerous examples of alliteration in poems. For example:

Poe
Here are examples of alliteration taken from The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe:

In this Poe poem, weak and weary; rare and radiant; silken and sad; deep and darkness; and wondering and fearing are all examples of alliteration.
 * Once upon a midnight dreary while I pondered weak and weary
 * ...rare and radiant maiden
 * And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain
 * Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing, Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before