Mrs. Dowling's Literature Terms

Study Guide

At the end of this unit you will be able to:

• define alliteration
• find alliteration in selected writings.

Alliteration is the repetition of a consonant sound at the beginning of words.

Examples:

do or die	safe and sound
now or never	sweet smell of success

ALLITERATION IN PROSE
Alliteration is fun to say and enjoyable to hear. Without knowing it, you probably use alliteration to call attention to certain words. Many familiar phrases and expressions use alliteration. These include "down in the dumps," "hale and hearty," and "turn the tables." Tongue twisters rely on alliteration.: "rubber baby buggy bumpers. Many sayings such as these use alliteration:

• He who laughs last laughs first.
• Time and tide wait for no man.

When writers want to emphasize certain words, they may use alliteration. Notice the ideas that are emphasized by alliteration in these examples.

• The deep churned. Something had happened down in the dim, foggy-green depths.

  --Paul Annixter,"Battle in the Depths"

• Touch each object you want to touch as if tomorrow your tactile sense would fail.

  --Helen Keller, "The Seeing See Little"

• There is always something left to love. And if you ain't learned that, you ain't learned nothing.

  --Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun

ALLITERATION IN POETRY
Alliteration is one of the poet's most important sound techniques. It makes particular words stand out. It also connects the words to be emphasized. Look for the repeated consonant sounds in this poem:

Then up and spake an old sailor,
  Had sailed to the Spanish Main,
"I pray thee, put into yonder port,
  For I fear a hurricane."

--Henry W. Longfellow, "The Wreck of Hesperus"

Often the sounds and meanings of the words combine to create a mood. Here, repetition of b and t stresses a feeling of urgency.

Hear the loud alarum bells--
  Brazen bells!
What a tale of terror, now, their turbulency tells!

--Edgar Allen Poe, "The Bells"

What consonant sounds are repeated in the following lines?

Swing low, sweet chariot,
Comin' for to carry me home.

--Traditional Spiritual

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