Why use assonance and consonance

Technically, rhyme is a kind of assonance, but in practical terms, when we call something assonance, we often mean that only the vowel sound repeats between words. Along similar lines, when we call something consonance, we mean that only the consonant sounds repeat. As such, we have consonance but not rhyme. With rhyming pairs, the common sound occurs at the end of each word. In the case of door and floor, the beginning sounds differ d and fl but the final sounds match oor , creating the rhyme.

With assonance and consonance, however, the recurring sound patterns can occur anywhere in the associated words—at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end.

In poetry, rhyming words usually occur at the end of poetic lines, creating complex patterns that knit lines and indeed often entire poems together.

Instead of structuring the entirety of a poem or stanza, however, assonance and consonance usually show up irregularly in certain moments of a poem. In this way, assonance and consonance create temporary, ephemeral patterns in a given line or phrase that dissipate as quickly as they emerge. Need help? How to videos Why join? What are alliteration, assonance and consonance? When analysing poetry your primary-school child might mention alliteration, assonance and consonance.

We explain what they've been taught to look out for in literacy lessons. Login or Register to add to your saved resources. What is alliteration? Alliteration is the repetition of an initial letter or sound in closely connected words for example, in the sentence: 'Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. In this example, if we convert the orthographic words to a phonemic transcription, we will find that certain sounds are similar.

That means 'i' sound in try, light, fire. This is an example of assonance. So basically, both of these are used to give emphasis to one's reading and writing.

These alliterative devices make the reading more profound and the knowledge of word stress more prominent. You may notice that the definitions of alliteration and consonance are similar. Keep in mind that that alliteration involves the first consonant sound in multiple words, while consonance can appear anywhere in the word typically at the end. The sound devices occur in quick succession, usually within several words in a row or in a line. Alliteration is the easiest sound device to identify in a poem.

Because it involves the first letter or blended sound in two or more words, readers can track this repetition quite easily. Some basic examples of alliteration would include:.

Here is an example of alliteration used for poetic effect. You can read more examples of alliteration in poetry to help you identify the ways poets use the device for different effects.

The vowels typically appear in the middle of the word. For example:. You may observe that the vowels are not identical from word to word. In fact, only the vowel sound is required to match in assonance, not the vowel itself.