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Alliteration

Rhetorical Devices
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Alliteration is the repetition of initial consonant sounds in nearby words, as in “wild winds whistle.” It creates musical pattern, emphasis, and memorable verbal texture.

Explore this topic in depth (1)

Sound Devices in Poetry — Sound devices are the patterns of speech that make a poem memorable to the ear as well as meaningful on the page. This guide explains how to hear alliteration, assonance, consonance and other effects, and how to describe what they do without reducing sound to a checklist.

Detailed Definition
Alliteration links words through repeated beginning consonant sounds, whether or not they begin with the same letter. A poet may use soft sounds to suggest intimacy or hush, harsh sounds to convey conflict, or quick repetitions to accelerate a line. Rooted in oral traditions and especially prominent in Old English verse, it can organize a poem without end rhyme. Its sound pattern makes phrases easier to remember, heightens imagery, and lets the physical music of language reinforce a poem’s mood or meaning.
Example
Example in poetry:
“Silver snow slides silently” repeats the initial s sound; “The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew” from Coleridge uses repeated b and f sounds; “Wild winds worried the willow” links words through w sounds; “Deep dark dreams drift down” uses d sounds to create a hushed rhythm
Additional Notes
Alliteration concerns sound rather than spelling, so “city” and “sorrow” may alliterate through their initial s sound. Repeated consonants can make a line soothing, swift, hushed, or percussive. Read aloud to test the effect, and distinguish it from assonance, which repeats vowel sounds.
Other Meanings of “Alliteration”
Also Known As
Initial Rhyme Head Rhyme Consonantal Echo
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