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Assonance

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

Assonance is the repetition of similar vowel sounds in nearby words, especially in stressed syllables. It creates internal music, links words, and can shape a poem's mood.

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
Assonance is a sound pattern made by repeating vowel sounds within nearby words, without requiring matching consonants or spellings. In “slow road home,” the long o sound creates a subtle echo. Unlike rhyme, assonance may occur anywhere in a line, allowing poets to make texture without a conspicuous end pattern. It can slow a line with open, lingering vowels or sharpen it with brief ones. Poets use assonance to connect images, reinforce emotional atmosphere, and make free verse feel musically organized.
Example
Example in poetry:
“Hear the mellow wedding bells” from Poe repeats the long e sound; “The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain” repeats the long a sound; “The moan of doves in the low oak grove” uses repeated long o sounds; “A pale moon lay over the lake” echoes the long a sound
Additional Notes
Assonance repeats vowel sounds within nearby words, as in “the slow road home.” Because English spelling can mislead, listen for pronunciation rather than letters. Assonance can bind free verse without end rhyme and can subtly establish mood; compare consonance, the repetition of consonant sounds within or at the ends of words.
Other Meanings of “Assonance”
Also Known As
Vowel Harmony Vowel Rhyme Internal Vowel Echo
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