Home › Glossary › Letter A

Assonant drift

Device
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

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

The gradual shift in vowel sounds across lines, creating a drifting melodic progression in poetic soundscapes.

Detailed Definition
Assonant drift transitions vowel harmonies slowly, evoking fluidity or transience in poetry's auditory flow. Influenced by Old English scop traditions, it drifts in Seamus Heaney's bog poems to mimic earth's slow seep. Poets use it to underscore thematic movement, avoiding abruptness for organic evolution. This device appears to enhance musicality, mirroring life's imperceptible changes, and invites auditory savoring. Drift through assonance deepens immersion, transforming static text into evolving sound waves that parallel narrative or emotional arcs.
Example
Example in poetry:
In "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe, assonant "nevermore" drifts to darker vowels for despair; Seamus Heaney's "Digging" drifts assonants from earthy "o"s to sharp "i"s; Hypothetical: Drifting long "a"s to short "i"s in a poem of fading joy; Alfred Lord Tennyson's "The Lady of Shalott" drifts vowel sounds with the curse's approach; Gerard Manley Hopkins drifts assonance in "Spring and Fall" for sorrow's progression.
Additional Notes
Assonant drift modulates mood via vowels, from Old English to free verse; students track sound shifts, e.g., bright "a" to mournful "o"; related to euphony; Poe drifts in "Raven" for gloom; usage: align with thematic flow for subtlety; professors examine in sound studies, noting its role in emotional progression and auditory landscape design.
Also Known As
Vowel drift Assonance modulation
Skip to main content