Alliteration
Alliteration is derived from the Latin phrase. It means "letters of the alphabet." It is a stylistic device in which several words, having the same first consonant sound, appear together in a series.
Consider the following examples:
But better butter makes a better dough
A big bully hits a baby
Both sentences they are alliterative because the same first letter of the words (B) appears very close together and produces alliteration in the sentence. An important point to remember here is that alliteration does not depend on letters but on sounds, so the phrase not knotty is alliterative, but cigarette chasing is not.
Common examples of alliteration
In our daily lives, we notice alliteration in names of different companies. memorize. Here are several examples of common alliterations. characters and real people can stand prominently in their minds because of the effects of their alliterative names.Examples are:
Ronald Reagan
Sammy Sosa
Jesse Jackson
Michael Moore
William Wordsworth
Mickey Mouse
Porky Pig
Lois Lane
Marilyn Monroe
Fred Flintstone
Donald Duck
Spongebob Squarepants
Seattle Seahawks
Alliteration Examples Literature
Example # 1
From Samuel Taylor Coleridge, "Rime of the Ancient Mariner "
" The gentle breeze blew, the white foam flew,
The furrow was still free;
We were the first to explode
In that silence nt be. "
In the previous lines we see alliterations (" b "," f "and" s ") in the phrases" breeze blew "," flew foam "," furrow followed "and" silent sea ".
Example # 2
From" The Dead ”by James Joyce
“ His soul fainted slowly when he heard the snow fall faintly across the universe and fall faintly, like the descent of its last end, on all the living and the dead. ”
We observe several instances of alliteration in the aforementioned prose work by James Joyce. The alliterations are with "s" and "f" in the phrases "fainted slowly" and "falling weakly" .
Example # 3
From "I know why the caged bird sings" by Maya Angelou
"Up the hall, the moans and screams merged with the foul smell of black woolen clothing worn in summer weather and withered green leaves on yellow flowers. ”
Maya gives us a striking example of alliteration in the above excerpt with the letters 's' and "w". We note that alliterative words are interrupted by other non-alliterative words between them, but the effect of alliteration remains the same. We immediately notice the alliteration in the words "screams", "foul smell", "summer", "weather" and "wilting". ".
Example # 4
From William Shakespeare's" Romeo and Juliet "(Act 1 prologue)
" From the fatal loins of these two enemies;
A pair of star-crossed lovers take their own lives. "
This is an example of alliteration with the" f "and" l "in words" forward, fatal, enemies "and" loins, lovers and life. "
Example # 5
Percy Bysshe Shelley (English Romantic Poet) "The Witch of the Atlas" is a famous poem that is full of examples of alliterations. Of them are "wings of winds" (line 175), "sick soul to happy sleep" 178), "crystalline silence cells" (line 156), "Wisdom's wizard.wind.will" (lines 195-197), "Drained and dried" (line 227), "light lines" (line 245), " green and resplendent ”(line 356) and crisp cloudscape” (lines 482-3).
Function of alliteration
Alliteration plays a very important role in poetry and prose. It creates a musical effect in the text that increases the joy of reading a literary piece. It makes reading and reciting the poems attractive and engaging. This makes it easier to memorize them. It also adds flow and beauty to a piece of script.
In the marketing industry, as we discussed earlier, alliteration makes brand names interesting and easier to remember. This literary medium is helpful in customer acquisition and sales.
Popular Literary Devices
- Ad Hominem
- Adage
- Allegory
- Alliteration
- Allusion
- Ambiguity
- Anachronism
- Anagram
- Analogy
- Anapest
- Anaphora
- Anecdote
- Antagonist
- Antecedent
- Antimetabole
- Antithesis
- Aphorism
- Aposiopesis
- Apostrophe
- Archaism
- Archetype
- Argument
- Assonance
- Biography
- Cacophony
- Cadence
- Caricature
- Catharsis
- Characterization
- Cliché
- Climax
- Colloquialism
- Comparison
- Conflict
- Connotation
- Consonance
- Denotation
- Deus Ex Machina
- Dialect
- Dialogue
- Diction
- Didacticism
- Discourse
- Doppelganger
- Double Entendre
- Ellipsis
- Epiphany
- Epitaph
- Essay
- Ethos
- Eulogy
- Euphemism
- Evidence
- Exposition
- Fable
- Fallacy
- Flash Forward
- Foil
- Foreshadowing
- Genre
- Haiku
- Half Rhyme
- Hubris
- Hyperbaton
- Hyperbole
- Idiom
- Imagery
- Induction
- Inference
- Innuendo
- Internal Rhyme
- Irony
- Jargon
- Juxtaposition
- Limerick
- Line Break
- Logos
- Meiosis
- Memoir
- Metaphor
- Meter
- Mood
- Motif
- Narrative
- Nemesis
- Non Sequitur
- Ode
- Onomatopoeia
- Oxymoron
- Palindrome
- Parable
- Paradox
- Parallelism
- Parataxis
- Parody
- Pathetic Fallacy
- Pathos
- Pentameter
- Persona
- Personification
- Plot
- Poem
- Poetic Justice
- Point of View
- Portmanteau
- Propaganda
- Prose
- Protagonist
- Pun
- Red Herring
- Repetition
- Rhetoric
- Rhyme
- Rhythm
- Sarcasm
- Satire
- Simile
- Soliloquy
- Sonnet
- Style
- Superlative
- Syllogism
- Symbolism
- Synecdoche
- Synesthesia
- Syntax
- Tautology
- Theme
- Thesis
- Tone
- Tragedy
- Tragicomedy
- Tragic Flaw
- Transition
- Utopia
- Verisimilitude