Alliteration
Alliteration is the repetition of sounds at the beginning of words. A common example is the tongue twister "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers." In this case, the "p" sound came at the beginning of most of the words in the sentence. Another example would be the sentence "Mr. Cohen caught Claudia cavorting constantly while William wanted to work." This sentence has two examples of alliteration: the first is the hard "c" sound at the beginning of Cohen, caught, Claudia, and cavorting, and the second is the "w" sound at the beginning of while, William, wanted, and work.
We see alliteration in this excerpt from Edgar Allen Poe's classic poem The Raven. The examples of alliteration are underlined (note that "quaint" and "curious" count as alliteration because even thought they do not begin with the same letter, they begin with the same sound.) Click on Poe's photograph if you want to hear the poem being read aloud. Can you find the alliteration more easily when you hear the poem spoken out loud?
The Raven
"Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore, While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door. "'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door - Only this, and nothing more." Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December, And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor. Eagerly I wished the morrow; - vainly I had sought to borrow From my books surcease of sorrow - sorrow for the lost Lenore - For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore - Nameless here for evermore." |
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