This document defines and provides examples of alliteration and assonance. Alliteration is the repetition of initial consonant sounds in words close together, like "cool was I and logical." Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in nearby words that start with different consonants, like "hear the mellow wedding bells." The document cautions that repetition of letters alone does not constitute alliteration or assonance, as the repetition must be of sounds. Examples are provided to illustrate proper uses of each literary device.

1. Alliteration & Assonance

2. Alliteration

3. What is alliteration?
❖ derived from Latin’s “Latira”, which means
“letters of alphabet”.
❖ a literary stylistic device, which occurs when a
series of words in a row (or close together) have
the same first consonant sound

4. Alliteration
Examples:
❖ “…and they were making all kinds of conjectures
concerning the captive’s future.”
❖ “…the lurid letters of Lucy Lewis are luscious,
lucid and libidinous.”
❖ “I had seen her at the Kozy Kampus Korner eating
the specialty of the house…”

5. Alliteration
Examples:
❖ Marilyn Monroe
❖ Krispy Kreme
❖ Donald Duck
❖ Stephen Strange
❖ Bench & Bath
❖ Great Gatsby

6. Alliteration
Watch out!
❖ Some words/names may have the same first
consonant, however this does not automatically
make it an alliteration.
❖ Remember that alliteration is based on SOUND,
not LETTER

7. Alliteration
examples:
❖ cheerful celebration
↳the sounds do not match (ch and se)
❖ the impossible island…
↳e and ay
❖ Jose and Jonathan
↳ho and jo

8. Alliteration
These are considered:
❖ Cassandra Quixote
↳both start with “k” sound
❖ Egyptian inventors of the early eras
↳both start with “e” sound
❖ “Cool was I and logical. Keen, calculating…”

9. Assonance

10. What is assonance?
❖ It is the repetition of vowel sounds in nearby
words.
❖The words start with different consonant sounds,
unlike alliteration that involves repetition of the
same consonant sounds.

11. Assonance
Examples:
❖ “…perspicacious, acute and astute — I was all
of these.”
❖ “Hear the mellow wedding bells.”
❖ “I must confess that in my quest I felt depressed
and restless.”

12. Assonance
Examples:
❖ “The rain in Spain stays mainly on the plain.”
❖ “The light of the fire is a sight.”
❖ “A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze…”

13. Assonance
Watch out!
❖ Just like with alliteration, some words/names
may have the same vowels, however this does not
automatically make it an assonance.
❖ Remember that assonance is also based on SOUND,
not LETTER only.

14. Assonance
examples:
❖ “…Bowed head and lowered eyes?”
↳bowed-aw, lowered-ow
❖ “Though I travelled through life with optimism…”
↳though-ow, through-oo