This document defines and provides examples of assonance, consonance, and alliteration - three literary devices that involve repetition of sounds. Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds, consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds at the end or middle of words, and alliteration is the repetition of initial consonant sounds. Examples are given from well-known poems as well as common phrases to illustrate each technique. The purpose of these sound devices is to create musicality and add mood or rhythm to text.

2. ASSONANCE
0Repetition of vowel sounds in nearby words
0Used to add rythm
0Internal rhyme
0Add a musical effect to the sentence or
fragment
0Adds mood to the text

3. example
0Men sell the wedding bell
0Go and mow the lawn
0The rain in Spain falls mainly in the
plains

4. Example in Anglo Saxon
0“At my sea weary soul…” The Seafarer
0"By God, punished forever for the crime,”
Beowulf
0“I had few loved ones in this land.” The Wifes
Lament

5. Find the assonance
0Mike likes his new bike
0The zoo was amazing, especially
the lizards and chimpanzes
0The black sack in the back
0Sent and went

6. CONSONANCE
0Repetition of a sound in the middle or
end of a word in a phrase or sentence
0Vowels don’t count!
0“slant rhyme”
0Sounds are similar but don’t quite rhyme
0Capitol and symbol

7. examples
0Don’t eat in that tent
0Some mammals are clammy
0The lumpy bumpy road

8. Examples in Anglo Saxon
0“no kisman could offer confort” The Seafarer
0Tore its iron fasteners with a touch” Beowulf
0“Heart was bent. The best and most noble”
Beowulf

9. Find the consonance
0It will creep and beep while you
sleep.
0Norm, the worm, took the garden
by a storm this morn.
0It will creep and beep while you
sleep.
0Blank and think

10. ALLITERATION
0When the same syllables or letters repeat at
the begining of words in a phrase
0Don’t always have to start in the same letter.
0We focus on the sound not the letter itself
0Makes names (of companies, brands, etc)
more interesting

11. example
0Mickey Mouse
0Peter Piper
0Spongebob Squarepants
0Funny photos
0Sunny side

12. Examples in Anglo Saxon
0"tell my travels.” The Seafearer
0“Marked as a murderer, man-joys avoiding,”
Beowulf
0“And folk-ruling Father’s favor relied on,”
Beowulf
0"The Hall of the Heart”