Poetic and prosaic writers use a variety of literary strategies, including alliteration and assonance. They’re designed to engage a reader’s auditory talents while also making the works in which they’re employed enjoyable to read.
Since alliteration and assonance are so prevalent in poetry and prose, it’s difficult for the average reader to tell them apart.
Key Takeaways
- Alliteration involves the repetition of initial consonant sounds in words, whereas assonance involves the repetition of vowel sounds.
- Alliteration creates a rhythmic effect and adds emphasis, while assonance enhances mood and tone in a piece of writing.
- Both alliteration and assonance are literary devices used to create poetic or artistic effects in language.
Alliteration vs Assonance
Alliteration is a writing style that involves the repetition of the initial sound of words in a phrase or sentence. It is used in various forms of writing. Assonance is a writing style that involves the repetition of vowel sounds in close words that do not end with the same consonant sound.
Alliteration occurs when starting consonant sounds are repeated in two or more nearby words or syllables. It’s when words that share a vowel sound are used close to one another.
It can be found anywhere in a word and is most found in groups of words near the beginning or end of a sentence, line, or phrase.
Comparison Table
| Parameters of Comparison | Alliteration | Assonance |
|---|---|---|
| Also known as | Head rhyme | Vowel rhyme |
| Repetition involves | Consonants | Vowels |
| Often used | Poetry and phrases | Poetry and prose |
| Connection | A type of consonance | An independent literary device |
| Example | Papa puked near the wall. | Try but don’t cry |
What is Alliteration?
Alliteration is a literary device with Latin roots meaning “letters of the alphabet.” “Fish fry” is an example of a word connected with the same first consonant sound.
As well as commonly used phrases such as “beautiful as a picture” and “dead as a doornail,” which use alliteration, poetry is also widespread in songs, raps, speeches, and other types of writing.
It adds interest to a sentence by repeating the consonant sounds at the beginning of each word.
Alliteration is used in conjunction with assonance, the recurrence of stressed vowel sounds inside two or more words with different final consonants, such as “stony” and “holy,
and consonance, the repetition of end or medial consonants, such as “stroke” and “luck,” as a literary device.
What is Assonance?
Vowel rhyme and assonance are both terms used to describe assonance. The words must be close enough to one another so that similar vowel sounds can be heard.
When it comes to the word “assonance,” the Latin root “assonare” is where it gets its meaning. Assonance has been defined in the same way it is today since the 1800s.
The creation of rhythm has a cascading impact. Part of what makes proverbs so memorable is the way they get people to remember a group of words by embedding them in their minds.
It’s also been shown that assonance can enhance one’s state of mind. In writing, long vowel sounds such as “oo” and “aa” are thought to slow down the pace and make the piece more solemn.
Main Differences Between Alliteration and Assonance
- IAlliteration is used to help remember long strings of words, such as security passwords, but assonance is more commonly utilized to highlight the unique vowel sounds found in the English language.
- Alliteration is much used in Old English, whereas assonance is much used in Modern English.
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