If you've only recently started writing poems, it's probable
that your main stylistic concern is how they rhyme. But rhyme isn't the only
thing that can make a poem sound good - in fact, it's not strictly necessary,
and many traditional styles of poetry ignore it. What matters in giving a poem
structure is the way you link sounds, and there are other ways of doing that,
two of the most significant being alliteration and assonance.
What is Alliteration?
Alliteration is the pairing of identical or similar consonant
sounds. You might be most familiar with this from tongue-twisters such as
'Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers', in which the 'p' sound is
repeated. Bear in mind that this sound does not always have to be represented
by the same letter - for instance, you might pair sounds made by 'f' and 'ph'.
If you can't find an appropriate word beginning with an identical sound, you
might settle for a pair like 'f' and 'th'.
Alliteration is commonly used in prose writing, for instance
in newspaper headlines that are intended to be memorable. Used too intensively,
it can create a comic effect, but you can use that too to your advantage, to
amuse the reader. When you use a lot of alliteration, it's important to get a
balance between playfulness and seeming to be clever for the sake of it. Try to
use devices like this only when you are doing so for a reason.
Despite the example given above, alliteration doesn't depend
on particular sounds being at the start of words, though usually they are in a
stressed position (like, for example, the 'c' in 'implication'). Some sounds
carry particular cultural associations that you can manipulate to add depth to
your poem. If you're familiar with 'The Lord of the Rings', think about how
Gollum uses extra 's' sounds, making him seem creepy and untrustworthy.
What is
Assonance?
The counterpart of alliteration,
assonance is the pairing of vowel sounds. There's an example of assonance in
the title of this page - note the 'a' sound at the start of 'alliteration' and
of 'assonance'. This has a subtler effect than alliteration, and often operates
at a subconscious level. It can be one of those factors that makes us decide
that a particular pair of words sound good together.
Vowel sounds can be grouped into
high and low sounds, depending on where the tongue is in the mouth when they're
produced. For instance, 'i' in 'fish' is high, whilst 'u' in 'tub' is low.
Often assonant effects are produced in poetry by grouping a lot of high vowels
or a lot of low vowels.
Most English speakers subconsciously
associate high vowels with light, elegant or sophisticated things, and low
vowels with crude or common things, because of the way they have appeared
historically in the language. You can take advantage of this to establish the
tone of a poem.
Directing
Attention
The primary use of alliteration and
assonance in poetry is to direct attention to particular words, making them
stand out and making them more memorable. By doing this, you can also lead
readers to make associations between words. For instance, in traditional heroic
poetry, poets often use a lot of positive words starting with the hero's
initial and negative ones starting with the villain's initial.
Being aware of the effects of
alliteration and assonance also means that you can avoid using them
accidentally, which can distract readers from the intended flow of a poem. Read
your poetry aloud after finishing your first draft and think carefully about
the different sounds within it. Do they direct attention where you want it to
go, or do they misdirect it?
Creating
Rhythm
Careful use of alliteration and
assonance can help to establish rhythm within a poem (or in prose). Many
traditional forms of poetry use this instead of rhyme, and rhyming poems often
employ alliterative devices to make their rhythm more complex. This works
because of the way the reader's attention is directed to certain sounds,
affecting which words are naturally stressed.
One of the most famous alliterative
poems in English is 'The Raven' by Edgar Allen Poe, in which paired sounds
contribute strongly to the rhythm. Poe uses these sounds onomatopoeically -
that is, to mirror the sound he's describing, that of tapping at a door. Try to
think about your own poetry in this light. Alliteration and assonance can help
you adjust the rhythm to create particular effects.
Alliteration and assonance can seem
complicated at first, but they're well worth exploring. They can bring a whole
new dimension to your work.
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