Alliteration is the recurring sound of a consonant. That is, any sound except a vowel. Sometimes several consonants play together, weaving in and out. Alliteration comes naturally to all of us, including poets. Without even thinking about it we use it in nicknames, find it in comics and nursery rhymes. From my childhood I remember Desperate Dan, Korky the Cat, Lucy Locket. Advertisers exploit it. Poets sing it. Children chant it. Poets using Old English over a thousand years ago, and even earlier in the much older British language (Welsh), relished alliteration.<\/p>\n
Poets don\u2019t think about using alliteration, assonance and all those tricks. It comes naturally. I\u2019ve just checked some of my poems for alliteration, and find plenty there. \u2018The Field Mouse\u2019 begins with \u2018s\u2019 sounds in the first line:<\/p>\n
\u2018Summer, and the long grass is a snare drum.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
and ends with three lines full of \u2018b\u2019 sounds, a few \u2018l\u2019s, and again that sighing \u2018s\u2019:<\/p>\n
\u2018their bones brittle as mouse ribs, the air
\nstammering with gunfire, my neighbour turned
\nstranger, wounding my land with stones.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Alliteration is the recurring sound of a consonant. That is, any sound except a vowel. Sometimes several consonants play together, weaving in and out. Alliteration comes naturally to all of us, including poets. Without even thinking about it we use it in nicknames, find it in comics and nursery rhymes. From my childhood I remember… Continue reading Alliteration<\/span>