Alliteration is a literary or rhetorical stylistic device that consists in repeating the same consonant sound at the beginning of several words in close succession. An example is the Mother Goose tongue-twister, "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers …".
In poetry, alliteration may also refer to repetition of a consonant in any syllables that, according to the poem's meter, are stressed as if they occurred at the beginning of a word, as in James Thomson's verse "Come…dragging the lazy languid Line along" [1].
Alliteration is usually distinguished from the mere repetition of the same sound in positions other than the beginning of each word — whether a consonant, as in "some mammals are clammy" (consonance) or a vowel, as in "mellow wedding bells" (assonance); but the term it is sometimes used in these broader senses.[citation needed], Alliteration may also include the use of different consonants with similar properties (labials, dentals, etc.) [2] or even the unwritten glottal stop that precedes virtually every word-initial vowel in the English language, as in the phrase "Apt alliteration's artful aid" (despite the unique pronunciation of the "a" in each word) [3].
Alliteration is commonly used in many languages, especially in poetry. Alliterative verse was an important ingredient of poetry in Old English and other old Germanic languages such as Old High German, Old Norse, and Old Saxon. On the other hand, its accidental occurrence is often viewed as a defect.
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Usage in English
Literature and poetry
The relative formal accessibility of alliteration makes it one of the most commonly used literary tools in English, tracing its origins back to Old English and its ancestral languages. Old Germanic poetry was mostly in the form of alliterative verse that relied heavily on consonance and assonance rather than rhyme. Perhaps the most famous example of Old English alliterative poetry is this passage from Beowulf: "gan under gyldnum beage, þær þa godan twegen" (line 1163).[4]
Statistical analysis of alliteraton use in a Thomas Churchyard poem was used in order to correctly date it in relation to his other works.[5] Statistics can also fuel debates on whether alliterations in literary works were included by chance or by the author’s volition, as in a recent study of 100 Shakespearian sonnets.[6]
Alliteration still seems to maintain an important, though perhaps more subtle, part in contemporary English poetry. Books aimed at young readers often use alliteration, as it consistently captures children's interest, as the "powerful Poo-A-Doo powder" and the "Bitsy Big-Boy Boomeroo" in Dr. Seuss's The Butter Battle Book.
Among contemporary literature, crime fiction writer James Ellroy employed alliteration extensively in the second volume of his American Underworld Trilogy, The Cold Six Thousand, consistent with the novel's hard-boiled tabloid style.
Pop culture
Alliteration survives most obviously in modern English in magazine article titles, advertisements and business names, comic strip or cartoon characters, and common expressions: [7]
- Magazine articles: “Science has Spoiled my Supper”[8], “Too Much Talent in Tennessee?”[9], and "Kurdish Control of Kirkuk Creates a Powder Keg in Iraq" [10]
- Comic/cartoon characters: Beetle Bailey, Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse, Phineas and Ferb.
- Shops: "Coffee Corner", "Sushi Station".
- Expressions: "busy as a bee", "dead as a doornail", "good as gold", "right as rain", etc..
- Music: CSNY's Helplessly Hoping, Franz Ferdinand, Blackalicious's Alphabet Aerobics.
- Names and pseudonyms: Ronald Reagan, Alex Adams, Rodney Rude, Marilyn Monroe.
- Sports Teams: Seattle Seahawks, Los Angeles Lakers, Jacksonville Jaguars, New Jersey Nets, Cleveland Cavaliers, San Antonio Spurs, Pittsburgh Pirates.
Old English names
Another use of alliteration in Old English, outside the literary sphere, is found in personal name giving.[11] This is evidenced by the unbroken series of 9th century kings of Wessex named Æthelwulf, Æthelbald, Æthelberht, and Æthelred. These were followed in the 10th century by their direct descendants Æthelstan and Æthelred II, who ruled as kings of England.[12] The Anglo-Saxon saints Tancred, Torhtred and Tova provide a similar example, among siblings.[13]
See also
References
- ^ James Thomson. The Castle of Indolence.
- ^ Stoll, E. E. (May 1940). "Poetic Alliteration". Modern Language Notes 55 (5): 388.
- ^ Scott, Fred N. (December 1915). "Vowel Alliteration in Modern Poetry". Modern Language Notes 30 (8): 237.
- ^ Hieatt, Constance B., 'Alliterative Patterns in the Hypermetric Lines of Old English Verse', in Modern Philology Vol. 71, No. 3. (Feb. 1974), pp. 237
- ^ Shirley, Charles G, Jr. "Alliteration as Evidence in Dating a Poem of Thomas Churchyard: An Exploratory Computer-Aided Study". Modern Philology, Vol. 76, No. 4. (May, 1979), pp. 374.
- ^ Stoll, Elmer E. Modern Language Notes, Vol. 55, No. 5. (May, 1940), pp. 388-390.
- ^ Coard, Robert L. Wide-Ranging Alliteration. Peabody Journal of Education, Vol. 37, No. 1. (Jul., 1959),pp. 30-32.
- ^ Wylie, Philip G. Science has Spoiled my Supper. Atlantic Magazine, April 1954.
- ^ Dykeman, Wilma: Too Much Talent in Tennessee? Harper's Magazine, 210 (Mar 1955): 48-53.
- ^ Oppel, Richard A. Kurdish Control of Kirkuk Creates a Powder Keg in Iraq. New York Times. [1]
- ^ Gelling, M., Signposts to the Past (2nd edition), Phillimore, 1988, pp. 163-4.
- ^ Old English "Æthel" translates to modern English "noble". For further examples of alliterative Anglo-Saxon royal names, including the use of only alliterative first letters, see e.g. Yorke, B., Kings and Kingdoms of Early Anglo-Saxon England, Seaby, 1990, Table 13 (p. 104; Mercia, names beginning with "C", "M", and "P"), and pp. 142-3 (Wessex, names beginning with "C"). For discussion of the origins and purposes of Anglo-Saxon "king lists" (or "regnal lists"), see e.g. Dumville, D.N., 'Kingship, Genealogies and Regnal Lists', in Sawyer, P.H. & Wood, I.N. (eds.), Early Medieval Kingship, University of Leeds, 1977.
- ^ Rollason, D.W., 'Lists of Saints' resting-places in Anglo-Saxon England', in Anglo-Saxon England 7, 1978, p. 91.
External links
- A List of Alliterations a selection of compiled alliteration examples.
Categories: Literary devices playing with sound
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2009-04-10 10:38:31
An . alliteration. is a sentence which has or almost has every word in the sentence beginning with the same letter. This is more well-known as a tongue twister and tongue twisters are sentences which are very hard to say. ...
