Sound & Diction
Alliteration
Repeating an initial consonant sound in nearby words. The shared sound links the words and can establish a rhythmic pattern.
"would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world" — Melville's w's
Don't confuse it with Assonance. Assonance repeats vowel sounds; consonance repeats consonants anywhere in the word, not just initially.
A similar example that does not qualify
A giant gate stood open.
“Giant” begins with /dʒ/ and “gate” with /g/. Matching letters alone do not establish matching initial sounds.
Counterexample written for practice.
Compare sentences using Alliteration →Examples
Silver sails slid silently seaward.
The nearby words repeat the initial /s/ consonant sound.
Kind cats kept quiet.
Despite different initial letters, all four words begin with the /k/ sound.
His soul swooned slowly
The nearby stressed words “soul,” “swooned,” and “slowly” begin with /s/.
A possible effect: The recurring soft consonant and the word “slowly” can support a hushed, lingering delivery.
Practice explaining this example →While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
“Nodded,” “nearly,” and “napping” repeat initial /n/ in nearby words.
A possible effect: The clustered sounds bind the account of drowsiness before the tapping interrupts it.
Practice explaining this example →The latch clicked and the hinges howled.
Nearby stressed words “hinges” and “howled” share initial /h/.
A possible effect: The repeated /h/ binds the hinge and its sound; “howled” also intensifies the noise.
Practice explaining this example →Broken bottles blocked the bridge.
“Broken,” “bottles,” “blocked,” and “bridge” share initial /b/.
A possible effect: The repeated abrupt consonant ties the obstacles and blockage together in a compact phrase.
Practice explaining this example →Often used alongside this device
Explore devices that often appear in the same passages as alliteration.
Anaphora 4 Antithesis 3 Personification 3 Simile 3
The rest of the family
Assonance Onomatopoeia Tmesis Neologism Archaism Solecism Epithet