Lesson Topic 2: Alliteration

An illustrated figure jumps for joy as he graduates from school. Alliteration is the repetition of initial consonant sounds in neighboring words.

Examples:

The sweet smell of success.

A dime a dozen.

Bigger and better.

Jump for joy.

The ancient poets often used alliteration instead of rhyme; in Beowulf, there are three alliterations in every line. For example:

Now Beowulf bode in the burg of the Scyldings,

Leader be loved, and long he ruled

In fame with all folk since his father had gone . . .

Modern poets also use alliteration, especially as a substitute for rhyme. Edwin Markham's "Lincoln, the Man of the People" is in unrhymed blank verse, text annotation indicator but there are many lines that are alliterative, such as:

She left the Heaven of Heroes and came down

To make a man to meet the mortal need

A man to match the mountains and the sea

The friendly welcome of the wayside well

Like rhyme, alliteration is a great help to memory. It is the alliteration that makes us remember such phrases as: "sink or swim," "do or die," "fuss and feathers," "the more the merrier," "watchful waiting," "poor but proud," "hale and hearty," "green as grass," "live and learn," "money makes the mare go."

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