Assonance is a resemblance in the sounds of words/syllables either between their vowels (e.g., ''meat, bean'') or between their consonants (e.g., ''keep, cape''). However, assonance between consonants is generally called ''consonance'' in American usage. The two types are often combined, as between the words ''six'' and ''switch'', in which the vowels are identical, and the consonants are similar but not completely identical. If there is repetition of the same vowel or some similar vowels in literary work, especially in stressed syllables, this may be termed "vowel harmony" in poetry (though linguists have a different definition of "

vowel harmony In phonology, vowel harmony is an assimilatory process in which the vowels of a given domain – typically a phonological word – have to be members of the same natural class (thus "in harmony"). Vowel harmony is typically long distance, me ...

"). A special case of assonance is

rhyme A rhyme is a repetition of similar sounds (usually, the exact same phonemes) in the final stressed syllables and any following syllables of two or more words. Most often, this kind of perfect rhyming is consciously used for a musical or aesthetic ...

, in which the endings of words (generally beginning with the vowel sound of the last stressed syllable) are identical—as in ''fog'' and ''log'' or ''history'' and ''mystery''. Vocalic assonance is an important element in verse. Assonance occurs more often in verse than in

prose Prose is a form of written or spoken language that follows the natural flow of speech, uses a language's ordinary grammatical structures, or follows the conventions of formal academic writing. It differs from most traditional poetry, where the fo ...

; it is used in English-language poetry and is particularly important in

Old French Old French (, , ; Modern French: ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France from approximately the 8th to the 14th centuries. Rather than a unified language, Old French was a linkage of Romance dialects, mutually intel ...

, Spanish, and the

Celtic languages The Celtic languages (usually , but sometimes ) are a group of related languages descended from Proto-Celtic. They form a branch of the Indo-European language family. The term "Celtic" was first used to describe this language group by Edward ...

Examples

English poetry is rich with examples of assonance and/or consonance: It also occurs in prose: Hip hop relies on assonance: It is also heard in other forms of popular music: Assonance is common in

proverb A proverb (from la, proverbium) is a simple and insightful, traditional saying that expresses a perceived truth based on common sense or experience. Proverbs are often metaphorical and use formulaic language. A proverbial phrase or a proverbia ...

s: Total assonance is found in a number of

Pashto Pashto (,; , ) is an Eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family. It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani (). Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns, it is one of the two official langua ...

proverbs from

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is borde ...

: *''La zra na bal zra ta laar shta.'' "From one heart to another there is a way." *''Kha ghar lwar day pa sar laar lary.'' "Even if a mountain is very high, there is a path to the top." This poetic device can be found in the first line of

Homer Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...

Iliad The ''Iliad'' (; grc, Ἰλιάς, Iliás, ; "a poem about Ilium") is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Ody ...

: (). Another example is ''Dies irae'' (probably by Thomas of Celano): : ''Dies iræ, dies illa'' : ''Solvet sæclum in favilla,'' : ''Teste David cum Sibylla.'' In

Dante Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called (modern Italian: ' ...

's ''

Divine Comedy The ''Divine Comedy'' ( it, Divina Commedia ) is an Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun 1308 and completed in around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature a ...

'' there are some stanzas with such repetition. : ''così l’animo mio, ch’ancor fuggiva,'' : ''si volse a retro a rimirar lo passo'' : ''che non lasciò già mai persona viva.'' In the following strophe from

Hart Crane Harold Hart Crane (July 21, 1899 – April 27, 1932) was an American poet. Provoked and inspired by T. S. Eliot, Crane wrote modernist poetry that was difficult, highly stylized, and ambitious in its scope. In his most ambitious work, '' The Brid ...

's "To Brooklyn Bridge" there is the vowel in many stressed syllables. : ''How many dawns, chill from his rippling rest'' : ''The seagull’s wings shall dip and pivot him,'' : ''Shedding white rings of tumult, building high'' : ''Over the chained bay waters Liberty—'' All

s in a strophe can be linked by vowel harmony into one assonance. Such stanzas can be found in Italian or Portuguese poetry, in works by

Giambattista Marino Giovanni Battista was a common Italian given name (see Battista for those with the surname) in the 16th-18th centuries. It refers to " John the Baptist" in English, the French equivalent is "Jean-Baptiste". Common nicknames include Giambattista, G ...

and

Luís Vaz de Camões Luis is a given name. It is the Spanish form of the originally Germanic name or . Other Iberian Romance languages have comparable forms: (with an accent mark on the i) in Portuguese and Galician, in Aragonese and Catalan, while is archai ...

: : ''Giunto a quel passo il giovinetto Alcide,'' : ''che fa capo al camin di nostra vita,'' : ''trovò dubbio e sospeso infra due guide'' : ''una via, che’ due strade era partita.'' : ''Facile e piana la sinistra ei vide,'' : ''di delizie e piacer tutta fiorita;'' : ''l’altra vestìa l’ispide balze alpine'' : ''di duri sassi e di pungenti spine.'' This is

ottava rima Ottava rima is a rhyming stanza form of Italian origin. Originally used for long poems on heroic themes, it later came to be popular in the writing of mock-heroic works. Its earliest known use is in the writings of Giovanni Boccaccio. The o ...

(abababcc), a very popular form in Renaissance, used in the first place in long epic poems. : ''As armas e os barões assinalados,'' : ''Que da ocidental praia Lusitana,'' : ''Por mares nunca de antes navegados,'' : ''Passaram ainda além da Taprobana,'' : ''Em perigos e guerras esforçados,'' : ''Mais do que prometia a força humana,'' : ''E entre gente remota edificaram'' : ''Novo Reino, que tanto sublimaram;'' There are many examples of vowel harmony in French, Czech, and PolishWiktor Jarosław Darasz, Mały przewodnik po wierszu polskim, Kraków 2003, pp. 179–185 (in Polish). poetry.

References

Sources

Assonance
American Rhetoric: Rhetorical Figures in Sound

Modern & Contemporary American Poetry, University of Pennsylvania

Elements of Poetry, VirtuaLit

External links

Examples of assonance in poetry.

Examples and definition of assonance.

Katarzyna Lesiak, Estetyka dźwięku, czyli instrumentacja dźwiękowa oraz jej praktyczna realizacja w poezji epickiej mistrzów łacińskiego heksametru: Lukrecjusza, Wergiliusza i Owidiusza, Katowice 2007 (in Polish).
{{Poetic forms Poetic devices

Examples

See also

References

Sources

Further reading

External links