Alliteration is a series of words beginning with the same letter or sound.
What is alliteration? How and why would you use it?
A series of words beginning with the same consonant, used to emphasise a point or create a mood.
Tongue twisters are an obvious example:
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
Try saying that ten times fast!
Using alliteration with certain letters can really build a mood, like how the W s in ‘whispering wind’ create a setting that is soft and airy, or the harsh R’s in ‘raging river rapids’ help us picture the fast-flowing and ruthless water.
Alliteration can get your point across by appealing to a reader’s sense of hearing.
“The bass notes boomed into his very bones”
Here, the alliteration of the letter “B” mimics the deep sound of the bass and emphasises the volume of the music. The repeated ‘B’ sound suggests a musical rhythm we can feel when we read the sentence.
In the poem ‘My Rival’s House’ by Liz Lochhead, whose name is also alliterative, the speaker is visiting her new lover’s mother for the first time.
She is served tea with: “Silver sugar-tongs and silver salver”
Lochhead’s mother-in-law is trying to intimidate her by serving tea on decorative silverware.
The repetition of the letter S almost sounds like the hiss of a snake, suggesting the threat that lies underneath the shiny surface of this seemingly harmless scenario.
Try topping off your text with the terrific technique that is alliteration!
Alliteration is when words start with the same letter and, more importantly, the same sound. It can be used to create a mood or for emphasis.
Creating a mood
Alliteration can build a mood or set the scene depending on the letters that are used:
- The gentle 'w' sounds in "whispering wind" create a soft and airy mood.
- The harsh 'r' sounds in "raging river rapids" help the reader to imagine the brute force of the water.
In Edwin Morgan's poem In the Snack-bar, the speaker helps a blind man go to a public bathroom. It starts: 'A cup capsizes along the formica, / slithering with a dull clatter.'
The repetition of the hard 'c' sound in 'cup', 'capsizes' and 'clatter' mimics the jarring sound of a cup rattling across a table. This helps the reader imagine what it would feel like for a blind person, who relies more on their hearing, to be in a loud café.
Emphasis
Alliteration can also be used to capture the reader's attention and reinforce a point.
- 'The bass notes boomed into his very bones.' In this example, the repetition of the letter 'b' reflects the sound of the bass and emphasises the volume of the music.
- In Liz Lochhead's poem My Rival's House, the speaker visits her new partner's mother for the rest time. She is served tea with "silver sugar tongs and silver salver". The repetition of the letter S sounds like the hiss of a snake which suggests that the mother is threatening and not to be trusted.
- Alliteration is used in the title of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby. The repetition of the 'g' sound in 'great' and 'Gatsby' makes the title more memorable and emphasises how important and ‘great’ the character is.
- Lots of fictional characters also have alliterative names to make them stand out and more memorable: Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Spongebob Squarepants, Fred Flinstone.
More on Understanding, analysing and evaluating
Find out more by working through a topic
- count6 of 15
- count7 of 15
- count8 of 15
- count9 of 15
