Alliteration - what is it in the domestic and foreign literature

Alliteration - what is this literary device, where is it used? The very word "alliteration" has Latin roots and means "letter to letter". This is one of the types of repetition of sounds, namely consonants, usually at the beginning of words. Vowel letters can be repeated and attached to consonants , but not necessarily. Thanks to this repeat, you can achieve a variety of sound effects. The howl of a storm, the roar of the waves, the splashing of water, the malicious laughter or tears of joy ... - nothing to report them to the reader with the help of epithets. It is enough to use such an example as alliteration. The examples in the verses are very numerous, however, one should not confuse alliteration with other types of repetitions. It involves the repetition of only the same or similar consonants, but not words or phrases.

A few examples of successful use of alliteration

Skillful, that is, moderate use of alliteration is abundant in the poems of the classics. Very delicately felt this method, for example, Pasternak. His famous poem "Winter Night" ("The Candle Burned on the Table ...") is one of the most striking examples. Repetition of consonants "m" and "l", soft, rounded, enhances the feeling of boundless blizzard, and the sounds "t" and "k" allow you to convey the sound of shoes slipping to the floor. We can also see the repetition of the letter "L" in Blok's poem "On valor, on deeds, on glory ...". And if Pasternak helped to draw the image of the softly spreading universal blizzard, then Blok repeated "l" gives the whole poem an unprecedented comforting smoothness - it is a sadness about the past, which attracts, as before, but suffering has lost its sharpness.

Modern poets are often carried away by decorative effects, and yet there are not so many examples of successful poems built entirely on such a reception as alliteration. What is it - non-professionalism, lack of musical ear or soullessness? You can give different answers to this question, but in any case alliteration is like spice. She gives the poem a taste and color, makes it alive and native, it wants to be repeated and even crooned, but its excess will make the dish too sharp, and therefore inedible.

The opposite of alliteration is an assonance. This is a repetition of vowel sounds. Both of these techniques, of course, perfectly coexist in one work.

Alliteration as a way of organizing a poem

The answer to the question "alliteration - what is this?" Will be slightly different if it concerns other languages. In the Russian verse tradition, alliteration, while being the most important means of achieving poetic sound, nevertheless plays an auxiliary role. In some cultures, alliteration is the main way of constructing a poem. For example, in the Old German, English and Icelandic poetry until the ninth century, alliterative verses were widely used. It did not have the usual rhyme for us, but at the end of each line there was a clear rhythm, which was set by repeats of consonant letters. The letters had to be the same in front of every major stressed syllable (there were two) in each line.

Alliteration in modern English

In English, alliteration is a more particular case than in Russian. It is a question of repeating identical sounds only at the beginning of words. For example: Alice's aunt ate apples (Aunt Alice ate apples). This technique is widely used in tongue twisters, political slogans, advertising slogans, lyrics and even store names. Answering the question "alliteration - what is this?", You can bring such obvious examples to everyone, such as: PayPal or Coca-Cola. Both names are sonorous and easy to remember. And all thanks to the repetition of consonant letters.

So, what is alliteration? In the literature, you can find very complex definitions. But everything is quite simple, if you look at a few examples.