Alliteration - what is it in domestic and foreign literature

Where is it used? The word “alliteration” itself 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. They can be repeated and attached to consonants, but not at all. With this repetition, you can achieve a wide variety of sound effects. Howling storms, roar of waves, splashing water, angry laughter or tears of joy ... - there is no need to inform the reader about them using epithets. It is enough to use an example such as alliteration. Examples in verse are very numerous, however, one should not confuse alliteration with other types of repetitions. It involves repeating only the same or similar consonants, not words or phrases.

A few examples of successful use of alliteration

Skillful, that is, moderate use of alliteration is found in abundance in the poems of the classics. Pasternak, for example, felt this technique very subtly. His famous poem "Winter Night" ("A candle was burning on the table ...") is one of the most striking examples. The repetition of the consonants "m" and "l", soft, rounded, enhances the feeling of the endless blizzard, and the sounds "t" and "k" allow you to convey the sound of shoes that have fallen to the floor. We can also see the repetition of the letter "l" in Blok's poem "On valor, on exploits, on glory ...". And if in Pasternak it helped to paint the image of a softly creeping universal blizzard, in Blok the repeated "l" gives the whole poem an unprecedented comforting smoothness - this is sadness about the past, which attracts, as before, but suffering has already lost its sharpness.

Modern poets are often fond of decorative effects, and there are not so many examples of successful poems built entirely on such a technique as alliteration. What is it - unprofessionalism, lack of ear for music or soullessness? You can give different answers to this question, but in any case, alliteration is like a spice. It gives the poem taste and color, makes it alive and dear, you want to repeat it and even hum it, but its excess will make the dish overly spicy, and therefore inedible.

The opposite concept to alliteration is assonance. This repetition Both of these techniques, of course, get along well in one piece.

Alliteration as a way of organizing a poem

The answer to the question "alliteration - what is it?" Will be slightly different when it comes to other languages. In the Russian poetic tradition, alliteration, although it is the most important means of achieving poetic sound, still plays an auxiliary role. In some cultures, alliteration is the primary way of constructing a poem. For example, in ancient Germanic, English and Icelandic poetry until the ninth century, alliterative verse was very widely used. It did not have the rhyme we were accustomed to, but at the end of each line there was a clear rhythm, which was set precisely by the repetitions of consonants. The letters had to be the same before each main stressed syllable (of which there were two) on each line.

Alliteration in modern English

In English, alliteration is a more particular case than in Russian. We are talking about repeating the same sounds only at the beginning of words. For example: Alice’s aunt ate apples (Alice’s aunt 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 it?", You can give such obvious to everyone examples, such as PayPal or Coca-Cola. Both names are sonorous and easy to remember. And all thanks to the repetition of consonants.

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