A S S O N A N C E A N D C O N S O N A N C E

SOUND DEVICES 3A

REVIEW

•Assonance: The repetition of vowel sounds in words that are close to each other, especially in poetry

•Consonance: The repetition of consonant sounds in words that are close to each other, especially in poetry

EXAMPLE OF ASSONANCE

•“Autumn” by William Blake

O Autumn, laden with fruit, and stained With the blood of the grape, pass not, but sit Beneath my shady roof; there thou mayst rest

What vowel sound do you notice being repeated here?

EXAMPLE OF ASSONANCE

• “To Autumn” by William Blake

O Autumn, laden with fruit, and stained With the blood of the grape, pass not, but sit Beneath my shady roof; there thou mayst rest

Blake repeats the long “a” sound five times in the three quoted lines. This is an example of assonance.

EXAMPLE OF CONSONANCE

• “The Valley of Unrest” by Edgar Allan Poe

Once it smiled a silent dell Where the people did not dwell

There are several repeated consonant sounds in these two lines. Can you identify them?

EXAMPLE OF CONSONANCE

• “The Valley of Unrest” by Edgar Allan Poe

Once it smiled a silent dell Where the people did not dwell

Poe repeats “s,” “l”, and “d” sounds in these two lines!

(Fun fact: Edgar Allan Poe LOVED consonance and assonance)

IDENTIFYING THE EFFECT OF ASSONANCE AND CONSONANCE

• As with all poetry analysis, you need to first understand the theme / meaning of the poem.

• In general, assonance and consonance put greater emphasis on words and create links between words.

• To identify the specific effect of an instance of assonance / consonance, you will need to decide how those general effects contribute to the overall meaning of a poem.

FOR EXAMPLE…

• In the excerpt from “To Autumn,” Blake seems to be treating the season of Autumn as though it is a person who he can invite to stay with him for awhile.

• The words using assonance in the poem seem to be either related to positive characteristics of “Autumn” (laden, stained, grape) or to the speaker’s desire for “Autumn” to stay for awhile (shady, mayst).

• Therefore the assonance in these lines emphasize the narrator’s longing for Autumn to stay (perhaps to avoid the cruelty of Winter)

FOR EXAMPLE…

• In the excerpt from “The Valley of Unrest,” Poe is introducing us to a setting that seems to be devoid of any living humans. In the rest of the poem, Poe imagines the dead “living” in that valley.

• The use of consonance in the first two lines creates a haunting tone / mood that reflects the rest of the poem well.

• The emphasis placed on words like “silent,” “dell” and “dwell” makes details of the setting clear early on in the poem, to support the reader’s understanding of what come next.