ALLITERATION & ASSONANCE
Alliteration & Assonance
 Poets, authors, and song writers use these as
tools.
 Educated people recognize and appreciate
these.
 These have to do with repeating word
sounds.
Alliteration
 Repetition of initial consonant sound.
 A consonant is not a vowel.
Example
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
Alliteration
 Blind to a broken man’s dream, a hard lesson
Court cases keep me guessin’
 To Live and Die in LA – Tupac
 It take too much to touch her
From what I heard she got a baby by Busta
 Gold Digger – Kanye West
Alliteration
 I be the big, bad body rockin' Bombay to
boulevard bully back
Better bring a bomb to the battlefield
Bloody black beats bringing bottoms that
boom
Basically build barriers bewilder buffoons
Name that Alliteration
 When it’s going good it’s going great
 When it’s going good it’s going great
 Name that tune (Hint: the title even has
alliteration)
 Love the Way You Lie
Name that Alliteration
 I'm lost, you got me lookin' for the rest of me
Love is testing me but still I'm losing it
 I'm lost, you got me lookin' for the rest of me
Love is testing me but still I'm losing it
 SOS - Rihanna
Name that Alliteration
 I'm a couple bands down and I'm tryin' to get
back
I gave Doug a grip, I lost a flip for five stacks
 I'm a couple bands down and I'm tryin' to get
back
I gave Doug a grip, I lost a flip for five stacks
 Run this Town – Jay Z
Name that Alliteration
 Run just as fast as I can
To the middle of nowhere
To the middle of my frustrated fears
 Run just as fast as I can
To the middle of nowhere
To the middle of my frustrated fears
 Pink – Just like a Pill
Assonance
 The repetition of similar vowel sounds within
syllables (middle of the word)
 Vowels = a, e, i, o, u
Examples
 “That solitude which suits abstruser musings” Samuel Taylor Coleridge
 “Hear the mellow wedding bells.” — Edgar Allen Poe
 “Dead in da middle of little Italy, little did we know
that we riddled some middle men who didn't do
diddily." – Big Pun
Assonance
• I ain't here to argue about his facial features
Or here to convert atheists into believers
I'm just trying to say the way school need
teachers the way Kathie Lee needed Regis that's
the way I need Jesus
• And wouldn't change by the change, or the
game, or the fame. When he came, in the game,
he made his own lane. Now all I need is y'all to
pronounce my name.
Name that Assonance
• Now I got tattoos on my body
Psycho snitches in my lobby
I got haters in the paper
Photo shoots with paparazzi
• Now I got tattoos on my body
Psycho snitches in my lobby
I got haters in the paper
Photo shoots with paparazzi
• Holy Grail – Justin Timberlake and Jay Z
Name that Assonance
 'Cause your spirit is ungrateful, girls is so
hateful, I remain a staple
 'Cause your spirit is ungrateful, girls is so
hateful, I remain a staple
 Nicki Minaj – Moment for Life
Name that Assonance
 Than a shock when I get shocked at the
hospital. By the doctor when I'm not cooperating. When I'm rocking the table while
he's operating (hey!!)
 Than a shock when I get shocked at the
hospital. By the doctor when I'm not cooperating. When I'm rocking the table while
he's operating (hey!!)
 Eminem – Without Me
Name that Assonance
 I got paper girl
The Lamborghini
with the spider seats
you never seen it
 I got paper girl
The Lamborghini
with the spider seats
you never seen it
 Kiss Kiss – Chris Brown
Name that Assonance
 But when I get my card back activated
I'm back to Vegas cause
I always had a passion for flashing' before I had it
I close my eyes and imagine
 But when I get my card back activated
I'm back to Vegas cause
I always had a passion for flashing' before I had it
I close my eyes and imagine
 Kanye West – Good Life
Name that Assonance
 It was all a dream
I used to read Word Up magazine
Salt'n'Pepa and Heavy D up in the limousine
 It was all a dream
I used to read Word Up magazine
Salt'n'Pepa and Heavy D up in the limousine
 It was all a Dream – Notorious BIG (rip)
Alliteration & Assonance
 Review
 Alliteration = repetition of beginning
consonant or sound
 Assonance = repetition of vowel sound in the
middle of a word