Examples of Alliteration Poems

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Alliteration is a literary device that repeats a speech sound in a sequence of words that are close to
each other. Alliteration typically uses consonant sounds at the beginning of a word to give stress to
its syllable. This technique plays a crucial role in poetry by lending a strong rhythm and musical
structure to any verse.

Alliteration in Children's Rhymes

Tongue twisters can be a fun way to introduce children to alliteration, but stumble on your rhythm
and they can be tricky to get right. How quickly can you recite "Peter Piper"?
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked. If Peter
Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, how many pickled peppers did Peter Piper pick?

Mother Goose poems typically contain a great deal of alliteration. Poems with alliteration can be
easier to memorize, which is why adults are often able to easily recall the nursery rhymes associated
with their childhood. Consider the alliteration of the "b" sounds in "Betty Botter."
Betty Botter bought some butter,
"But," she said, "the butter's bitter;
If I put it in my batter,
It will make my batter bitter;
But a bit of better butter,
That would make my batter better."
So she bought a bit of butter,
Better than her bitter butter,
And she put it in her batter,
And the batter was not bitter;
So it was better that Betty Botter
Bought a bit of better butter

Shel Silverstein frequently used alliteration in his poems for children to create a fanciful tone, even
when it meant creating nonsense words. "The Gnome, The Gnat, & The Gnu" repeats the "gn" sound
throughout the verse.
I saw an ol' gnome
Take a gknock at a gnat
Who was gnibbling the gnose of his gnu.
I said, "Gnasty gnome,
Gnow, stop doing that.
That gnat ain't done gnothing to you."
He gnodded his gnarled ol' head and said,
"'Til gnow I gnever gnew
That gknocking a gnat
In the gnoodle like that
Was gnot a gnice thing to do."
Dr. Seuss used alliteration to make his books fun to read and listen to, though like tongue twisters,
read too quickly and you could find yourself tripping over your tongue. Consider this passage
from Fox in Socks:
Through three cheese trees three free fleas flew. While these fleas flew, freezy breeze blew. Freezy
breeze made these three trees freeze. Freezy trees made these trees' cheese freeze. That's what made
these three free fleas sneeze.

Alliteration in Poetry
William Shakespeare's work frequently featured alliteration. There are several examples in Romeo
and Juliet, but his poetry often used alliteration too. In "Sonnet 5," for example, the "b" sound in
beauty, bareness, and bereft set a romantic tone. In the last line, the "s" in show, substance, and sweet
provide a soothing rhythm:
For never-resting time leads summer on
To hideous winter and confounds him there,
Sap checked with frost and lusty leaves quite gone,
Beauty o'er-snowed and bareness everywhere.
Then were not summer's distillation left,
A liquid prisoner pent in walls of glass,
Beauty's effect with beauty were bereft,
Nor it nor no remembrance what it was.
But flowers distilled, though they with winter meet,
Leese but their show; their substance still lives sweet.

"The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe uses alliteration in word pairs. In the first three lines of the poem,
there are three examples: weak/weary, quaint/curious, and nodded/nearly napping.
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore, -
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping.

"Birches" by Robert Frost repeats the "b" sound throughout the first four lines to emphasize the
dominant theme of the poem.
When I see birches bend to left and right
Across the lines of straighter darker trees,
I like to think some boy's been swinging them.
But swinging doesn't bend them down to stay.

"Much Madness Is Divinest Sense" by Emily Dickinson uses alliteration of the "m" sound in the title.
This is repeated in the poem itself to encourage readers to contemplate what it means to be mad.
Much Madness is divinest Sense -
To a discerning Eye -
Much Sense -- the starkest Madness -
'Tis the Majority
In this, as All, prevail -
Assent - and you are sane -
Demur - you're straightway dangerous -
And handled with a Chain -

"The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" is Samuel Taylor Coleridge's longest poem, featuring rhythmic
groupings of alliteration throughout. In the following excerpt, cheered/cleared/kirk, sun/sea/shone,
beat/breast/bassoon, red/rose, and merry/minstrelsy are examples of alliterative devices.
'The ship was cheered, the harbour cleared,
Merrily did we drop
Below the kirk, below the hill,
Below the lighthouse top.
The Sun came up upon the left,
Out of the sea came he!
And he shone bright, and on the right
Went down into the sea.
Higher and higher every day,
Till over the mast at noon-'
The Wedding-Guest here beat his breast,
For he heard the loud bassoon.
The bride hath paced into the hall,
Red as a rose is she;
Nodding their heads before her goes
The merry minstrelsy.

Thomas Hardy creates rhythm in his poem "In a Whispering Garden" by combining several examples
of alliteration, such as the "s" sound in spirit, speaking, spell, spot, splendid, and soul. "Gaunt gray
gallery" is another alliterative phrase that allows the reader to immediately conjure a visual image of
the poem's setting.
That whisper takes the voice
Of a Spirit, speaking to me,
Close, but invisible,
And throws me under a spell
At the kindling vision it brings;
And for a moment I rejoice,
And believe in transcendent things
That would make of this muddy earth
A spot for the splendid birth
Of everlasting lives,
Whereto no night arrives;
And this gaunt gray gallery
A tabernacle of worth
On this drab-aired afternoon,
When you can barely see
Across its hazed lacune
If opposite aught there be
Of fleshed humanity
Wherewith I may commune;
Or if the voice so near
Be a soul's voice floating here.

Alliteration Makes Poems More Memorable

Alliteration is a creative tool that gives poetry a memorable rhythm when recited. It's a fun way to
play with words that brings out the imagination of both writer and reader, while appealing to children
and adults alike.

Examples of Alliteration
Alliterative sentences
Note that alliteration does not depend on letters but on sounds, so "Kim came" is
alliteration, even though the the words start with different letters.
 Come and clean the chaos in your closet.
 The big, bad bear scared all the baby bunnies by the bushes.
 Shut the shutters before the banging sound makes you shudder.
 Go and gather the green leaves on the grass.
 Please put away your paints and practice the piano.
 Round and round she ran until she realized she was running round and round.
 I had to hurry home where grandma was waiting for her waffles.
 The boy buzzed around as busy as a bee.
 Garry grumpily gathered the garbage.
 Those lazy lizards are lying like lumps in the leaves.
 Paula planted the pretty pink poppies in the pot.
 Kim came to help us cut out a colorful kite for Chris.
 Bake a big cake with lots of butter and bring it to the birthday bash.
 Paula's prancing pony out-performed all the others.
 Little Larry likes licking the sticky lollipop.
 
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Alliteration in Rhymes and Stories

Reading or listening to alliteration in nursery rhymes and stories are fun and entertaining for
children. They can also help kids develop memory skills and phonics awareness.
"Three grey geese in a green field grazing. Grey were the geese and green was the grazing."
- "Three Grey Geese," Mother Goose
"Great Aunt Nellie and Brent Bernard who watch with wild wonder at the wide window as the
beautiful birds begin to bite into the bountiful birdseed."
- Thank-You for the Thistle, Dorie Thurston
"Betty Botter bought some butter, but she said, this butter's bitter; if I put it in my batter, it will make
my batter bitter, but a bit of better butter will make my batter better."
- "Betty Botter," Carolyn Wells
"My counters and cupboards were completely cleared of carrot cake, cornbread and crackers."
- Betty's Burgled Bakery, Travis Nichols
"Slowly the slug started up the steep surface, stringing behind it scribble sparkling like silk."
- Some Smug Slug, Pamela Duncan Edwards

Alliteration Tongue Twisters

Here are some fun tongue-twister examples. Try saying them quickly!
 Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled
peppers, where's the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?
 A good cook could cook as much cookies as a good cook who could cook cookies.
 Black bug bit a big black bear. But where is the big black bear that the big black bug
bit?
 Sheep should sleep in a shed.
 I saw a saw that could out saw any other saw I ever saw.
 A big bug bit the little beetle but the little beetle bit the big bug back.
 Show Shawn Sharon's shabby shoes.
 How much wood would a woodchuck chuck; If a woodchuck would chuck wood? A
woodchuck would chuck all the wood he could chuck; If a woodchuck would chuck
wood.
 Silly Sally swiftly shooed seven silly sheep. The seven silly sheep Silly Sally shooed
shilly-shallied south. These sheep shouldn't sleep in a shack.
Alliteration in Names
Here are examples of alliteration in brand names and cartoon characters:
 Chuck E Cheese's
 Coca-Cola
 Donald Duck
 Dunkin' Donuts
 Krispy Kreme
 Mickey Mouse
 Peppa Pig
 Peter Parker
 Seattle Seahawks
 Spongebob Squarepants
 Teen Titans
 Wonder Woman

Have Fun with Language

So, alliteration is an exciting way to illustrate major points and make names memorable. Teaching
kids to incorporate this into their creative writing is a fabulous way to spark a lifelong love for the
written word.
When you're ready, we hope you'll continue the journey with more Alliteration Examples. And, when
it's time for completely new heights, maybe you'll even sprinkle in a few Examples of Alliteration
Poems.
Assonance
Assonance is the figurative term used to refer to the repetition of a vowel
sound in a line of text or poetry. The words have to be close enough together
for the repetition to be noticeable.
Tongue twisters often use a combination of alliteration (repetition of same
beginning consonant sound) and two different forms of assonance-or the
repetition of two different vowel sounds. This is what makes them so difficult to
say.
Assonance is used for some of the same reasons as alliteration. It can affect
the rhythm, tone, and mood of a text. The repetition of certain vowel sounds-
think short vowels sounds from the letters u or o-can create a melancholy
mood.
Examples of Assonance:
Examples of Assonance:
1. The light of the fire is a sight. (repetition of the long i sound)
2. Go slow over the road. (repetition of the long o sound)
3. Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers (repetition of the short e and
long i sounds)
4. Sally sells sea shells beside the sea shore (repetition of the short e and long
e sounds)
5. Try as I might, the kite did not fly. (repetition of the long i sound)
Examples of Assonance in Literature:
1. Edgar Allan Poe's "Annabelle Lee": "And so all the night-tide, I lie down by
the side of my darling-my darling-my life and my bride" (repetition of the long i
sound)
2. William Blake's "Tyger": "Tyger, Tyger burning bright in the forest of the
night" (repetition of the long i sound)
3. From William Wordsworth's "Daffodils": "A host of golden daffodils"
(repetition of the long o sound)
4. From the movie My Fair Lady: "The rain in Spain stays mainly on the plain."
(repetition of the long a sound)

Consonance is typically used to refer to the repetition of ending sounds that

are consonants, but it can refer to repetition of consonant sounds within the
word as well. Often, consonance is used to create a rhyme or cadence.
Consonance differs from alliteration and assonance. Alliteration,
remember, is the repetition of a sound at the beginning of a
word. Assonance is the repetition of a vowel sound.
Consonance is the repetition of a consonant sound and is typically used to
refer to the repetition of sounds at the end of the word, but also refers to
repeated sounds in the middle of a word.
Examples of Consonance:
1. Pitter Patter, Pitter Patter-repetition of the "t," and "r" sounds.
2. The lint was sent with the tent-repetition of the "nt" sound.
3. I think I like the pink kite-repetition of the "k" sound.
4. I held my nose in the breeze so I would not sneeze on your knees-repetition
of the "z" sound (caused by "z" and "s").
5. Her foot left a print on the carpet-repetition of the "t" sound.
6. Odds and ends-repetition of the "d" and "s" sounds.
Examples of Consonance in Literature:
1. William Blakes "Tyger": "TygerTyger, burning bright-repetition of the "g" and
"r" sounds.
2. Shakespeare's Sonnet 64: "Increasing store with loss and loss with store"-
repetition of the "s" sound at the beginning of "store" and end of "loss".
3. William Butler Yeats' "The Man Who Dreamed of Fairyland": "Old silence bids
its chosen race rejoice, / Whatever raveled waters rise and fall / Or stormy
silver fret the gold of day"-repetition of the "r" sound.