Definition:
The repetition of an initial consonant sound. Adjective: alliterative. See also:
Etymology:
From the Latin, "putting letters together"Examples and Observations:
- "You'll never put a better bit of butter on your knife."
(advertising slogan for Country Life butter) - "The soul selects her own society."
(Emily Dickinson) - "Forget the most obvious problem with collegiate calorie counting, that studying Kierkegaard or Conrad after a dinner of seitan and soy chips would render even robust stomachs seasick, sometimes outright ill. And I won’t harp on the clear link between vigorous salad consumption and sulkiness."
(Marisha Pessl, "Seize the Weight," The New York Times, Oct. 6, 2006) - "In a somer seson, whan soft was the sonne . . ."
(William Langland, Piers Plowman, 14th century) - "The sibilant sermons of the snake as she discoursed upon the disposition of my sinner's soul seemed ceaseless."
(Gregory Kirschling, The Gargoyle, 2008) - "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation."
(Henry David Thoreau, Walden) - "The daily diary of the American dream."
(slogan of The Wall Street Journal) - "Pompey Pipped at the Post as Pippo Pounces"
(sports headline, Daily Express, Nov. 28, 2008) - "Alliteration, or front rhyme, has been traditionally more acceptable in prose than end-rhyme but both do the same thing--capitalize on chance. . . . This powerful glue can connect elements without logical relationship."
(Richard Lanham, Analyzing Prose, Continuum, 2003) - "A moist young moon hung above the mist of a neighboring meadow."
(Vladimir Nabokov, Conclusive Evidence) - "Guinness is good for you."
(advertising slogan) - "Good men are gruff and grumpy, cranky, crabbed, and cross."
(Clement Freud) - "My style is public negotiations for parity, rather than private negotiations for position."
(Jesse Jackson)
Pronunciation: ah-lit-err-RAY-shun
Also Known As: head rhyme, initial rhyme, front rhyme
