WORD OF THE DAY
Alliteration is when you use words that have the same sound at the beginning, like "Stellar students synthesize sweet sentences."
It's a time-honored poetic device to make a string of words start with the same consonant sound, and that is what alliteration labels. For example, in A Midsummer's Night Dream, Shakespeare broke out the B's: "With bloody blameful blade he bravely broached his bloody boiling breast." And in the song "From A to G" by Blackalicious, a verse with words beginning with the "C" sound describes a "crazy character, constantly creating concoctions."
Want to expand your vocabulary?
Get Word of the Day delivered straight to your inbox!
Vocabulary lists containing alliteration
One of the stumbling blocks when trying to study poetry is that it seems like a different world. Familiar things, like words, are put to unfamiliar use, and there is an entire descriptive vocabulary that is completely foreign and quite often puzzling. This list seeks to explain the words used to describe poetry through examples from famous poems. Nassim Nicholas Taleb said, "If you want to annoy a poet, explain his poetry," but we are willing to take that risk to make the world of literary analysis a little clearer and further illuminate the mystery of poetry.
If you want to understand the tools and techniques that great writers use, learn these literary devices and figures of speech. Review this vocabulary list and you'll be a master of metaphor, an expert on euphemism, and a pro at puns.
According to Marilee Sprenger, these 55 critical words from the Common Core State Standards can "make or break student understanding."
To improve your fluency in English Language Arts and Reading (ELAR), learn this academic vocabulary list that includes words selected from the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) state standards.
From alliteration to zeugma, this list covers the literary devices you need to know in order to understand and analyze poetry. To learn even more about poetry, explore our lists on Genre and Structure and Meter.
