Alliteration Begins with A
By: Alexander Bentley
Tags: Cemetery, Writing, Poetry, Creative Writing, Quotes

Example of alliteration in Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven poem.

Hey there! Alexander here. I love using alliteration in my poems, prose & other writings. For those that are unfamiliar with alliteration, it is defined as:

“Alliteration is […] a stylistic literary device which is identified by the repeated sound of the first or second letter in a series of words, or the repetition of the same letter sounds in stressed syllables of a phrase.”

(Source: Wikipedia)

Here is a new epigram I posted to my Instagram grid, which garnered 40 comments & over 1.1k likes in its first 24 hours.

As you can see in the image, the quote reads:

“At the cemetery, amongst the dead, is where I finally feel at peace.”

I intentionally employ alliteration in this short saying, but not in the classical way you would typically see. The conventional approach is to repeat words with the same first letter. For example, “The big brown bear…rolls on the ground.” The three B’s are the alliterated style in action.

What I did with my epigram on Instagram is to spread it out throughout the sentence.

The three alliterated words are:

“At the cemetery…” “…amongst the dead,” “…at peace.”

These three words were intentionally chosen, as I select all of my words with intention, & as every good poet & writer should do.

The reader encounters three words that begin with the letter A. The power of alliteration, especially in poetry & short prose, is that it psychologically draws the reader into the piece & lulls their conscious mind into a brief hypnotic state. Humans, especially our brains, find comfort in the familiar, & what is more familiar than repeating words that start with the same letter throughout our speech?

In the first part of the epigram, I could have written “At the cemetery” as “In the cemetery…” but I frowned on using it. The reason is the word “in” may have implied, subconsciously, that I was buried “in” the ground of the cemetery vs. walking above ground, observing the headstones as I strolled by.

Speaking of observing headstones in a cemetery, that brings us to the second section of the saying. I could have written the phrase “amongst the dead” as “between the dead” but I decided against it. It would have been equally accurate but did not contribute to the alliteration effect I was striving for.

As well, I could have chosen the word “among” vs. “amongst.” The former is the standard American English variation whilst the latter is the British English variant. Heck, it’s fun to play around with language like this, especially when you are not British.

The third section contains the final element of this saying’s alliteration effect. Again, I could have chosen a different word, but I went with “at peace” vs. “in peace.” However, this could unintentionally imply that I was “in the ground” or I was “rest[ing] in peace” rather than in a state of peace I had not experienced before.

Now, you would think my gamut of alliteration was over, but it is not. I add to the overall effect by writing a second alliteration into the third section. If you can remember the quote, you’ll recall I close the epigram with “…I finally feel at peace.”

I carry out the second alliteration sequence with two consecutive words that start with the letter F. These two F words immediately proceed the final round of the first alliteration sequence. Again, I constructed the sentence with these words intentionally, as to psychologically penetrate the reader’s subconscious mind more deeply.

I love to play around with language & alliteration is one reason that I do. Alliteration happens a lot in speeches, poetry & prose. You’ll be surprised, but many people naturally use it in their everyday language too.

What’s your favorite example of alliteration? Leave a comment to let me know!