ALLITERATION, an ornament of language chiefly used in poetry, and consisting in the repetition of the same letter at certain intervals. We do not remember to have ever seen any satisfactory account of alliteration in the writings of the critics. They seem to have passed it over in contemptuous silence, either as a false refinement or as a mere trifle. It perhaps deserves a better fate.

We apprehend the principal operation of this ornament to be quite mechanical. It is easier for the organs of speech to resume, at short intervals, one certain conformation, than to throw themselves into a number of different ones, unconnected and discordant. For example, a succession of labials, interspersed at regular distances with dentals and gutturals, will be more easily pronounced than the succession of all the three at random. Sounds of which the articulation is easiest are most completely in the power of the speaker. He can pronounce them slowly or rapidly, softly or with force, at pleasure. In this, we imagine, the power and advantage of alliteration are founded; for we would not lay any stress on the pleasure which can result to the ear from the repetition of the same letter. It has been compared to the frequent returns of the key-note in a musical strain; but that analogy is extremely faint. The ear, we presume, can be pleased with alliteration only in so far as it contributes to the superior easiness of recitation; for what is recited with ease must be heard with pleasure.

These remarks might be confirmed and illustrated by numberless passages from the best poets. Some few lines will suffice, taken from Gray, who seems to have paid particular attention to this grace. He professed to have learned his versification from Dryden, as Dryden did from Spenser; and these three abound in alliteration above all the English poets. We choose Gray for another reason, that alliteration contributes not only to the sweetness, but also to the energy, of versification; for he uses it chiefly when he aims at strength and boldness. In the Sister Odes, as Dr Johnson styles them, almost every strophe commences and concludes with an alliterative line. The poet, we supposed, wished to begin with force, and end with dignity.
R uin seize thee, r uthless king.
To h igh-born H oel’s h arp, or soft L lewe l lyn’s l ay.
W eave the w arp, and w eave the w oof.
Stamp we our vengeance d eep, and ratify his d oom.
Regardless of the s weeping whirlwind’s s way.
That hush’d in grim re p ose, ex p ects his ev’ning p rey.

It must be observed here, that we hold a verse alliterative which has a letter repeated on its accented parts, although those parts do not begin words; the repeated letter bearing a strong analogy to the bars in a musical phrase. Gray seems to have had a particular liking to those sorts of balanced verses which divide equally, and of which the opposite sides have an alliterative resemblance.
Eyes that g low, and fangs that g rin.
Thoughts that b reathe, and words that b urn.
H auberk crash, and h elmet ring.

All these lines appear to us to have a force and energy, arising from alliteration, which renders them easy to be recited; or, if the reader pleases, mouthed. For the same reason the following passage appears sad and solemn, by the repetition of the labial liquid.
M ountains, ye m ourn in vain.
M odred, whose m agic song
—&c.
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If alliteration thus contributes to enforce the expression of a poetical sentiment, its advantages in poetry must be considerable. It is not, therefore, unworthy of a poet’s regard in the act of composition. If two words offer of equal propriety, the one alliterative, the other not, we think the first ought to be chosen. We would compare this to the practice of fuguing in music. A composer who aims at expression will not hunt after fugues; but if they offer, if they seem to arise spontaneously from the subject, he will not reject them. So a good poet ought not to select an epithet merely for beginning with a certain letter, unless it suit his purpose well in every other respect; for the beauty of alliteration, when happy, is not greater than its deformity when affected. A couplet from Pope will exemplify both; the first line being bad, and the second good:
Eternal beauties grace the s hining s cene,
F ields ever f resh, and g roves for ever g reen.”