Consonance and Assonance (Figurative Language)

Consonance and Assonance

The idea of "sound effects" in language, especially in literature, is one that has been discussed previously in this series, and though most literature is now written, the power of the spoken word has not been lost. Poetry is perhaps the place where sound makes the greatest impact on the reading experience, with rhyme, alliteration, and onomatopoeia being the clearest and most easily identifiable examples. However, if you are willing to look even more closely at well written verse, you will often find that other more subtle but no less powerful devices are at work, manipulating patterns of sound and having an important effect on your reading experience.

Consonance and assonance are terms describing devices similar to alliteration, but which are not bound to the starting sound of a word (nor to the ending sound, like rhyme). These devices get less attention because they are harder to notice, and because most poetic forms are not centered on them, whereas rhyme and alliteration are at the core of certain poetic forms and traditions. In order to remember what these terms do, and how they are different, it is useful to look at the beginning of the word consonance, and think of the word "consonant" (as in the opposite of a vowel).Consonance is therefore the repetition of a given consonant sound in at least two but usually more adjacent words. Unlike alliteration, consonance relies on sounds present throughout the words, rather than just at their beginning. Read the following example phrase and try to pick out the consonance you hear, as well as the effect it has: "Whacking the cracked chalk against the blackboard." Reading this over once or twice (and reading out loud also makes this easier), you can hear the predominant "k" sound, and even though these sounds are produced by "c's" as well as "k's," it is the sound rather than the letter that matters. The "k" sound is a harsh one, causing the throat to close and air to be rapidly pushed out, creating an effect that is highly appropriate to the violence done to the cracking chalk in the phrase.

Assonance, as you might have guessed already, is very similar to consonance, with the difference being that the repeated sound falls on vowel sounds rather than consonant sounds. The effect is similar as well, although consonance tends to feel more like alliteration, and pairs with it well, whereas assonance feells more like rhyme, since rhymes rely primarily on vowel sounds and alliteration on consonants. A large dose of assonance is apparent in the following example verse: "Cole roams nowhere, hopeless, knowing every home, every moat." Vowel sounds without rhyme are somewhat more difficult to find than their rhymed counterparts or grouped consonants, but we can hear in this sentence a definite patterning of the long "o" sound. The effect here is subtle, but the assonance brings together the various parts of the verse in a melodic unity, and the long "o" sound is often considered an expression of despair, as in "Oh no!" or the more dramatic "Nooooo!" of many action movies. Fittingly, the sound is also low, produced toward the rear of the mouth as opposed to the front (unlike high front vowels like "i"), giving a slow moaning effect.

From now on, whenever you read a line that sounds especially good, especially a poetic line, start by considering the more obvious sound effects like rhyme, alliteration, and meter. However, don't stop there! Looking for assonance and consonance can go a long way toward explaining why a given line sounds as sweetly as it does, and especially in the absence of the other sound effects listed above, it often allows you to provide an effective analysis of a line which will surprise and delight your teachers and professors.