Technique no. 2 - Alliteration

Technique no. 2 - Alliteration.  This is a technique where the consonant sounds of a word are repeated in a line. Consonants are the letters in the alphabet which are NOT vowels ( not A, E, I, O or U).  Here is a fragment from Tennyson ‘s The Eagle:

He clasps the crag with crooked hands

Close to the sun in lonely lands

Ring’d with the azure world he stands.

The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;

He watches from his mountain walls

And like a thunderbolt he falls.

You can see that clasp, crag & crooked all start with the same consonant. In fact these words start with the same two consonants - C & R.   There is also alliteration in line 2 -  lonely lands and in the second stanza, line 2 - watches and walls.  

Alliteration affects us in a similar way to rhyme:  we like the repetition, there is something in the repetition which appeals. Also, alliteration helps to highlight certain words and ideas that the poet wants us to notice. For example “ He clasps the crag with crooked hands” :  the alliteration forces us to notice those words, and that helps to conjure up a clear image of the bird’s powerful talons on the rough rock.