How to Use Alliteration and Consonant Rhyme in Poetry

Consonance is internal alliterative rhyme in poetry. Consonance uses the same sounds of consonants within a poetic structure. "The lazy lamb leaps laughing just for fun" is an example of consonance. Consonant rhyme is when the same consonant recurs at the end of the last accented syllable in each line of a rhyme pattern, with different vowels. "Limp/lump" or "bit/bet" are examples of consonant rhyme. The use of consonance is particularly effective in irregular patterns and is perfect when mixed with other rhyming structures.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Using Alliteration and Consonant Rhyme in Poetry

1. 
    

   Practice consonance rhyming. Write down words that begin with a single consonant. You can use the first letter of a person, place or thing's name. Then use the words to make a tongue twister. You can use other words to form complete sentences. The result is consonant rhyme.

2. 
    

   Use identical consonant sounds at the beginning and end of words. Examples are lack, lake, like and lock. Do this in place of a standard end rhyme or perfect rhyme.

3. 
    

   Write lines of irregular patterns, incorporating other rhymes. "Faded and brown are the autumn leaves. (second line): Falling across our lives and loves."

4. 
    

   Make unaccented syllables identical in feminine (two syllables) rhyme or in three syllables. Examples: "fellow/bellow," in which the second syllable is unaccented.

5. 
    

   Learn to identify imperfect, unaccented and half-consonance rhyming. Imperfect would sound like, "lack/childlike." Unaccented consonance: "melancholic/childlike" and half-consonance: "signer/sanest." (See Resources for a glossary of rhymes.)

6. 
    

   Read poetry. Study poets to identify consonant alliteration in famous works. "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," Robert Frost: "Whose woods these are I think I know./His house is in the village though;/He will not see me stopping here/To watch his woods fill up with snow." Notice that consonance is mixed with assonance and perfect rhyme in this example.

Resources

• Glossary of Rhymes
• Notes on Literary Technique
• Rhyme