Alliteration

You will probably already know this one, but hey – it’s a lot of fun to write about! You may also have thought that alliteration was as simple as “why wouldn’t we want wool” – the repetition of the initial letter of every word in a given sequence – but this is quite far from being so, and there are other factors to be taken into consideration. Some people inherently cleverer than me, and with a lot more time on their hands will argue that the simple repetition of initial letters is not the only form of alliteration. Let me explain:

Assonance: Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in words which may or may not rhyme. For example, in the sentence “do you do duvets?” the lengthy ‘o’ sound is repeated as if it had been written in the same way all through the sentence. It’s the sound of the vowel and not the rhyme that matters.

Consonance: Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds within a number of words – again, rhyming or not. An example sentence would be something like “the Imam clamoured for jams and yams”. Of course, it could also be argued that alliteration is also consonance, but let’s face it – life’s too short.

The reason for all this literary hoo-ha is that before the Romans pitched up in Northern Europe and spoilt our comfortable savage lifestyle, the poetry of the time was Germanic (Saxon, Low and High German, Old Norse, etcetera). The style was not to rhyme the endings of words to produce a meter for the poem – this was adopted from Latin hymns – but to use the consonants and vowels themselves in an alliterative manner to structure the verse. It was known as alliterative poetry for a good reason, and there were many rules to be adhered to if an acceptable poem was to be produced. Those of you who are familiar with Sir Gawayne and the Grene Knight will already have an idea about a) how alliterative poetry works and b) how to cure insomnia. The classic Old English poem, Beowulf (whilst having nothing to do with quality stereo or wolves) was an example of how to do it properly. The structure always followed the same pattern: two half-lines (hemistichs) followed by a pause (cæsura). Have a look at this excerpt (with the alliterative parts emboldened) and you’ll see what I mean:

Girt with God’s anger, Grendel came gliding
over the moors beneath misty mounds.
The man-scather sought someone to snatch
from the high hall. He crept under cloud
until he caught sight of the king’s court
whose gilded gables he knew at a glance.
He had often haunted Hrothgar’s house;
but he never found before or after,
hardier hall-thanes or harder luck.

Of course, my favourites remain the ones which produce the most amusement for children and adults alike. From John Cooper Clarke’s superb Psycle Sluts: “lean, leonine leatherette lovelies” is classic alliteration, whereas “zips, clips, whips and chains wait for you to arrive” is a good example of consonance. And you thought he was just a loudmouth from Leeds. In one of the Monty Python team’s later sketches, a man is bemoaning the bells that ring from the church every Sunday morning “We don’t have Hindus harmonizing in the hallway! We don’t get Shintoists shattering sheet glass in the shithouse and shouting slogans”.

To round off this little oeuvre, where would we be without a good old-fashioned tongue twister? Try getting the vicar to say “I’m a sheet slitter – I slit sheets” – what fun. Or, if you’re not feeling particularly raunchy “the sixth sick sheikh’s sixth sheep’s sick”. I will leave you with that, but if you know any really good ones, please post them.