alliteration

Everyday

1. Alliteration is when several words close together start with the same sound, like «Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers». tree →
2. An alliteration is one example of this in a poem, story, title or slogan. tree →

In the lessons

In English and poetry lessons alliteration is a technique pupils spot and use to make writing fun to read aloud, memorable or dramatic: «the slithering, slimy snake». Tongue-twisters, brand names (Coca-Cola, PayPal) and cartoon names (Mickey Mouse, Peppa Pig) use it. In reading tests you may be asked to find and name it and say what effect it has. Phrases: use alliteration, an example of alliteration.

Examples

• «Silly Sally swiftly shooed seven sheep» is alliteration. tree →
• The poet used alliteration to make the wind sound wild. tree →
• Peppa Pig and Donald Duck have alliterative names. tree →
• Find two examples of alliteration in the poem. tree →
• Our class wrote alliteration about animals: «busy buzzing bees». tree →
• Alliteration makes slogans easy to remember. tree →
• The headline «Messi's Magic Moment» uses alliteration. tree →
• Too much alliteration can make a sentence sound silly. tree →

Note

Mostly uncountable: «The poem uses alliteration.» Adjective: «alliterative». Trap: alliteration is about the first SOUND, not the first letter: «cat» and «king» alliterate (both /k/), but «cat» and «cello» do not. Do not confuse with rhyme (same ending sounds: cat, hat) or assonance (same vowel sounds inside words) or onomatopoeia (words that sound like the noise they name).

In Jewish tradition

Here the translator says the repeated "W" sounds of "Wondrous Ways of Wisdom" echo the poetic wording of Sefer Yetzirah, which speaks of thirty-two paths of wisdom.

Interpretation. Tradition takes the thirty-two paths to be the ten sefirot plus the twenty-two Hebrew letters, the tools by which God created the world.

Examples

• Midrash Tanchuma 1:5 on [Genesis 1:1], Zohar 1:3a inter alia.] [note 8: Though the phrase is usually translated the ‘Thirty-Two Paths’, I find that the alliteration of ‘Wondrous Ways of Wisdom’ neatly approximates the SY’s choice of poetic vocabulary. (Sefer Yetzirah, Sefaria community translation) tree →

Note

Mostly uncountable: «The poem uses alliteration.» Adjective: «alliterative». Trap: alliteration is about the first SOUND, not the first letter: «cat» and «king» alliterate (both /k/), but «cat» and «cello» do not. Do not confuse with rhyme (same ending sounds: cat, hat) or assonance (same vowel sounds inside words) or onomatopoeia (words that sound like the noise they name).