"What does assonance mean?" asks Frank Bryant, a professor of literature. "It means getting the rhyme wrong," he declares, before falling drunkenly off the stage, and crashing into his audience.
The professor, played by Sir Michael Caine in the movie Educating Rita, takes a very jaded view of poetry. He's more interested in booze, and escaping from reality. Not unlike several well known, real-life poets...
But in one sense he's correct.
Assonance isn't about end rhymes or 'getting the rhyme right.' It's about powerfully expressing ideas and emotion through the similar sounds made by adjacent words. The resemblance of vowel sounds is where the assonance occurs. If you use assonance effectively, it can change the tempo of your poetry or even intensify the mood you are trying to convey.
Here's a great example of assonance in the poem by Edgar Allen Poe called Bells:
Hear the mellow wedding bellsGolden bells!What a world of happiness their harmony foretells!
Yes, Poe uses end rhymes too, but it's the assonance of mellow, wedding, bells, foretells that really makes the poem resonate.
Another excellent example of assonance can be found in The Cold Wind Blows by Kerry Roper. This is a rich examples of internal rhymes too.
Who knows why the cold wind blowsOr where it goes or what it knowsIt only flows in passionate throesUntil it finally slows and settles in repose
Want to make your poem memorable? What to step away from predictable rhymes?
Steve Wheeler
Image from Your Dictionary
Really informative Steve. I sometimes have used assonance in my writing, but whenever I type in the word itself that damned predictive text changes it to assurance! But I've found a way around it. Vowel sounds as you say are such conveyors of emphasis and concentrate the emotion and meaning of the poem. Swinburne and Tennyson were masters of alliteration and the manipulation of the sounds of words. Thanks. Terry Bridges. 29/8/2023
ReplyDeleteFor me Terry, all poetry is sonics. The sound and the rhythm of a piece is more important to me than the meaning. I guess that's because I'm also a musician.
DeleteThat's a very good point Steve. Homer recited his poetry, so you could argue that the sound and rhythm of a poem is the most important aspect. Meaning follows the music. Poetry has been and remains one of the most important passions of my life. I know how much it means to you too. Rock on. Terry Bridges 30/8/23
DeleteThis is something I will try out. I am unfamiliar with assonance until now. Always guaranteed to learn something new from this blog! Thank you! Universal Peace & Love 🪷
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear that you're enjoying and learning from this blog Karin
DeleteAnother excellent article Steve! You know I’m a nut for vowel sounds. More than anything…. contemplating the success of so many prolific yet drunk as a punk skunk poets leaves me wondering if perhaps I should drink more…! Lol! Bukowski… Kerouac… on and on… There’s a topic! “Booze And Writing Moods”! Anyway… thanks for everything you are doing sir. Make the most of all your moments!
ReplyDeleteSounds of Tears
ReplyDeletea ping of the ring sounds swell
while whispers whoosh past the bell
softly sauntering, saucy solos
on stage upon the sonnets sound
a voice trebles noise in rejoicing
what aught not have caught a tell
here in a sphere, harmoniously clear
vibration in duration, can be found
ears catch near pitch perfect tone
though echoes fall achingly slow
in halls where a racket might stall
some mellow, melodic tears flow
mythical mystery unfolds
under, unknown caustic chatter
vibrant vibrations, clasp in clatter
silence prevails in what matters
Imelda Zapata Garcia
My favourite line in Shakespeare combines alliteration, consonant rhyme (consonance) and assonance:
ReplyDeleteLike to the lark at break of day arising
So you have alliteration Like/lark
Consonance Like/lark/break
Assonance break/day and like/arising
Another famous example of assonance in Philip Larkin's "This be the verse"
The *U*k you Up your mUm and dad
Also Wilfred Owen's Anthem for Doomed youth. "Stuttering rifle's rapid rattle/can patter out" (again alliteration and assonance combined).
I think that line, which I came across at school really awakened me to the way poetry can do wonderful things just with the sounds.
Incidentally I think in educating Rita, Frank Bryant gives "Rita" an incorrect example of assonance, in stating that rhyming "swan" with "stone" it was assonance, but surely consonance?
One of mine:
... glittering liquid epiphany ..
What an AMAZING interesting blog! Thank you Matt and Steve and I will give it a good try.✍️ Love to find new adventures in writing. 😍👌
ReplyDeleteThis was so long but I'm sure glad I didn't miss it, from top to bottom. Assonance I find in the middle of poems I've rea
d and enjoyed.
Be Blessed! Universal blessings ✌️
Great explanation of assonance. I used to quote that very line from Educating Rita when I was teaching Creative Writing in a female prison.
ReplyDeleteI’ll certainly give this exercise a try.
Thanks, Steve.