Day: February 21, 2023

Alliteration

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Etymology and Meanings of Literary Device Alliteration

The literary device, alliteration, mostly used in poetic diction, has originated from the Latin terms ad and litter, or alliteratio which relates to letters. It later turned into alliteration in the early 17th century.

Grammatically, the literary device alliteration is a singular noun with plural alliterations. In poetic diction or literary terms, it relates to the sound of the words, becoming an integral part of the metrical pattern in poetry.

Definition of Literary Device Alliteration

In literature or in poetic diction, the literary device alliteration means the use of initial consonant sounds in the words adjacent to each other. It often happens as the head rhyme or initial rhyme or even without any rhyme scheme. The words could occur in the middle of the verse or in the end or even in the beginning. There is no restriction on it. Even in narrative diction, such sounds occur at different intervals.

Common Examples of Literary Device Alliteration

  • Buy burgers
  • Big bunnies
  • Citing sites
  • Dirty disks
  • Red Rrobin
  • American appeal
  • Dirty dream
  • Coca-Cola

Besides these common alliterative combinations, writers use several other such combinations to create alliterative sounds. Yet, it often happens in lyrics more than poems and narrations.

Literary Examples of Alliteration

Example # 1

From “Bill Gets Burned” by Phelps Putnam

Bill Williams was in Hell without a guide
And wandering around alone and cold,
Hoping for fires, for he said, “The name
Of Hell is not enough to keep the old
Place dignified without a flame.”
Bill was a hero, so he wandered on.

This poem “Bill Gets Burned” by Phelps Putnam shows the use of alliteration in its third line where the sound of /f/ in the initials of two successive words shows how melodious it seems to the readers. Although the sound of /a/, too, occurs repeatedly in the initials of the three successive words in the second line, it is not an alliteration.

Example # 2

From Hamlet by William Shakespeare

There’s such divinity doth hedge a king
That treason can but peep to what it would.

Although there is another word between two words having the initial sound of /w/, it is a very good alliteration taken from Hamlet, a masterpiece of William Shakespeare.

Example # 3

Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

Saints have hands that pilgrims’ hands do touch,
And palm to palm is holy palmers’ kiss.

These two verses occur in the popular Shakespearean play, Romeo and Juliet. Here both sounds /h/ and /p/ occurs in successive words, making these verses more melodious than the succeeding or preceding verses.

Example # 4

From Antony and Cleopatra by William Shakespeare

Though it be honest, it is never good
To bring bad news.

The occurrence of the /b/ sound in the initials of two successive words in these two verses shows how Shakespeare is adept in using alliteration to create a melody in his verses.


Example # 5

From “Will You Be There” by Michael Jackson

Weary, tell me will you hold me
When wrong, will you scold me
When lost will you find me?
But they told me a man should be faithful
And walk when not able
And fight till the end but I’m only human

These verses occur in Michael Jackson’s song, “Will You Be There” which shows the use of alliteration through the sounds of /w/, /m/, and again /w/ in three verses. Although the sound of /m/ occurs not in two successive words, the presence of a vowel between them does not pose any obstruction to create melodious impacts or change the metrical pattern.

Example # 6

From Trying to Get To You” by Elvis Presley

Well, there’s nothing that could hold me
Or that could keep me away from you
When your loving letter told me
That you really loved me true

The sound of /k/ occurs in the initials of two successive words in the second verse of this stanza taken from the song of Elis Presley “Trying to Get to You.” The readers immediately feel the rhythmic effects of this alliteration.

How to Create Alliteration

A writer can easily create alliterations in his writing disregarding the type of writing. However, an alliteration creates rhythm in poetic diction, though it creates almost the same musical quality in prose as well. The easiest way to include alliterative sounds in prose or poetry is to find the words that start with the same consonant sounds. Therefore, keep these points in mind when writing something.

  1. Plan what you are going to write in genre or form.
  2. Create Sounds having initial consonants in successive words.
  3.  Join words having the same initial consonants in a single sentence.
  4. Practice it daily and read it aloud. You will feel the impact of sounds in your writing.

Benefits of Using Alliteration

  1. Creating Rhythm
  2. Creating Mnemonic Examples
  3. Memory Assistance
  4. Creating Metrical Pattern

Literary Device Alliteration in Literary Theory

  1. Uses in Russian Formalism Literary Theory: Alliterations are an integral part of formalist criticism of poetry as they are poetic terms. They create melody and make audiences and readers enjoy the rhythm of poetry. However, their main task is to assist in creating thematic strands and help the poet reach the readers making them remember his message easily.
  2. Uses in Rhetoric: Alliterations help the writers to make their texts persuasive and rhetorically appealing. They help them make their readers pay attention and be convinced.
  3. Uses in Psychoanalytic Literary Theory: Alliterations help writers to create psychologically appealing sounds to make their message enter the psyche of the readers easily.
  4. Besides other theoretical perspectives, alliterations are also important in the reader’s response theory, Marxism, humanism, and any new theorization of some poetic idea as they are important to create rhythm, rhyme, and metrical patterns or understand them.

Suggested Readings

Abrams, Meyer Howard, and Geoffrey Harpham. A Glossary Of Literary Terms. Cengage Learning, 2014.

Baldick, Chris. The Concise Oxford Dictionary Of Literary Terms. Oxford University Press, 1996. Blake, N. F. “Rhythmical Alliteration.” Modern Philology, vol. 67, no. 2, 1969, pp. 118–124. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/436000. Accessed 16 June 2021.

Allegory

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Etymology and Meanings of Literary Device of Allegory

Originally, the literary device of allegory seems to have been derived from two Greek terms alos which means other, and agoria which means speaking. After entering Latin and French language, it appeared in late Middle English as an allegory.

It means a story in narrative or verse having double meanings.

In grammar, it is a noun with plural allegories.

Definition of Literary Device of Allegory

An allegory in literature is a story or a poem having specific political and social messages behind the lines or at least there is one other message besides the given literal story. It could be a movie, too. Some other literary devices/terms close to allegory are story, tale, myth, legend, parable, and myth.

Common Examples of Literary Device Allegory

  1. Political stories in the shape of pygmies or animals such as Animal Farm by George Orwell
  2. Religious stories of the people having moral or religious lessons such as The Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan
  3. Social stories such as The Lord of the Flies by William Golding
  4. Moral stories such as Aesop’s Fables

Literary Examples of Allegory

Example # 1

Moby Dick by Herman Melville

The story comprises the tale of a sailor, Ishmael, who takes the fancy of a giant whale that dodges them everywhere. However, when he meets Captain Ahab, both of them chase it despite having predictions of their bad luck. They meet several accidents and in the final battle, the captain loses his life, while Ishmael has a close shave. The story is, thus, not only a tale of man’s search for meanings, but also relates to the religious morality of avoiding revenge, arrogance, and self-centeredness. Therefore, it is a religious as well as metaphysical allegory.

Example # 2

The Faerie Queene by Edmund Spenser

The story of The Faerie Queene comprises a total of six books with each having a story of a knight about a specific virtue. For example, the first book relates the story of the Redcrosse Knight, the second relates the story of Sir Guyon, the third relates the story of a lady knight, Britomart, the fourth a friendship story, while the last two books are about Sir Artegall and Sir Calidore. As it relates to virtue, religion, and politics simultaneously, it is a religious as well as political and social allegory.

Example # 3

“Rapppaccini’s Daughter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne

The story of “Rappaccini’s Daughter” comprises the beautiful daughter of Dr. Rappaccini and his beautiful garden of poisonous herbs. The young man, Giovanni, becomes the victim of the alliance of the father and daughter though Beatrice dies by the end, clearing her position in this saga. The story seems to be a religious allegory as Giovanni and Beatrice bear a resemblance with Adam and Eve and the garden of Dr. Rappaccini seems to be the Garden of Eden. Therefore, it seems a religious allegory.

Example # 4

The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

Despite having some truths in the storyline, The Old Man and The Sea has been categorized as a religious allegory as Santiago has been termed a Christ-like figure having endurance and patience to undergo extreme suffering to the point that defeats the Marlin, a fish that symbolizes worldly obstacles. Although the old man is not virtuous or deeply religious, he vows to say hymns and prayers when the fish faces defeat. This leads to several allegorical interpretations of the storyline.

How to Create an Allegory

Creating an allegory is not a difficult task for students. A story could comprise animals, insects, birds, living things, or even ideas having names and titles to demonstrate a moral or social lesson by the end. However, the most difficult thing is to associate the storyline with some ethical framework, for every region in the world having a specific social structure has a separate ethical or moral framework. Therefore, the universally successful allegories are those which comprise universal ethical ideas such as honesty, justice, temperance, and wisdom.  Therefore, when creating an allegorical novel or short story, keep in mind the following points.

  1. Create a plan having characters (animals, birds, human beings or ideas).
  2. Create a narrative structure.
  3. Beautify it with other devices using descriptive language.
  4. Clearly leave a moral/social/ethical message for the readers.
  5. Use universal morals such as courage, honesty or temperance, and justice.

Benefits of Using an Allegory

  1. Using an allegory in stories, poems and events is beneficial for writers, thinkers, and poets as direct criticism was not possible in the old regal and dictatorial regimes. Therefore, the writers used animals and birds for stories.
  2. They, using such characters, helped themselves to convey their messages and propagate their ideas to the public.
  3. They also used to hide criticism and avoid conflicts. Even now, the writers use allegories to avoid religious backlash, political violence, and government restrictions to convey their messages to the readers and audiences.

Allegory in Literary Theory

  1. Social, political, religious, and moral allegories have continued appearing on the scene such as Aesop’s Fables, The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri, morality plays, and travelogues of the 17th and 18th centuries. However, as it is written in a language understood differently, it means that the text presents another structural reality encoded in the story.
  2. Therefore, in the interpretation of literature, allegory is an important element of Russian formalism as well as the New Criticism including Structuralism and Post-Structuralism. Yet, it has not lost its significance in postmodernism and post-truth theoretical lenses applied to interpret modern narratives.
  3. Interestingly, Walter Benjamin has termed allegory as a proper theory having “pre-eminently a kind of experience.” He means that it exists and passes out having transitory nature having the experience of some event or incident as well as its intuition (Cowan 109-110). However, this theory is highly complex in aesthetic terms.

Suggesting Readings

Abrams, Meyer Howard, and Geoffrey Harpham. A Glossary of Literary Terms. Cengage Learning, 2014. Print.

Cowan, Bainard. “Walter Benjamin’s Theory of Allegory.” New German Critique, no. 22, 1981, pp. 109–122. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/487866. Accessed 15 June 2021.

Auger, Peter. The Anthem Dictionary of Literary Terms and Theory. Anthem Press, 2010. Print. Quilligan, Maureen. The Language of Allegory. Cornell University Press, 2018. Print.

Suggested read: Literary Device Blank Verse