Alliteration, the repetition of a sound at
the beginning of two or more words in a sentence, can add poetry to the
ordinary. Like all repetition, it strengthens the link between words and
the attention to those linked words.
Does the quaint quality of quondam make
you quiver?
How can you not see first the pairing of quaint
and quality and then tie them to quondam (whatever
that means: but I'll bet you look it up), given the last repetition
in quiver.
Fatter capital ratios, fancy risk-management
systems and faster diversification: all of these things are
undoubtedly creating a fitter banking system.
"Baywatch," that inane cavalcade
of cavorting California hunks and babes, was initially canceled
after one season on NBC, but it has gone on to be seen by more people
on the planet than any other entertainment show in history.
The last leave of thee takes my
weeping eye.
Like alliteration, assonance also repeats
sound. But the sound is in the middle or end of words, rather
than the beginning.
