♥ Assonance ♥

DEFINITION:

Repetition of vowel sounds.

EXAMPLE:

Bells

From the second stanza:

Hear the mellow wedding bells,

Golden bells!

What a world of happiness their harmony foretells!

Through the balmy air of night

How they ring out their delight!

From the molten-golden notes,

And an in tune,

What a liquid ditty floats

To the turtle-dove that listens, while she gloats

From the fourth stanza:

What a world of solemn thought their monody compels!

In the silence of the night,

How we shiver with affright

At the melancholy menace of their tone!

For every sound that floats

From the rust within their throats

Is a groan.

SIGNIFICANCE:

Assonance sets the mood or adds to the meaning of the writing, yet it is hard to spot because it is very subtle. In using assonance, the long vowel sounds will decrease the energy at the point in the poem and make the mood more serious. Meanwhile, higher vowel sounds will increase the energy and lighten the mood.