poetic device: Alliteration

Alliteration is not when words start with the same letter but, rather, when the first stressed (or accented) syllable of two nearby words begin with the same consonant sound. This means that there are basically three types of alliterations:

  1. When nearby words start with the same consonants and the same sounds, such as “dancing dogs”, or “big boys.”
  2. When nearby words start with different consonants but the same sounds, such as “cats and kittens” or “jungle gym.”
  3. When nearby words start with different sounds, but have the same sounds at the beginning of their first stressed syllable, such as “normal banana” (which each have an “n” sound on the first stressed syllable) or “regular karate” (which each have an “r” sound on the first stressed syllable).

These poems include alliterations. Some may have just a single alliteration within the poem, while others may include dozens of alliterations.

The Toughest Pastry Maker
The Lamps Were All Delighted by Kenn Nesbitt
The Lamps Were All Delighted
It’s Raining in My Bedroom
My Cow Bess
Glurp the Purple Alien
Monkey Dream
Ode on a Unicycle
I Went to the Gym
Mr. Obvious
The Marvelous Homework and Housework Machine
Do You C What I C?
Betty Met a Yeti
The Winter Olympics are Practically Here
Charlie Has the Chicken Pox by Kenn Nesbitt
Charlie Has the Chicken Pox
Fernando the Fearless
If I Had a Dollar
A Sheep is Asleep On My Sofa
Grave Humor
Bigfoot’s Bewilderment
My Kitty Likes My Goldfish by Kenn Nesbitt
My Kitty Likes My Goldfish
The All-Bean Diet
Bouncing Off the Windows
My Father Looks Like Frankenstein by Kenn Nesbitt
My Father Looks Like Frankenstein
When Flowers Wake Each Morning by Kenn Nesbitt
When Flowers Wake Each Morning