How to Read Poetry - Assonance

Reading poetry is different than reading prose. The wording is much denser, each and every word, every sound, even the position of a word or sound within a line, can wield much meaning. So let us examine poetry, The Odyssey, using the rhetorical device named assonance.

Assonance is the repetition of a vowel sound within a line or lines of a poem to create internal rhyming (internal means within a line) and, thus, adding weight or emphasis upon these such sounding words. Remember what I repeat in class - "How does a good author emphasize something? By repeating it."


For example, Book I, Lines 101-102:

"befORe / Odysseus' dOOR, the threshold to his cOURt." I all-capped the repeated sounds in these lines. (BTW - a slash, such as the one that follows "before" above, indicates the end of a line of poetry)

Three words are emphasized by the repitition of the "or" sound. By emphasizing these words, the writer informs the reader in this case, about the most important information contained within these lines. Athena's position at this moment in the story is clearly indicated - before the door of his court. While this particular emphasis is extremely minor regarding the plot, it serves as an example of the word play and exactness demanded of and exhibited by great poetry.

Here is our first task - please identify other examples of assonance and attempt an explanation of its use. Please leave your replies in the comment section. Thanks,

Mr. Matluck