The repetition or a pattern of similar sounds, especially vowel sounds: Thou still unravished bride of quietness,/Thou foster child of silence and slow time (Ode to a Grecian Urn, John Keats)
- the repetition of the same internal vowel sound in nearby words that do not end the same
the repetition of vowel sounds in neighboring words or syllables How now, brown cow?
The repetition of a vowel sound in words of nearby proximity Listen for the long "a" sounds here: "paid with his fate, and only ash remained"
Definition: the repetition of vowel sounds in words near each other Example One: N Scott Momaday's "Comparatives" use assonance by repeating the "eh" sound in the words "crescent," "flesh," "extending," and "death" (ll 8-10)
The repetition of internal vowel sounds in nearby words that do not end the same, for example, "asleep under a tree," or "each evening " Similar endings result in rhyme, as in "asleep in the deep " Assonance is a strong means of emphasizing important words in a line See also alliteration, consonance
the repetition of vowel sounds in a sequence of words with different endingsfor example, "The death of the poet was kept from his poems," from W H Auden's "In Memory of W B Yeats " Close Window
the rhyming of a word with another in one or more of their accented vowels, but not in their consonants; sometimes called vowel rhyme
repetition of similar internal vowel sounds of final syllables, as in break/fade, mice/flight, told/woe
similarity in the vowel sounds of words that are close together in a poem, for example between 'born' and 'warm' (assonare , from ad- + sonare )
The relatively close juxtaposition of the same or similar vowel sounds, but with different end consonants in a line or passage, thus a vowel rhyme, as in the words, date and fade Sidelight: The effective use of internal assonantal sounds is displayed throughout Byron's "She Walks in Beauty " (See also Euphony, Near Rhyme, Resonance, Sound Devices) (Compare Alliteration, Consonance, Modulation, Rhyme)