Assonance โ€“ Definition, Use, And Examples

2024-12-25 Overview Time to read: 6min

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There are many ways to make your writing more entertaining and elevate your academic writing. To keep your readers from dropping your paper, offer them eloquent plays with words. One way to do this is by including an assonance, a series of words, which all include the same vowel sounds to create a rhythm and rhyme. The following article will explain everything you need to know about this stylistic device with various vivid examples.

Assonance in a nutshell

An assonance describes the scenario when words with similar-sounding vowels are placed next to each other to create a sort of rhyme.

Definition: Assonance

Assonance is also called vowel rhyme because it is based on similar-sounding vowels in multiple words of a sentence or verse. This can in some cases create an actual rhyme, but may also just imitate a rhyme through sound play. It is important to remember that an assonance relies merely on the sound and not always on the repetition of a letter, as the following examples show.

Examples

  • No pain, no gain.
  • Nobody knows what you might see deep between trees.
  • I like my height and the night.
Assonance-definition-example

Types

There are generally three different types of assonance, which do not get differentiated in literary analyses.

Rhyme

The first one would be when the assonance also produces a rhyme. This happens when the vowel sounds are close to the end of the words. In poetry, the rhyme is usually placed at the end of the verse, but no matter how long each verse may be, every rhyme does count as an assonance.

Examples

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak andย weary

โ€“ The Raven by E.A. Poe

โ€œโ€™Tis some visitor,โ€ I muttered, โ€œtapping at my chamber doorโ€”

Only this and nothing moreโ€

โ€“ The Raven by E.A. Poe

Same vowel

The second type is that the same vowel is repeated in the subsequent words. This is probably the easiest way to create an assonance, but you also need to be careful. This stylistic device is all about the sound, not only the letter. In the following first example, you will see a wrong try, relying solely on letters, and ignoring the pronunciation, while the second example shows the right way.

Examples

โœ— I saw you share a post in Africa.

โœ“ You updated the utility of my unused USB stick.

Sounds

The last and most fun version is to play solely with sound. This way, you do not have to rely on rhymes or the presence of the same letter in a word. Instead, you make use of similar pronunciations, as the examples below will show.

Examples

Grief creeps in just like a thief and steals all joy away.

โ€“ โ€œGriefโ€ by Kelly Roper

The wheels squeak relentlessly as I drive through the fields.

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Use and purpose

There are a few different applications for assonance in any type of writing. Most commonly, this stylistic device is used to create a rhythm in writing. The assonant sounds make it easy to speak numerous words in a short time, which is especially necessary in song lyrics, for example.

Example

Shock the metropolisย hostile as a kidย popping theย Glock at hisย moms
And hisย pops then heย hops in hisย drop with his iPodย rocking hisย slaughterish

โ€“ โ€œLoud Noisesโ€ย by Eminem

A second application is that it can be used as an onomatopoeia. This is because a lot of โ€œoโ€ sounds can seem harsh, while a double โ€œoโ€ makes a spookier mood. Eโ€™s typically imitate a screeching sound, and even single Eโ€™s can elongate syllables. Of course, the intention can vary according to the context and this is just a general interpretation and has to be considered individually for each text.

Examples

  • The loss was hostile to my hopes.
  • That goose looks cool but spooky.
  • Eek, an eel!
  • He needs to eat extra food.

Furthermore, it can make even a prose text more poetic and entertaining. Words that rhyme seem to stick better to our minds, engaging the reader or helping us memorize information. This is why advertisements often include rhymes or assonance to make us remember them.

Examples

Have a break, have a KitKat.

โ€“ Slogan by KitKat

Soft language issued from their spitless lips as they swished in low circles round and round the field, winding hither and thither through the weeds

โ€“ โ€œPortrait of the Artist as a Young Manโ€ by James Joyce

Assonance vs. consonance

While many people describe assonance as a row of words with similar sounds, there is actually a more detailed differentiation. While assonance refers to only vowel rhymes, a consonance follows the same principle only with consonant sounds.

Examples

(Boom) Vamos, I know that you want it (boom) / Lobos, we cannot stop hunting (boom)

โ€“ โ€œChk Chk Boomโ€ by Stray Kids

Feelinโ€™ so fly, feelinโ€™ so fly / This my lifestyle, this my lifestyle

โ€“ โ€œMuddy waterโ€ by Stray Kids

We can see in the first example that all the โ€œoโ€ sounds elevate the emphasis on the โ€œboom,โ€ the center of the song. Even if there are other sounds like the โ€œaโ€ in want and the โ€œuโ€ in hunting, if you listen to the song or speak the lyrics out loud, the vowel sound is still similar, adding to the assonance. The second example is based on the consonants โ€œfโ€ and โ€œl,โ€ repeating in the two verses and are even more emphasized by the fact that the order of โ€œfโ€ and โ€œlโ€ is reversed in the second verse, the โ€œfeelingโ€ and โ€œflyโ€ is complemented by โ€œlifestyle.โ€

An exception for this might be โ€œyโ€ because it sounds like an โ€œI.โ€ Since there are not many rhymes that rely solely on the letter โ€œy,โ€ it can still be counted as an assonance.

Most tongue twisters are actually consonances because a row of similar consonants is generally more difficult to pronounce than a repetition of vowel sounds.

Examples of consonances

  • She sells seashells by the seashore.
  • Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
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Assonance vs. alliteration

An alliteration has two or more words in proximity with the same starting letter. An assonance, however, can also be an alliteration but may just as well have repeated vowels in the middle of the words or even just similar sounds instead of letters.

Examples

  • Alliteration: An alien wants an apple.
  • Assonance: Hannah claps her hands.

FAQs

An assonance is a stylistic device that uses similar-sounding vowels in subsequent words to create a poetic rhythm and rhyme.

In the case of an alliteration, the exact same letter has to be at the beginning of two or more words in a sentence. An assonance, however, can include the letters also in the middle of the word or even rely on similar sounds and pronunciations instead of strictly one letter.

Not exactly. As the repeated sound in this case is a โ€œs,โ€ which is no vowel, the stylistic device is called a consonance because it relies on a consonant that is repeated. Most tongue twisters are consonances because they are more difficult to pronounce in a row.

From

Leonie Schmid

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About the author

Leonie Schmid is studying marketing at IU Nuremberg in a dual program and is working towards a bachelor's degree. She has had a passion for writing ever since she was little, whether it is fiction or later on scientific. Her love for the English language and academic topics has led her to BachelorPrint as a dual student, seeking to provide educational content for students everywhere all around the world.

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Bibliography

Schmid, L. (2024, December 25). Assonance โ€“ Definition, Use, And Examples. BachelorPrint. https://www.bachelorprint.com/ca/academic-writing/assonance/ (retrieved 2025-04-28)

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Schmid, Leonie. 2024. "Assonance โ€“ Definition, Use, And Examples." BachelorPrint, Retrieved April 28, 2025. https://www.bachelorprint.com/ca/academic-writing/assonance/.

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(Schmid 2024)

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Leonie Schmid, "Assonance โ€“ Definition, Use, And Examples," BachelorPrint, December 25, 2024, https://www.bachelorprint.com/ca/academic-writing/assonance/ (retrieved April 28, 2025).

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Schmid, "Shortened title."

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Schmid, Leonie: Assonance โ€“ Definition, Use, And Examples, in: BachelorPrint, 2024-12-25, [online] https://www.bachelorprint.com/ca/academic-writing/assonance/ (retrieved 2025-04-28).

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Schmid, Leonie: Assonance โ€“ Definition, Use, And Examples, in: BachelorPrint, 2024-12-25, [online] https://www.bachelorprint.com/ca/academic-writing/assonance/ (retrieved 2025-04-28).
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Schmid, 2024.
Indirect quote
Schmid, 2024.

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Schmid, Leonie (2024): Assonance โ€“ Definition, Use, And Examples, in: BachelorPrint, [online] https://www.bachelorprint.com/ca/academic-writing/assonance/ (retrieved 2025-04-28).

In-text citation

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(Schmid, 2024)
Indirect quote
(Schmid, 2024)
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Schmid (2024)

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Schmid, Leonie. "Assonance โ€“ Definition, Use, And Examples." BachelorPrint, 2024-12-25, https://www.bachelorprint.com/ca/academic-writing/assonance/ (retrieved 2025-04-28).

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(Schmid)
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Bibliography

Number. Schmid L. Assonance โ€“ Definition, Use, And Examples [Internet]. BachelorPrint. 2024 [cited 2025-04-28]. Available from: https://www.bachelorprint.com/ca/academic-writing/assonance/


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