Alliteration
WordNet
noun
(1) Use of the same consonant at the beginning of each stressed syllable in a line of verse
"Around the rock the ragged rascal ran"
WiktionaryText
Noun
- The repetition of consonants at the beginning of two or more words immediately succeeding each other, or at short intervals; as in the following lines: -
- Behemoth, biggest born of earth, upheaved His vastness. -Milton.
- Fly o'er waste fens and windy fields. -Alfred Tennyson.
Usage notes
The recurrence of the same letter in accented parts of words is also called alliteration. Anglo-Saxon poetry is characterized by alliterative meter of this sort. Later poets also employed it.
- In a somer seson whan soft was the sonne, I shope me in shroudes as I a shepe were. - Piers Plowman.