An Example of Assonance from Poetry

Poets tend to work more consciously with literary devices like assonance, the repetition of vowel sounds, and alliteration than fiction writers do. By studying verse, like this example of assonance from Paradise Lost, we can better understand how to use assonance in our own work.

Mary Kinzie, poet and head of the creative writing program at Northwestern, gives this example of assonance from in her book, A Poet's Guide to Poetry. Read the verse aloud, paying close attention to the repetition of the u and oo sounds:

. . . the broad circumference
Hung on his shoulders like the Moon, whose Orb
Through Optic Glass the Tuscan Artist views
At ev'ning from the top of Fesole . . .

What feeling do you get reading these words aloud? How would that feeling change if words with short vowel sounds had been used instead?

See an example of assonance from contemporary fiction to learn more about how to use these literary tools in your own work, or move on to alliteration..