assonance

Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds within nearby words, independent of consonants. Unlike rhyme, which matches both vowel and following consonant sounds, assonance matches vowels alone: lake/fate, deep/leen, hold/bone.

Assonance creates continuity and musicality without the closure that full rhyme produces. It can link words across a line or across lines, producing an undertone of sonic connection that the reader may feel without consciously identifying. Because vowels carry the tonal color of speech — open vowels (ah, oh) feel expansive; closed vowels (ee, ih) feel compressed — assonance can reinforce or work against the emotional register of a passage.

In languages where rhyme is less available (because inflectional endings reduce the pool of rhyming words) or where the poet wants sound-binding without the formality of end-rhyme, assonance serves as a subtler alternative. It is a staple of free verse and of slant rhyme.

Related terms

• alliteration — repetition of initial consonant sounds
• consonance — repetition of consonant sounds in any position
• rhyme — full sound-matching, of which assonance is a partial form
• prosody — the study of sound patterning in verse