Alliteration Examples and Activities

Welcome to ReadingVine’s library of resources for alliteration examples and activities!

What is alliteration?

Alliteration is the repetition of an initial sound at the beginning of words that exist within close proximity to one another.

These often appear in “tongue twisters” that pose a challenge for our expression and rate of speech. They can be fun to read and fun to create!

Examples

In poetry, alliteration can contribute to the rhythm and pacing of a poem. It can also make a poem more memorable and fun. Let’s see how they look in some famous examples and some poems in ReadingVine’s collection.

In Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poem “Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” he writes,

He holds him with his skinny hand,
‘There was a ship,’ quoth he…
In mist or cloud, on mast or shroud,
It perched for vespers nine…”

In this stanza, the first verse has a repeated “h” sound across five words in the first verse. This is alliteration.

In Robert Frost’s “The Line Gang,” the poet writes,

“They string an instrument against the sky
Wherein words whether beaten out or spoken
Will run as hushed as when they were a thought.”

In the second verse of this stanza, the “w” sound repeats three times to create an alliterative effect.

In Emma Lazarus’s poem, “The New Colossus,” she writes,

“Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch…”

Lazarus uses a repeated “s” sound in the third verse to implement alliteration.

In poetry, alliteration can produce sound that emphasizes a certain mood. For instance, do the sounds make a harsh noise or one that’s soothing and sweet?

Noting these details can help poets write better poetry and help learners master sound devices.

CCSS Standard
R.3, R.4, R.5

Alliteration Printable Activities (PDFs)