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Alliteration isn’t just the repetition of initial sounds of words; it’s the
repetition of initial sounds of stressed syllables.
Granted, this is a fairly obvious statement. However, there are two main
forms of verse: free verse and formal verse. Formal verse requires that
poems be written within a pattern of some sort--it is clearly affected by
rhyme, rhythm, metre, and/or form. Free verse, however, is written
without proper rules, and alliterative verse is somewhat of a cross
between the free and formal. It has no rhyme scheme--in fact, rhyming is
discouraged--and is written in stress metre, not poetic feet. There are
usually four stresses per line--for instance, “WEIGHing their OPtions, and
WINNowing their ODDS”--but the number of syllables can vary.
For instance, in the following two lines of “Deor’s Lament,” the first line
has ten syllables and the second line has eleven syllables, but each line
has only four stressed syllables.
Hero unflinching, enduring distress;
Had for companionship heart-break and longing,
Note that the caesuras in this case are marked with white space,
indicating two half-lines.
Fellows 2
List of References
Deane, Paul. “Part II: The Lay of the Land.” Forgotten Ground Regained.
2000. 25 Dec 2008 <http://alliteration.net/field2.htm>.
Pound, Ezra. “The Seafarer.” Personae: The Shorter Poems of Ezra Pound.
Ed. Lea Baechler and A. Walton Litz. New York: New Directions, 1990.
60-63.