Poetry Hacks

Consonance

What is it? Where consonant sounds are repeated mid-word or at the end of words that are near to one another in a poem. What effect does it usually have? Consonance creates a sense of harmony, cohesion, and of words belonging together; many contemporary poets use consonance on end-words, for a more subtle effect than full rhyme. What else should I look out for? Like rhyme and assonance, consonance is often used to bind lines together, or to connect related words to create a resonant, memorable phrase. The repetition of consonant sounds can produce various effects, depending on nature of the sounds being repeated (see Describing Sound in Poetry).

An example of how it works … ‘The Fly’ by William Blake:

For I dance And drink and sing, Till some blind hand Shall brush my wing

Here the nasal consonance, mainly on 'n' sounds, binds the four short lines of this stanza tightly together, working alongside rhyme and alliteration ('dance', 'drink', and 'blind', 'brush'). It also helps to create a lyrical, song like feel, helping to depict carefree, musical subject of the lines.

Another example … ‘After a Journey’ by Thomas Hardy:

Hereto I come to view a voiceless ghost; Whither, O whither will its whim now draw me? Up the cliff, down, till I'm lonely, lost, And the unseen waters' ejaculations awe me.

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