Assonance is the repetition of identical or similar phonemes in words or syllables that occur close together, either in terms of their vowel phonemes (e.g., lean green meat) or their consonant phonemes (e.g., Kip keeps capes ). However, in American usage, assonance exclusively refers to this phenomenon when affecting vowels, whereas, when affecting consonants, it is generally called consonance. The two types are often combined, as between the words six and switch, which contain the same vowel and similar consonants. If there is repetition of the same vowel or some similar vowels in literary work, especially in stressed syllables, this may be termed "vowel harmony" in poetry (though linguists have a different definition of "vowel harmony"). A special case of assonance is rhyme, in which the endings of words (generally beginning with the vowel sound of the last stressed syllable) are identical—as in fog and log or history and mystery. Vocalic assonance is an important element in verse. Assonance occurs more often in verse than in prose; it is used in English-language poetry and is particularly important in Old French, Spanish, and the Celtic languages.

Examples

English poetry is rich with examples of assonance and/or consonance: It also occurs in prose: Hip hop relies on assonance: It is also heard in other forms of popular music: Assonance is common in proverbs: Total assonance is found in a number of Pashto proverbs from Afghanistan: This poetic device can be found in the first line of Homer's Iliad: (Μῆνιν ἄειδε, θεά, Πηληϊάδεω Ἀχιλῆος). Another example is Dies irae (probably by Thomas of Celano): In Dante's Divine Comedy there are some stanzas with such repetition. In the following strophe from Hart Crane's "To Brooklyn Bridge" there is the vowel [i] in many stressed syllables. All rhymes in a strophe can be linked by vowel harmony into one assonance. Such stanzas can be found in Italian or Portuguese poetry, in works by Giambattista Marino and Luís Vaz de Camões: This is ottava rima (abababcc), a very popular form in the Renaissance that was first used in epic poems. There are many examples of vowel harmony in French, Czech, and Polish poetry.