Assonanza

Assonanza, or assonance in English, is the repetition of vowel sounds within nearby words, creating internal rhymes and musicality. It can occur across word boundaries and is a common device in poetry and occasionally in prose to establish mood, rhythm, or emphasis. Unlike alliteration, which repeats initial consonants, or consonance, which repeats consonant sounds more broadly, assonance centers on vowels.

The term assonanza is used in some contexts, often as a Romance-language cognate. In English, assonance is the standard term, while assonanza appears as a loanword or historical variant in some texts.

Examples: The line “The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain” repeats the 'ai' vowel sound across several words. Edgar Allan Poe’s line “Hear the mellow wedding bells” is commonly cited as an example of assonance through the repeated 'e' sound.

Use: Poets may deploy assonance to guide pacing, to link ideas, or to heighten musicality without creating an explicit rhyme. It can be subtle or pronounced, depending on the context and the poet's intent.

See also: Alliteration, consonance, rhyme.