Assonance+-+Consonance

Assonance - The repetition of vowel sounds in order to create a rhyme scheme or pattern in a verse of poetry (generally not at the beginning of the words) Example: D**o** y**ou** like the colour bl**ue**?
 * NOT:** **A**ngry **A**lice (this is alliteration)

Examples in Philip Larkin's poetry: In Larkin's "Love Songs in Age":

The glare of that much-mentioned br i lliance, love, Broke out, to show I ts bright i ncip i ence sail i ng above, St i ll prom i s i ng to solve, and sat i sfy,

The above excerpt from Larkin's "Love Songs in Age" includes assonance (much like alliteration) which is used to give fluidity and continuity to the verse. Assonance also contributes to the tone of the poem, as well as the fluidity. The words 'brilliance', 'satisfy', 'promising' and 'sailing' all contribute to the happiness and loveliness associated with the poem, and by choosing to include 'incipience' in the pattern Larkin reveals that the happiness of the love songs are just beginning to appear again.

In Larkin's "The Whitsun Weddings"

//I was l**a**te getting aw**ay**:// //Not till about One-twenty on the sunlit Saturd**ay** Did my three-quarters-empty train pull out// In the excerpt from "The Whitsun Weddings" Larkin uses both a predetermined rhyme scheme and assonance to contribute to the fluidity of the poem. In the first line Larkin uses assonance to create a connection between the words, 'late' and 'away'. The combination of the words 'late' and 'away' imply that the subject that Larkin is writing about is frustrated and irritated with the way that things are going for him, and creates a somber, irritated mood in the initial part of the poem.

Consonance - The repetition of consonant sounds to create a specific rhyme scheme or pattern in poetry. Example: Pit**ter** Pat**ter**
 * NOT: P**eter **P**lum

Examples in Larkin's poetry:

In "An Arundel Tomb": Si**de** by si**de**, their faces blurr**ed**, The earl and coun __t__ ess lie in s __t__ one, Their proper habi __t__ s vaguely shown As join __t__ **ed** armour, s __t__ iffene**d** plea __t__ , And tha __t__ fain __t__ hin __t__ of the absur**d** - The li __tt__ le **d**ogs un**de**r their fee**t**.

In the first stanza of Larkin's poem "An Arundel Tomb" Larkin uses consonance to create the initial tone and mood for the entire poem. Larkin includes the repetition of the sonourous consonants 'd' and 't' throughout the first stanza because (at a very literal level) Larkin is talking about love and death which are very serious subjects and also to convey (right from the beginning) the heaviness and powerfulness of this poem.

In "Love Songs in Age":

Relearning how each frank s ubmissive chord Had ushered in Word after s prawling hyphenated word, And the unfailing s ense of being young s pread out like a s pring-woken tree, wherein That hidden freshne ss s ung, That certainty of time laid up in s tore As when s he played them fir s t. But, even more,

In this example of consonance in Philip Larkin's poem "Love Songs in Age" Larkin draws attention to the second stanza by repeating the sound made by the consonant 's'. The addition of consonance to the previously established rhyme scheme gives the poem even more fluidity, and ties the second verse together. By including the repetition of 's' all throughout the second stanza, Larkin emphasizes the importance of it by giving the stanza its own independent pattern.