ALLITERA'TION is the frequent occurrence in a composition of words beginning with the same letter. Iu old German, Anglo-Saxon, and Scandinavian poetry, A took the place of rhyme. This kind of verse, in its strict form, required that in the two short lines forming a couplet, three words should begin with the same letter, two in the first line or hemistich, and one in the second ; as in the following couplet of Anglo-Saxon poetry: Et rum foldan Fma alinihtig:—Ccednion.
A. has not quite from Icelandic poetry to this day. Alliterative poems continued to be writen in English after it had assumed its modern form ; the most remarkable is Pierce Plowman, a poem of the 14th c., .of which the following is a speci men, the two heinistichs being written in one line : Mercy bight that maid, l a meek thing withal, A full benign burl, I and buxom of speech.
Even after the introduction of rhyme, A. continued to be largely used as an embellish ment of poetry, and is so, though to a less extent, to this day: The fair breeze blew, the white foam Pew, The furrow followed free.—Coleridge.
Besides the Gothic, there are other nations widely separated from each other, among whom the essential distinction of verse is A.; the Finns, for instance, and the Tamuls in the s. of India.
But A. is not confined to verse ; the charm that; lies iu it exercises great influence on human speech generally. as may be seen in many current phrases and proverbs in
all languages : Ex., "life and limb," "house and home," "wide wears, tight tears," etc. It often constitutes part of the point and piquancy of witty writing. Among modern writers this application of A. is perhaps most felicitously exemplified by Sidney Smith, as, when in contrasting the conditions of a dignitary of the English church and of a poor curate, he speaks of them as "the right reverend Dives in the palace, and Laza rus-in-orders at the gate, doctored by dogs and comforted with crumbs." In the early part of the pith c., the fashion of bunting after alliterations was car ried to an absurd excess ; even from the pulpit, the chosen people of God were addressed us" thechickens of the church, the sparrows of the spirit, and the sweet swallows of salva tion." Au New-Year Gift, or address, presented to Mary queen of Scots by the poet, Alexander Scott, concludes with a stanza running thus : In the following piece of elaborate trifling, given (but without naming the author) in II. Southgate's Many Thaughts on Many Things, alliteration is combined with acrosticisin;