ALLIT'ERA'TION (Lat. ad, to littera, letter). The frequent occurrence of the same or similar letters or sounds. In old German, Anglo-Saxon, and Scandinavian poetry, allitera tion took the place of rhyme. This kind of verse, in its strict form, required that two stressed syl lables in the first hemistich and one in the sec ond hemistich should have the same sound, if consonantal, as in the following Anglo-Saxon line: Flats nmig heals (ogle gelicost. (The bow of loam likest a bird.) Alliterative poems continued to he written in English after it had assumed its modern form. The most remarkable is Piers Plowman, a poem of the fourteenth century, of which the follow ing is a specimen: In a sourer seson when soft was the some.
Even after the introduction of rhyme, allitera tion continued to be largely used as an embellish ment of poetry, and is so, though to a less ex tent, to this day: The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew, The followed free.—Coleridge.
Alliteration is not confined to verse; the charm that lies in it exercises great influence on hu man speech generally, as may he seen in many current. phrases and proverbs in all languages: example, "life and limb," "house and home," "wide wears," "tight tears," etc. It often con stitutes part of the point and piquancy of witty writing. Among modern writers this use of al literation is well illustrated by Sydney Smith: for example, when 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 Lazarus-in-orders at the gate,. doctored by dogs and comforted with
crumbs." In the early part of the seventeenth century the fashion of limiting after alliterations was carried to an extreme; even front the pulpit, time chosen people of God were addressed as "the chickens of the Church, the sparrows of the spir it, and the sweet swallows of salvation." due New-Year Gift, or address, presented to Mary, Queen of Scots, by the poet Alexander Scott, concludes with a stanza running thus: Fresh, fulgent, floorist, fragrant flower forms°, Lantern to love, of ladies Tamp and lot, Cherry waist chaste, chief carbuncle and chose, etc.
In the following piece of elaborate trifling, given (but without naming the author) in ft. South gate's Many Thoughts on Many Things, allitera tion is combined with acrosticism: While recent poets, as Tennyson and Swin burne, employ alliteration combined with vowel distribution, for beautiful sound effects, yet prose writers seem to avoid it. or at least to keep it from becoming obvious. Observe from the Pass ing of Arthur: "And on a sudden, lo! the level lake, and the long glories of the winter moon." Consult: Guest. English Rhythms (London, 1882) ; and J. Sehipper, Grundriss der Eng lisehen Metrik, (Leipzig, 1895). See ENGLISH LITERATURE.