Consonance refers to the repetition of consonant sounds within words of close proximity. It is the repeating of consonant sounds within neighbouring words, phrases, or sentences.
Example1
– Gatera Fabregas was tagged in Agnes’s photo.
– Mike likes his new bike
– Clementine may comment on my memoir.
– Today is the last day of December.
– The zoo was amazing, especially the lizards and the chimpanzees.
– There is no right time to imitate the teacher.
– All’s well that ends well.
Example 2: Building the nation by Henry Barlow
“Today I did my share
In building the nation.
I drove a Permanent Secretary
To an important, urgent function
In fact to a luncheon at the Vic.”
“Ice-cream to cover the stereotype jokes
Coffee to keep the PS awake on the return journey.”
“He yawned many times in the back of the car
Then to keep awake, he suddenly asked,
Did you have any lunch friend?”
“And friend, it goes against my grain,
Causes me stomach ulcers and wind.
Ah, he continued, yawning again,
The pains we suffer in building the nation!”
Example 3: Pedestrian to passing Benz-man by Albert Ojuka
“You man, lifted gently
Out of the poverty and suffering
We so recently shared; I say-
Why splash the muddy puddle on to
My bare legs, as if, still unsatisfied
With your seated opulence”
“A bar of soap from your shop?
A few years back we shared a master”
Example 4: I speak for the bush by Everett Standa
“So that my eyes may not
See those whose houses have no walls”
Tell your God to convert
Me to the faith of the indifferent”
Example 5: Martin Luther King by Amin Kassam
“A dream
That blossomed a sun
Where darkness has reigned”
Consonance is used in prose and poetry. In poetry, poets use consonance not only in giving a pleasing sound and creating a special mood ; but also in providing its structure with a rhyming effect.
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