"The Raven," by Edgar Allan Poe, consists of 18 stanzas.
Each stanza contains numerous examples of alliteration; that is, of
words in close proximity that begin with the same consonant
sound.
I will give some examples from the first few
stanzas; after that, you should find it quite easy to find more examples on your
own.
Stanza 1: once (pronounce "wuns"), weak,
weary
nodded,nearly,
napping
Stanza 2: surcease of
sorrow
rare and
radiant
Stanza 3: filled, fantastic,
felt
still,
stood
What is the "action," or purpose, of all this
alliteration? Poets use alliteration for a variety of
reasons.
Sometimes, they just enjoy the
sound.
Other times, alliteration serves to focus the
reader's attention on a particular phrase. For example, in the third line of "The
Raven," Poe may have wanted to stress the idea that he had been falling asleep before
the raven knocked on his door; thus, he used
alliteration:
While I nodded, nearly
napping...
Occasionally
a poet may use alliteration to create an onomatopoetic effect--that is, so the words
will sound like the idea or action that they represent. In a
translation of Dante's "Inferno," there is a line that
reads:
I saw
it there, but I saw nothing in it, except the rising of the boiling
bubbles.
The repetition of
the "b" sound in "boiling bubbles" sounds a little bit like actual boiling water (see
link below).
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