Consonance | Rhyme, Poetry, Meter | Britannica (original) (raw)

consonance, the recurrence or repetition of identical or similar consonants; specifically the correspondence of end or intermediate consonants unaccompanied by like correspondence of vowels at the end of two or more syllables, words, or other units of composition.

As a poetic device, it is often combined with assonance (the repetition of stressed vowel sounds within words with different end consonants) and alliteration (the repetition of initial consonant sounds). Consonance is also occasionally used as an off-rhyme, but it is most commonly found as an internal sound effect, as in Shakespeare’s song, “The ousel co_ck_ so bla_ck_ of hue,” or “The curfew to_ll_s the kne_ll_ of parting day,” from Thomas Gray’s “Elegy Written in a Country Church Yard.”