Skip to content
Storgy

Poetic Device · Reference

Consonance

A move poets keep coming back to.

What is consonance in poetry? It's when the same consonant sound is repeated in nearby words — often in the middle or at the end of words, not just at the start. That distinction is important: if the repeated sound only appears at the beginning of words, that's called alliteration. Consonance is more versatile. It can occur anywhere within a word, and it doesn't need the words to be adjacent — just close enough for the ear to catch the echo.

Definition

Poets use consonance because sound carries meaning. When the same consonant recurs throughout a line, it creates a sort of sonic glue. The line feels cohesive, even if the reader can't pinpoint why. Depending on the sound, consonance can have varying effects: harsh sounds like *k* and *t* can feel percussive or even aggressive; softer sounds like *l* and *m* can slow a line down, giving it a tender or mournful quality; while hissing *s* sounds can evoke unease or urgency. Consonance also operates below the level of conscious awareness. A reader doesn’t have to identify it to experience its effects. That's part of its strength. It's one of the key tools poets use to make language feel inevitable — as if these specific words, in this exact order, couldn't be arranged any other way. You'll find it in both formal and free verse, in nursery rhymes and in some of the most profound poems in the English language. Once you start listening for it, you’ll notice it everywhere.

Annotated examples

From the corpus · I to III.
  1. I.from the corpus

    The only other sound's the sweep Of easy wind and downy flake.

    Why this works

    The *s* sounds in 'sound's,' 'sweep,' and the soft *w* and *d* sounds in 'wind,' 'downy,' and 'flake' create a gentle, flowing texture. Frost isn't merely describing quiet — he's incorporating it into the sound of the lines themselves. This consonance gives the words a softness and continuity that mirrors the snowfall the speaker observes. You find yourself lowering your voice as you read it aloud.
    from Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost
  2. II.from the corpus

    And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain

    Why this works

    The repeated *s* sounds — 'silken,' 'sad,' 'uncertain,' 'rustling' — weave through the line like a whisper or a hiss. Poe builds a sense of dread before anything truly frightening occurs. This consonance gives the line a slippery, unstable feel, echoing the speaker's rising anxiety. It's a masterclass in employing sound to craft a psychological atmosphere rather than merely describing it.
    from The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe
  3. III.from the corpus

    First — Chill — then Stupor — then the letting go —

    Why this works

    The hard *t* sounds in "First," "Chill," "Stupor," and "letting" create a stiff, halting quality — each word hits like a small blow. Dickinson captures the numbness that follows grief, and the consonance reflects that numbness: the sounds feel blunt, abrupt, cold. The line doesn't flow; it thuds ahead in stages, mirroring how she describes the movement of grief.
    from After Great Pain a Formal Feeling Comes by Emily Dickinson

Reader’s guide

How to spot consonance

To find consonance in a poem, focus on listening rather than just reading. Here's a handy checklist: 1. **Read the poem aloud.** Consonance is about sound, not spelling. The *c* in 'luck' and the *k* in 'dark' produce the same consonant sound even though they appear different in writing. 2. **Listen for repeated consonant sounds in the middle or end of words.** If you notice the same sound popping up across a line or stanza, that’s consonance in action. 3. **Check that it’s not only at the start of words.** If every repeated sound begins the words, you’re observing alliteration, which is just one type of consonance. 4. **Look for patterns across nearby lines, not just within a single line.** Consonance often develops over two or three lines before it becomes clear. 5. **Ignore vowels for now.** Consonance focuses solely on consonant sounds. If the repeated sounds are vowels, that’s assonance. 6. **Consider what the sound feels like physically.** Is it a stop (*p*, *t*, *k*)? A fricative (*s*, *f*, *v*)? A liquid (*l*, *r*)? The physical nature of the sound often reflects the emotional tone of the passage.

Writer’s guide

How to write with consonance

Here are three practical ways to incorporate consonance into your poems: 1. **Select a consonant that resonates with your emotional tone, and weave it into a key line.** Hard stops add tension and rhythm; softer sounds evoke calm or sadness. For instance: *The locked clock ticked and ticked and would not stop* employs *k* and *t* to give time a mechanical and relentless feel. 2. **Allow consonance to serve as a simile.** Rather than stating that something is rough or sharp, infuse those sensations into the sound itself. For example: *She gripped the stripped branch, stripped of bark and grip* — the repeated *p* and hard *r* create a raw feeling without needing any adjectives. 3. **Employ consonance across line breaks to connect stanzas.** End one line with a consonant sound and reintroduce it at the start of the next. For example: *The frost had crept across the field at last. / Stiff grasses snapped beneath my feet like glass* — the *st*, *sp*, and *s* sounds transport the cold from one line to the next.

Poems that turn on consonance

From the public-domain corpus

Adjacent in Sound & music

Open the collection →

Postscript

Frequent definitions