Alliteration is the repetition of syllable -initial consonant sounds between nearby words, or of syllable-initial vowels if the syllables in question do not start with a consonant. It is often used as a literary device . A common example is " P eter P iper p icked a p eck of p ickled p e pp ers ," in which the "p" sound is repeated.
24-715: The word alliteration comes from the Latin word littera , meaning "letter of the alphabet". It was first coined in a Latin dialogue by the Italian humanist Giovanni Pontano in the 15th century. Alliteration is used in the alliterative verse of Old English poems like Beowulf , Middle English poems like Sir Gawain and the Green Knight , Old Norse works like the Poetic Edda , and in Old High German , Old Saxon , and Old Irish . It
48-427: A great ruler, composed in the rhetorical style of the day, and his poems. He was distinguished for energy of Latin style, for vigorous intellectual powers, and for the faculty, rare among his contemporaries, of expressing the facts of modern life, the actualities of personal emotion, in language sufficiently classical yet always characteristic of the man. His prose treatises are more useful to students of manners than
72-476: A haþel and a horse myȝt such a hwe lach, As growe grene as þe gres and grener hit semed, Þen grene aumayl on golde glowande bryȝter. - Giovanni Pontano Giovanni Pontano (1426–1503), later known as Giovanni Gioviano ( Latin : Ioannes Iovianus Pontanus ), was a humanist and poet from Cerreto di Spoleto , in central Italy. He was the leading figure of the Accademia Pontaniana after
96-587: A marked manner the position of power to which men of letters and learning had arrived in Italy. He entered Naples as a penniless scholar. He was almost immediately made the companion and trusted friend of its sovereign, loaded with honours, lodged in a fine house, enrolled among the nobles of the realm, enriched, and placed at the very height of social importance. Following the example of Pomponio Leto in Rome and of Cosimo de' Medici at Florence , Pontano led and lent his name to
120-559: A part of some importance in the affairs of southern Italy and in the Barons' War, the wars with the Papacy, and the expulsion and restoration of the Aragonese dynasty. But his chief claim is as a scholar. His writings divide themselves into dissertations upon such topics as the "Liberality of Princes", "Ferocity" or "Magnificence", in which he argued that architecture and great monuments were the mark of
144-472: A village of about 200 inhabitants about a mile south of Cerreto. Though now insignificant, Ponte was once an important defensive outpost overlooking the first bridge over the Nera River . The counts of Celano built a fortress at this site, which has not survived. Today, the village is best known for the 12th-century Romanesque abbey church of Santa Maria: the façade includes a very good rose window, and
168-485: Is given as an example here. "Finally, whether you are c itizens of America or c itizens of the world, ask of us here the s ame high st andards of str ength and s acrifice which we ask of you. With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to l ead the l and we l ove, asking His blessing and His h elp, but knowing that h ere on Earth God's work must truly be our own." — John F. Kennedy Translation can lose
192-614: Is the didactic poem on orange trees, De hortis Hesperidum . His most original compositions in verse, however, are elegiac and hendecasyllabic pieces on personal topics — the De conjugali amore , Eridanus , Tumuli , Naeniae , Baiae , in which he uttered his vehemently passionate emotions with a warmth of colouring, an evident sincerity, and a truth of painting from reality which excuse their erotic freedom. Pontano's prose and poems were printed by Aldus Manutius at Venice. Pontano's Latin translation of Claudius Ptolemy 's astrological work,
216-547: The Tetrabiblos (or Quadripartitum ) was first printed in 1535 as part of Joachim Camerarius first portfolio edition that also included the Greek text. Cerreto di Spoleto Cerreto di Spoleto is an Italian village and comune of the province of Perugia in Umbria . It is a dispersed rural community with 1,158 inhabitants spread over 8 frazioni . Ponte di Cerreto is
240-478: The Accademia Pontaniana , for the meetings of learned and distinguished men. This became the centre of fashion as well as of erudition in the southern capital, and subsists today. In 1461 he married his first wife, Adriana Sassone, who bore him son Lucio and three daughters before her death in 1491. Nothing distinguished Pontano more than the strength of his domestic feeling. He was passionately attached to his wife and children; and, while his friend Beccadelli signed
264-492: The Aragonese dynasty as political adviser, military secretary and chancellor was henceforth a close one; he passed from tutor to cultural advisor to Alfonso. The most doubtful passage in his diplomatic career is when he welcomed Charles VIII of France upon the entry of that king into Naples in 1495, thus showing that he was too ready to abandon the princes upon whose generosity his fortunes had been raised. Pontano illustrates in
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#1732930296376288-475: The audience to feel some type of urgency, or another emotional effect. For example, S sounds can imply danger or make the audience feel as if they are being deceived. Other sounds can likewise generate positive or negative responses. Alliteration serves to "intensify any attitude being signified". An example is in John F. Kennedy's Inaugural Address, in which he uses alliteration 21 times. The last paragraph of his speech
312-473: The death of Antonio Beccadelli in 1471, and the academy took his name. Pontano was born at Cerreto in the Duchy of Spoleto , where his father was murdered in one of the frequent civic brawls which then disturbed the peace of Italian towns. His date of birth is given in various sources between 1421 and 1429; it is often given as 1426, but may have been 1429. His mother escaped with the boy to Perugia , and it
336-422: The dialogue and naming of cartoon characters. There are several concepts to which the term alliteration is sometimes applied: Poets can call attention to certain words in a line of poetry by using alliteration. They can also use alliteration to create a pleasant, rhythmic effect. In the following poetic lines, notice how alliteration is used to emphasize words and to create rhythm: Alliteration can also add to
360-508: The emphasis developed by this device. For example, in the accepted Greek text of Luke 10:41 the repetition and extension of initial sound are noted as Jesus doubles Martha's name and adds an alliterative description: Μ άρθα Μ άρθα μ ερι μ νᾷς ( M artha, M artha, m eri m nas). This is lost in the English NKJ and NRS translations "Martha, Martha, you are w orried and distracted by many things." For vch mon had meruayle quat hit mene myȝt Þat
384-399: The first marriage; therefore his declining years were solitary. He died in 1503 at Naples, where a remarkable group of terracotta figures, life-sized and painted, still adorns his tomb in the church of Monte Oliveto. He is there represented together with his patron Alfonso and his friend Jacopo Sannazaro in adoration before the dead Christ . As a diplomat and state official Pontano played
408-572: The interior is notable for preserving the architect 's sketch of that window, engraved on one of the walls of the nave. Among the frescoes is an almost equally rare depiction of the Trinity as a three-headed man. Rocchetta ( Rocchetta di Cerreto when distinguishing it from others ) lies at 793 metres (2,602 ft) above sea-level on a ridge above and to the east of the Tissino River. Its principal sights are three churches, two of them medieval and
432-401: The licentious verses of Hermaphroditus , his own Muse celebrated in liberal but loyal strains the pleasures of conjugal affection, the charm of infancy and the sorrows of a husband and a father in the loss of those he loved. Not long after the death of his first wife Pontano took in second marriage a beautiful girl of Ferrara , who is only known to us under the name of Stella. Although he
456-442: The mood of a poem. If a poet repeats soft, melodious sounds, a calm or dignified mood can result. If harsh, hard sounds are repeated, on the other hand, the mood can become tense or excited. In this poem, alliteration of the s, l, and f sounds adds to a hushed, peaceful mood: Source: Literary alliteration has been used in various spheres of public speaking and rhetoric. It can also be used as an artistic constraint in oratory to sway
480-554: The royal chancery of Alphonso the Magnanimous . Alphonso discerned the singular gifts of the young scholar, and made him tutor to his sons, notably Alfonso , who would reign for a single year but whose energies in the decade 1485 to 1495 brought the Renaissance to Naples in many fields, from poetry to villas, from portrait sculpture to fortifications. Pontano was laureated by Pope Innocent VIII on 8 January 1486. His connection with
504-462: The similar lucubrations of Poggio Bracciolini . Yet it was principally as a Latin poet that he exhibited his full strength. An ambitious didactic composition in hexameters , entitled Urania , embodying the astronomical science of the age, and adorning this high theme with brilliant mythological episodes, won the admiration of Italy. It still remains a monument of fertile invention, exuberant facility and energetic handling of material. Not less excellent
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#1732930296376528-492: Was also used as an ornament to suggest connections between ideas in classical Latin, Greek, and Sanskrit poetry. Today, alliteration is used poetically in various languages around the world, including Arabic , Irish , German , Mongolian , Hungarian , American Sign Language , Somali , Finnish , and Icelandic . It is also used in music lyrics , article titles in magazines and newspapers, and in advertisements, business names, comic strips, television shows, video games and in
552-414: Was at least sixty-five years of age at this period, his poetic faculty displayed itself with more than usual warmth and lustre in the glowing series of elegies, styled Eridanus , which he poured forth to commemorate the rapture of this union. Stella's one child, Lucilio, survived his birth but fifty days; nor did his mother long remain to comfort the scholar's old age. Pontano had already lost his only son by
576-422: Was here that Pontano received his first instruction in languages and literature. Failing to recover his patrimony, he abandoned Umbria , and at the age of twenty-two established himself at Naples , which continued to be his chief place of residence during a long and prosperous career. He here began a close friendship with the distinguished scholar, Antonio Beccadelli , through whose influence he gained admission to
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