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Alliteration In Old English Poetry

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Alliteration
A figure of speech in which consonants are repeated, especially at the beginning of words or stressed syllables.
It is a very old device in English verse, even older than rhyme. It is used occasionally in prose, too.
In old English poetry, alliteration was a continual and essential part of the metrical scheme and was often used until the late Middle Age. However, alliterative verse becomes increasingly rare after the end of the 15th c.
There are many classic examples, like Coleridge’s famous description of the sacred river Alph in Kubla Khan: (PowerPoint)
And also in later English versification, however, alliteration is used only for special stylistic effects, such as: (PowerPoint)
An example is the repetition of the s, th, and w consonants in Shakespeare’s Sonnet 30: (PowerPoint) …show more content…

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There are two main types of allegory: (PowerPoint),
(1) Historical and political allegory, in which the characters and actions represent, or “allegorize,” historical personages and events.
For example: (PowerPoint), in John Dryden’s Absalom and Achitophel (1681), the biblical King David represents Charles II of England, Absalom represents his natural son the Duke of Monmouth, and the biblical story of Absalom’s rebellion against his father allegorizes the rebellion of Monmouth against King Charles.
(2) The allegory of ideas, in which the literal characters represent concepts and the plot allegorizes an abstract doctrine or thesis. In this type, the central device is the personification of abstract entities such as virtues, vices, states of mind, modes of life, and types of character.
Allegory is a narrative strategy which may be employed in any literary form or genre.
In general, the use of allegory is fundamental to the holy books of all the major religions. In the Quran, on numerous occasions, God is said to speak in parables to

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