Assonance
The repetition of vowel sounds within or across words - distinct from rhyme, which works at line-endings, and from alliteration, which works on initial consonants. In poetry the vowel-repetition pattern lets the poet match the sustained quality of a sound to the emotional register of a passage.
Carries emotional register sonically - long open vowels (O, U) sustain mood and slow the line; short vowels (I, E) tighten and quicken. When the vowel cluster matches the sense of the passage, the sound itself does interpretive work the words alone couldn't.
Appears in 10 songs
Uncle Jerry identifies assonance throughout the song, including the EA sounds in 'fearless leader,' the ING internal rhyming in 'timing/beguiling/trying/lying,' the OW sounds in the slant rhyme 'around/now,' and the subtle vowel shifts in the verse 2 rhyme pattern (Stealer/Peter/Easier, Stream/Moon). After hearing the song performed, he specifically praises the assonance: 'her handling of rhyme and assonance and alliteration line after line after line is beautiful.'
The sustained assonance creates the song's musical quality at the textual level, binding lines and images together sonically in ways that reinforce thematic connections.
“Forgive me Peter, my lost fearless leader”
Angela & Uncle Jerry identify internal rhyme through assonance, the EA vowel sounds in 'fear' and 'lead' (fearless leader), creating an internal rhyming pattern within the line.
The assonance binds the key descriptors of Peter together sonically, reinforcing the unity of his characterization as both lost and fearless.
“Your touch brought forth an incandescent glow Tarnished but so grand”
Angela & Uncle Jerry identify assonance in the first verse, specifically the long O sounds: 'the O's, the long O's... that's assonance... the repetition of vowel sounds.' Uncle Jerry notes the O sounds in 'know,' 'snow,' 'glow,' 'so,' and traces how she pairs alliteration with assonance and rhyme, 'using the best tools in a poet's toolbox.'
The long O assonance creates a haunting, sustained quality that mirrors the lingering, unresolvable nature of the love affair and the ghostly atmosphere of the poem.
“Your touch brought forth an incandescent glow Tarnished but so grand”
Angela & Uncle Jerry identify S-sound assonance/sibilance: 'the esses, incandescent glow, tarnished but so grand... the S's link it together, soft, quiet. You can almost hear the blowing snow with the S sound.'
The sibilant S sounds evoke the soft, hushed quality of falling snow, establishing the wintry, secretive atmosphere of the poem.
“So (So) long (Long), London (London)”
Angela & Uncle Jerry identify the repetition of vowel sounds in the intro, the repeated 'O' sounds in 'So, long, London', as assonance. Uncle Jerry explains that the O sound is 'an extended sound, sad sound' and that a talented poet uses sounds to match the sense of the work, connecting the assonance to the mournful, bell-like quality of the opening.
The sad, extended O sounds establish the elegiac tone of the farewell to London and the relationship, matching sound to the sense of loss.
Uncle Jerry identifies the assonance of the A-sound running through the bridge's end words: 'unstable, table, faith, weight, fate, soulmates, grage', noting that the rhyming power of A runs through all of them, 'not always in the same way and not always with the same consonant. So sometimes they feel like less like true rhyme and more like assonance.' He also identifies assonance in the chorus with the long E: 'knees, prophecy, money, company, me, prophecy, prophecy', noting she stresses it as 'prophecy-ees, plea-ees.'
The sustained vowel patterns create sonic cohesion that sonically enacts the speaker's persistent, repeated pleading across the song.
“Is it romantic how all my elegies eulogize me?”
Angela & Uncle Jerry note the pervasive use of the vowel sound 'e' in this line, 'elegies,' 'eulogize,' 'me', identifying it as assonance. Uncle Jerry calls it 'so clever' and says she is 'demonstrating her poetic skill' and 'poetic understanding' through the repeated vowel sounds.
The assonance serves to demonstrate the very poetic craft that the speaker's critics dismiss, embedding proof of her skill into a line about being belittled.
Angela & Uncle Jerry identify extensive use of assonance throughout the song, particularly the elongated 'or' vowel sound in the first verse (door, more, sure, before). Uncle Jerry describes how she uses 'the vowels in tandem with the alliterative Rs' to 'extend the sound, to stretch it out,' creating a slow, whispery opening. He frames this as more than just rhyme, it is assonance being used to control the pace and emotional register of the verse.
The drawn-out vowel sounds create a feeling of uncertainty and uncharted territory, matching the speaker's tentative first experience of romance.
“You look like Clara Bow In this light, remarkable All your life, did you know You'd be picked like a rose?”
Uncle Jerry identifies assonance working alongside alliteration in verse one, noting that the rhyme 'joins both alliteration and assonance' with the same vowel sounds recurring across the lines.
The assonance reinforces the musical, sing-song quality of the talent scout's pitch, contributing to the artificial smoothness of the rehearsed recruitment speech.
“Die if it happened to me No one in my small town Thought I'd see the lights of Manhattan”
The pre-chorus carries a buried near-rhyme that runs across the whole phrase rather than landing on a single end-word: 'die if it happened' chimes against 'lights of Manhattan': five syllables each, the long 'i' of die echoed in lights, the soft 'of/if' threaded through. The match is a slant rhyme, heard more than seen, and its slight off-ness keeps the couplet from clicking shut, the sound mirroring a promise that never quite resolves.
“God save the most judgmental creeps”
Uncle Jerry identifies assonance in the bridge: 'creeps' rhymes with 'me, see, beat', the long E vowel sound repeated across 'creeps, me, see, beat.' He also notes that 'creep' as a word choice starts with a harsh K sound and ends with a harsh P sound, making it a 'well-chosen word.'
The sustained assonance of the long E vowel binds the bridge's key words together sonically, creating a cascading effect that mirrors the narrator's building frustration with judgmental outsiders.
“And I know it's long gone and That magic's not here no more”
Uncle Jerry identifies assonance with the vowels alongside the alliteration with the Ns and Gs, noting the combination of sound devices creates a sonorous quality. He says she 'constantly throws literary devices at us because they are sonorous, they sound good.'
The assonance creates a musical quality that reinforces the repetitive, haunting quality of memory, the sounds linger the way the memories do.
“We never had a shotgun shot in the dark”
Uncle Jerry explicitly identifies assonance in this line: 'They also have what's called assonance. That's repetition of vowel sounds. Notice repetition of the O in shot, shot, obviously... It ties the sound of the line together.'
The repeated O vowel sounds create sonic unity within the line, reinforcing the hopelessness of the image.