poetic device: Assonance

Assonance is when nearby words share the same vowel sounds, especially on their stressed (or accented) syllables, such as “tiny dinosaur” (which share a long “i” sound) or “random hat” (which share a short “a” sound).

These poems all include at least one instance of assonance. See if you can the assonant words in these poems.

My Cat Knows Karate

My Flat Cat

I Bought a Maserati

My Puppy Punched Me in the Eye

We Bought a Lot of Candy Bars

An Ogre Came over for Dinner

Bradley Bentley Baxter Bloome

I Tried to Take a Selfie

My Favorite Word is Floofy

Whenever It’s December

After Thanksgiving

When Frankenstein Sat Down to Dine

Bob’s Job

I’d Like to Be a Movie Star

I’m Clever Whenever

A Hippo Is Bounding around on My Head

A Goat in a Landfill

Random Miranda

This Morning Is Our History Test

You’re Not Supposed to Touch Your Face

Thanksgiving Dinner

Wayne the Stegosaurus

A Tiny, Spiny Dinosaur

That Explains It!