What are Alliteration Poems?

What are alliteration poems? Alliteration Poems use the poetic or literary device of repeating consonant sounds at the beginning of each, or at least many, of the words in the poem. Consonants are non-vowel letters. Alliteration pleases the ear. It's delightful word play. An example of alliteration would be, “Mighty Mac moved many mountains.” 

The first alliteration poem is Betty's Room. Take notice of the many lines of alliteration in this poem: "clutter, clustered, clingingly," and "mutters mawkishly." Read on for more alliteration.

Betty's Room
There is no clutter cluttered up
more closely, I presume,
than the clutter clustered clingingly
in my friend, Betty's room.

Her mother mutters mawkishly
and fills her with such dread.
She mutters on about the muss
that messes Betty's bed.

At bedtime, Betty bounces all
her objects to the floor.
Each morning, when she wakes up, they
go on her bed once more.

There's papers, pencils, potpourri.
It piques her mother's stress.
She pouts. She plies and yet her cries
do not clean Betty's mess.

There's partly broken plastic toys,
each with a missing part,
some worn and withered whistles, which
are close to Betty's heart.

Old ballet shoes she cannot lose,
and photos of her friends,
a burnt-out fuse, some fruity chews,
a box of odds and ends.

Old magazines and school reports
(the ones that got the A's),
her worn out jeans, some socks to sort,
the programs from three plays.

Each object is an artifact,
a personal antique.
She cannot bear to throw them out;
they make her life unique.

There's feathers, fans, and fairy dolls --
and mother-daughter strife.
Her mother lives for neatness, but,
well, mess is Betty's life.

by Denise Rodgers
Copyright© Denise Rodgers 
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A Little Bit of Nonsense
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Art by Julie Martin

Alliteration Poem #2

The next example of alliteration poetry is Spinning Dry, also from A Little Bit of Nonsense. Notice the "sudsing and soaking," the "bobbing and bubbling," the "twisting and turning," and the "fluttering flopping."

Spinning Dry
If I had a choice, when it's time to get clean
I'd like to jump into our washing machine
for sudsing and soaking and rolling and churning
and bobbing and bubbling and twisting and turning.

Next come my chance to feel just like a flyer
as I get to hop out and spin in the dryer.
I'd roll all around with a fluttering flopping,
just floating and turning with no thought of stopping.

It sounds like such fun, this incredible fling,
that I wouldn't mind if I got static cling.

by Denise Rodgers
Copyright© Denise Rodgers 
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A Little Bit of Nonsense
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Art by Julie Martin

Alliteration Poem #3

The next example of alliteration poetry is Slithery, Slidery, Scaly Old Snake. As you can see , the alliteration is in the title as well as in the first and last lines. If you read carefully, you can find even more examples of alliteration in this poem.

Slithery, Slidery, Scaly Old Snake
Slithery, slidery, scaly old snake,
surely your body must be a mistake.
Your eyes, mouth and tongue wisely stay on your head.
It seems that your body is all tail instead.
You gobble your dinner, you swallow it whole --
a mouse or a frog or a turtle or mole.
Ugh!
Why don' you eat ice cream or chocolatey cake!
Oh slithery, slidery, scaly old snake.

by Denise Rodgers
Copyright© Denise Rodgers 
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A Little Bit of Nonsense
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Art by Julie Martin

Alliteration Poem #4

The next alliteration poem is from my Great Lakes Rhythm & Rhyme book. The alliteration is more subtle, but if you read the first stanza, you will see "rhythm and rhyme," "shimmer and shimmy," "bathe us in blueness," "summer sand" and "ships in a storm," Read on and you will see even more examples of alliteration.

Lighthouse
There once was a man who was scared of the dark.
So he went off to live all alone in a park
by the side of the shore, at the edge of the lake,
and his family was sure he had made a mistake.
For with no city near, it would give him a fright
to have only the stars and the moon for his light.
But what they didn't know (and they should have looked deeper),
his job (what a job!) was the new lighthouse keeper.

As soon as the sun looked as if it might set,
he would follow his cue -- that it was time to get
up the stairs of the lighthouse to light up the sky.

His relatives learned of his work, by and by.
And they'd come by to visit, but only at night
when he'd climb up the steps, several stories in height.
He would light up the sky, for the ships out so far,
brightly shining the way, like a fiery star.

The light was his light, and was his light to keep.
(And all through the day it was his time to sleep.)

by Denise Rodgers
Copyright© Denise Rodgers 
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Great Lakes Rhythm & Rhyme
All Rights Reserved
Art by Julie Martin

By now you should have a handle on what alliteration is and how it livens up a poem (or any writing or speaking, for that matter). You should also have an idea of what constitutes an alliteration poem.

For more information about alliteration, go to Merriam-Webster.com.