Have you ever tried saying this, five times in a row, and really fast?

Sentences like this are called tongue twisters. They have lots of letters at the beginning of words that “twist” your tongue when you try to say them.

Poems often have repeating letters, too, but not as many as tongue twisters. They are intended to create a rhythmic and interesting sound pattern in a poem.

The use of repeating letters at the beginning of words in a poem is called alliteration. Here is an example of alliteration from the second line of the well-known children’s rhyme, “Twinkle, twinkle, little star”:

Did you notice the repeating w sound—how, wonder, what? That’s the alliteration.

Alliteration is one of the easiest literary devices to spot because the words usually start with the same letter. Be careful, though, because there are exceptions to this rule: phone and funny, know and news, even silly and cereal! So don’t just read the poem—listen to how the words sound.

Have you ever had someone - maybe a little brother or sister - follow you around and repeat everything you say? Isn’t it annoying?

Unlike your little brother or sister, poets can use repetition without driving you crazy. In fact, repetition can make a poem very interesting and give it a nice rhythm. Repetition can also tell us that some words are extra important to the poem and need to be said more than once.

Repetition, then, is the repeating of certain words in a poem for a pleasing effect or to emphasize an important idea.

Here is an example of repetition from "The Highwayman," a famous poem by Albert Noyes.

In this passage, the word riding is repeated several times. This makes us wonder where the highwayman is riding to. It creates suspense.

Repetition in poetry or songs also can enhance the rhythm. Do you notice a rhythm in the poem with the word riding repeated? You might also feel the rhythm of the galloping horse when you read the repeating word.