Literary Terms

Assonance: A species of imperfect or incomplete rhyme, consisting of the use as a substitute for rhyme of the same vowel sounds, but different consonants. Thus 'man', 'can', are rhymes; 'man', 'cat', are assonances. Assonance is particularly common in Spanish poetry and the early French chansons de geste; it was generally a precursor of complete rhyme.

How to cite the article:
Vivian, Percival. A dictionary of literary terms. London: G. Routledge & sons. 1900. Shakespeare Online. 20 Aug. 2010. (date when you accessed the information) < http://www.shakespeare-online.com/literaryterms/assonance.html >.

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