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Alliteration in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

Alliteration Examples in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow:

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

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"a large brook among broken rocks and trunks of fallen trees..."   (The Legend of Sleepy Hollow)

In a continued flow of musical language, this passage contains a number of examples of consonance. Notice the pair of br- sounds in “brook” and “broken,” as well as the tr- sounds in “trunks” and “trees.” There are k sounds ringing throughout the words, as well as r sounds. The flow of like language sounds mimics the flow of the stream.

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"where the sunbeams seem to sleep so quietly..."   (The Legend of Sleepy Hollow)

This passage displays Irving’s ability to craft musical language. This phrase in particular offers an example of assonance. The long E sound (-ee-) is carried through the phrase, appearing in “-beams,” “seem,” “sleep,” and “-ly.” Alliteration also plays an important role here, appearing in the sequence of opening s sounds.

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