In literature, when the same initial consonant (in some cases even vowel) sounds are repeated in successive or closely placed syllables within a line of a passage or poem, it is termed alliteration. One that is quite catchy and popular would be Carolyn Wells's Betty Botter:
Betty Botter bought some butter
But she said the butter's bitter,
"If I put it in my batter
It will make my batter bitter,
But a bit of better butter
Will make my batter better."
So she bought some better butter
Better than the bitter butter,
And she put it in her batter
And her batter was not bitter,
So 'twas better Betty Botter
Bought a bit of better butter.
(Betty Botter by Carolyn Wells)
Other examples of alliteration would be Chacha Chaudhary, Shikari Shambhu, Big Ben, Daffy Duck, Bed and Breakfast and so on. Alliteration is employed deliberately by writers in order to call attention to specific words or meanings in a poem or prose, as the sound it generates is emphatic and stressed. Alliteration is used in other languages, too, and Sanskrit texts make an excellent example of how far this literary device can be traced back to.
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