Question

How is assonance used in ''The Raven" by Poe?

Answer 1

Hint: Assonance is a poetic device. There is another poetic device called ‘Consonance’ which is a counterpart to assonance.

Complete answer:
or syllables. An example of assonance can be; fix and finch. In this pair, the vowels are the same and have the same sound. The consonants on the other hand are similar but not exactly the same. The two words start with the same consonant, have the same sounding vowel and end with different consonants.
This kind of usage of words is seen in many poems. In ‘The Raven’ by Edgar Allan Poe there have been many such instances.
The following are those instances;
-While I pondered, weak and weary
-For the rear and radiant
-Deep into the darkness peering
-On his home by Horror haunted
-Tell this soul with sorrow
-It shall clasp a sainted maiden
-Still is sitting, still is sitting

Rhyming words are a special kind of assonance. For e.g. fix and six. They have the same vowel sounds and also the consonants at the end of the two words. The consonant in the beginning, however, is not the same. Thus, we can say that all rhymes are assonance but all examples of assonance are not rhymes. They may or may not be rhymes.

Note:
i) Another poetic device which is very similar to assonance is ‘Consonance’.
ii) It is a poetic device in which similar sounding consonants and not the vowels. For e.g. soul and sorrow; is an example of assonance. But Jewels and Jackets are examples of consonance.