Language Topic: Alliteration and Comprehension

10-second review: Alliteration helps people to comprehend and remember.

Title; “Alliteration Makes Poetry and Prose Passages More ‘Memorable.’ ” JK Burchardt. The Writer (February 2009), 12. The Writer is a magazine by writers for writers.

Summary/Quote: “From nursery rhymes to Shakespearean sonnets to speeches, alliteration has always been an important aspect of poetry and prose…. It is also useful for improving memory, according to new research published in…Psychological Science.” p. 12.

Summary/Quote: “In three different types of tests, people read poetry and prose with and without alliteration. They were then asked to recall content and thematic aspects from their reading. Results of all three experiments indicated a strong connection between alliteration and memory.” p. 12.

Comments: Sounds useful for scintillating titles and satisfying summaries in speeches and secondary school—and beyond--writing. RayS.