A Christmas Carol
- Repetition and Alliteration Were Well Deployed by Charles Dickens -

Alliteration and Repetition Create Emphasis

 

Dickens was a fan of alliteration in moderation. Oftentimes he limits it to two words, yet in the passages where he celebrates repetition, he goes to town with alliteration too. These techniques are there to create emphasis and inject a sense of rhythm. Essentially, they create cadence even without altering the length of the sentence, and can be combined with rhyming words as a playful phonetic trio. So, without further ado, let’s see how this master of prose does it.

 

Quote one commentary: 

We’ve seen this quote previously with respect to its triggering of primal survival instincts. This time we look at how that technique is combined with repetition and alliteration. This way Dickens can pack in six mentions of the word dead in two paragraphs. Well done, Sir! Well done!

 

Quote one: [Stave one, novel opening]

Marley was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Scrooge signed it: and Scrooge’s name was good upon ’Change, for anything he chose to put his hand to. Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail.

 

Mind! I don’t mean to say that I know, of my own knowledge, what there is particularly dead about a door-nail. I might have been inclined, myself, to regard a coffin-nail as the deadest piece of ironmongery in the trade. But the wisdom of our ancestors is in the simile; and my unhallowed hands shall not disturb it, or the Country’s done for. You will therefore permit me to repeat, emphatically, that Marley was as dead as a door-nail.

 

Quote two commentary: 

Whereas the previous quote has a sporadic, erratic effect with its alliteration and repetition, the next one is far more orderly. The repeats of “Nobody under” begin many of the sentences and fragments of sentences. In tone it has moved from the almost comical delivery of the quote above to something more personally anxious for the protagonist.

 

Quote two: [Stave one: Marley’s Ghost]:

“… Nobody under the table, nobody under the sofa; a small fire in the grate; spoon and basin ready; and the little saucepan of gruel (Scrooge had a cold in his head) upon the hob. Nobody under the bed; nobody in the closet; nobody in his dressing- gown, which was hanging up in a suspicious attitude against the wall.” 
 

Quote three, four and five commentary (the quotes are below): 

In the next quote Dickens creates prose that feels light and airy, as if he composed merry lyrics for a festive song. The repetition of ‘came’ and the almost rhyme with ‘named’ bring a sense of fun. Combining alliteration with repetition such as with, ‘Why was he…” gives it an extra lift. Given the gravity of much of the novel, these techniques have a lot of work to do in lifting the mood quite suddenly. This is also true of quote four after it with the words, “In came” - and also with quote five’s repetition of “dear brother” and “home.”

 

Quote three: [Stave two: the first of the three spirits]

“The jocund travellers came on; and as they came, Scrooge knew and named them every one. Why was he rejoiced beyond all bounds to see them! Why did his cold eye glisten, and his heart leap up as they went past! Why was he filled with gladness when he heard them give each other Merry Christmas…”

 

Quote four: [Stave Two: The First of the Three Spirits]

“In came a fiddler with a music-book, and went up to the lofty desk, and made an orchestra of it, and tuned like fifty stomach-aches.  In came Mrs. Fezziwig, one vast substantial smile. In came the three Miss Fezziwigs, beaming and lovable. In came the six young followers whose hearts they broke. In came all the young men and women employed in the business. In came the housemaid, with her cousin, the baker. In came the cook, with her brother’s particular friend, the milkman. In came the boy …”

 

Quote five: [Stave Two: The First of Three Spirits]

…“Dear, dear brother.”

“I have come to bring you home, dear brother!” said the child, clapping her tiny hands, and bending down to laugh. “To bring you home, home, home!”

 

Quote six commentary: 

The end of the book is a merry final turn into joy. Dickens does this “on a sixpence” with the word “chuckle” as part of the phrase "the chuckle with which he..." repeated to do much emotional heavy lifting. 

 

Quote six: [Stave five: The end of it]

“The chuckle with which he said this, and the chuckle with which he paid for the Turkey, and the chuckle with which he paid for the cab, and the chuckle with which he recompensed the boy, were only to be exceeded by the chuckle with which he sat down breathless in his chair again, and chuckled till he cried.”

 

Summary

 

It is the playful combination of literary devices that brings power to creative prose. Along with the alliteration comes repetition, mood words, symbolism, imagery and more. As music can become happy or somber, so can writing. Repetition, along with sentence structure, alters the cadence as much as the swoop of an opera conductor's baton. 

 

Learning Activities

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1. Imitate the various styles of repetition in several creative paragraphs. A refrain of words can begin sentences and part sentences. These refrains can contain alliteration and, sometimes, rhyming too. They can be mood words or simple connective words such as “and” or “the. ” The repeated part can exaggerate a personified description and create a sense of rhythm. It can be dreamy with symbolism. The important part is that you give it a go. Reading the great writers, soaking in their technique, is the best way to learn. 

 

2. The Descriptionari.com page “Roads” is excellent for alliteration and repetition. Additionally the poems in my book, “Sweet ‘n’ Salty Poems, Collection One” are great, especially “Rollin’ Cheese Cigars”, “Puppy-Heart Colosseum” and  “Gentle Legends Revive”.