Consonance: The repetition of consonants in words stressed in the same place (but whose vowels differ). Also, a kind of inverted alliteration, in which final consonants, rather than initial or medial ones, repeat in nearby words. Consonance is more properly a term associated with modern poetics than with historical rhetorical terminology.
“He was as smart as a woodchuck. He waddled like a duck. His name was Buck. What else can I say? He was an idiot in nerd’s clothing. He didn’t know where he was going. He was gone.”
These lines were penned by Estes Rakraker, the mysterious 17th century poet. His patron, the Duke of Ruggles, signed him on shortly after his wife left him. She ran off with Quince Foller the coach of the local equestrian team, “The Hallowed Hoofbeats.”
Somebody told the Duke that having a poet to kick around would help cure him of his wife’s departure, as if she were a disease. He enjoyed mocking Rakraker, and it did make him feel better to taunt the struggling poet. For his part, Rakraker was only too glad to take the verbal abuse, as having the Duke of Ruggles as a patron afforded him quite a good living.
He tried to outdo his own “worseness” with each poem he wrote. He wanted to make it as easy as possible for the Duke to respond to his works with derision. However, Rakraker began to notice that the Duke had lost his downcast look and seemed to be on the mend. That wouldn’t do! So, he struggled to write better poems so the Duke would find it hard to disparage them, and he would yearn for his wife again, and Rakraker would stay on the royal payroll.
But, everything started to fall apart when the Duke’s nephew showed up for a lengthy stay, he was being pursued by bill collectors. He fancied himself a poet. He would write things like “If the ant can’t, what about the stoat?” His Uncle hurled insults left and right at him and started feeling good again. He threatened Rakraker with unemployment if he didn’t get bad again. The Duke’s nephew was so poor a poet that Rakraker knew he could never best him at being the worst.
So, Rakraker claimed the nephew had insulted his mother, and he challenged him to a duel. Little did Rakraker know that the nephew was an acclaimed marksman. Even though it was premised on a lie, the nephew accepted the challenge. At the last minute, the Duke intervened and called off the duel. Rakraker was banished and the Duke lived happily ever after, listening to his nephew’s drivel, and kicking him around. While the nephew avoided his creditors, Rakraker disappeared from the face of the earth. Some people sat he emigrated to Nee Fance and became a fur trapper.
