Poe uses alliteration in “The Pit and the Pendulum” to build tension and enhance the narrator’s emotions. In the following example, Poe includes two types of alliteration in quick succession:
In their voracity, the vermin frequently fastened their sharp fangs in my fingers. [...] I had not counted in vain upon their voracity.
The combination of the guttural, sharp /v/ sounds and the almost hissing quality of the /f/ sounds in the quote above highlights the narrator’s disgust and discomfort. The line sounds as ugly as the narrator’s disgusting and horrifying situation, trapped as he is for interrogation during the Spanish Inquisition. This moment in the story is a particularly disturbing turning point. The narrator, starving and exhausted and in pain, makes the decision to lure the rats trapped with him to his body, in the hopes that they may also be starving enough to chew through the bonds which constrain him. Poe is extremely detailed in his description of the rats and their physicality. The alliteration of this passage transports the reader into the moment, conjuring the distinct feelings of repulsion and desperation and allowing the sentences to flow smoothly and swiftly. The passage of time as the narrator willingly invites further torture upon himself is thus experienced in an uncomfortably realistic fashion, making his pain tangible for the reader.
