Alliteration is a common figure of speech used in poetry and not only. Basically, it involves starting two or more words in a line with the same letter in order to create a certain 'musical' effect. Nursery rhymes are often ideal to illustrate alliteration poems. Sometimes you don't have to go any further than that to understand the concept and get a feel of it. Here are a few alliteration examples in poems (I marked the repeating letter in different colours for an easier grasp):
Snow is slowly settling down
Cluttered clouds look like a crown.
No one knows the nameless night
When we wandered weak and wild.
Lisa listens all along.
Wendy wants to wait for Wil.
Mark meets Mary by the mill.
Lily loves the little lake
Where the lovely lilies grow
Keith can cook a crumbling cake
Sue sings solo in the snow.
Sometimes the sounds in an alliteration are marked by different letters that are pronounced in the same way (k / c) or even by combinations of letters that are pronounced like a single sound (n / kn).
The repeating letter can also be used in the middle of a word for a more musical effect or when it is difficult to find a word starting with that letter in the context (like in "Lisa listens all along").
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