Alliteration takes the place of a rhyme scheme in “Blackberry Eating.” Alliteration is the repetition of the same letter or sound at the beginning of closely adjacent words.

One type of alliterative sound used for effect in the poem is plosives. These are popping or harsh sounds using consonants like /b/ /p/ /t/ /d/ k/. Plosives work by stopping air from flowing out of the mouth and then suddenly releasing it. The first half of the poem is heavy with these plosives: “overripe,” “black,” “blackberries,” “breakfast,” “prickly,” “penalties.” When reading the poem aloud, the reader can feel and hear the plosives breaking from their mouth. These plosives create a twist on the tongue, similar to chewing and biting down on berry seeds. Kinnell encourages the reader to taste the words with him.

Another alliterative sound used in the second half of the poem is sibilants. Sibilants are fricative consonants made by directing a stream of air with the tongue toward the teeth. They make a hissing or shh-ing sound with consonants like: /s/ /sh/ /ch/ /z/. Some examples are the active verbs that fall like berries to the speaker’s tongue: “strengths,” “squinched,” “squeeze,” “splurge.” While sibilants are usually used for sinister effects in poetry, in this case they add to the speaker’s mastery of language. Many sibilants chained together by alliteration can also leave an inexperienced reader tongue-tied. But the speaker has practice and patience with these sounds. For him, sibilants have a flowing feel on the tongue, which can mimic swallowing the blackberry juice.