Onomatopoeia is a word that imitates the sound it represents.
Examples: splash, gush, kerplunk, buzz, crash, whirr, clang, hiss, purr, squeak, mumble, hush, boom, tinkle. Onomatopoeia brings out the “flavor” of words. The words stem from the sound they make (the Greek word literally means “name-making”) to help us hear what the author intends us to hear. The Rusty Spigot The rusty spigot sputters, utters a splutter, spatters a smattering of drops, gashes wider; slash, splatters, scatters, spurts, finally stops sputtering and plash! gushes rushes splashes clear water dashes Rain Dance Poem by Victoria Reome When a poem is born What is the chance Of words in rain Drip drop dance Ping ting sing Pitter patter rhyme Rain dance acceleration Makes my poem climb Dribble drench drizzle Thinking on the fence Sprinkle splish splash Bring balance to my sense From sweat sobs and sorrow Storm surge steam Murky thunderous blurry Cry rage scream To cleansed and quenched Shower spray stream Calm cool clear My mind is now pristine The Earth now drenched It grew a poet tree Thoughts and water percolate |
Q1--What is onomatopoeia?
-a repetition of sounds -words that imitate the sound it represents -comparisons of two unlike things Q2--What does the author want us to experience? -the sound of water -the sound of frustration -the sound of a river Q3--Which line from the first stanza has onomatopoeia? Q4--How many lines in stanza two have onomatopoeia? |
Cynthia in the Snow
by Gwendolyn Brooks It SHUSHES It hushes The loudness in the road. It flitter-twitters, And laughs away from me. It laughs a lovely whiteness, And whitely whirls away, To be Some otherwhere, Still white as milk or shirts, So beautiful it hurts. |
Storm
by Olisha Starr Booming and Baning thunder in the air Crashing and Rumbling waves against wet rock Bombing and scraping, lighting the sky Swishing and Sloshing rain on a windscreen Metallic thuds on a tin roof Swishing and Swoshing the flooding roads Howling and Moaning, wind attacking Wavering, Crashing and Sizzling Power everywhere Thudding and Banging hail on every window Slamming and Echoing doors in the house |
Q5--Is the tone the same or different in these poems?
Q6--What is the tone in “Cynthia in the Snow”? -peaceful -nervous -anxious -angry/frightened Q7--What is the tone/emotion in “Storm”? -sad -scary/frightening -peaceful -happy |
"The Bells:" an excerpt
by Edgar Allan Poe Hear the loud alarum bells-- Brazen bells! What tale of terror, now, their turbulency tells! In the startled ear of night How they scream out their affright! Too much horrified to speak, They can only shriek, shriek, Out of tune, In a clamorous appealing to the mercy of the fire, In a mad expostulation with the deaf and frantic fire, Leaping higher, higher, higher, With a desperate desire, And a resolute endeavor Now—now to sit or never, By the side of the pale-faced moon. Oh, the bells, bells, bells! What a tale their terror tells Of Despair! How they clang, and clash, and roar! What a horror they outpour On the bosom of the palpitating air! Yet the ear it fully knows, By the twanging, And the clanging, How the danger ebbs and flows; Yet the ear distinctly tells, In the jangling, And the wrangling. How the danger sinks and swells, By the sinking or the swelling in the anger of the bells-- Of the bells-- Of the bells, bells, bells, bells, Bells, bells, bells-- In the clamor and the clangor of the bells! |
Hear the sledges* with the bells-- Silver bells! What a world of merriment their melody foretells! How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle, In the icy air of night! While the stars that oversprinkle All the heavens, seem to twinkle With a crystalline delight; Keeping time, time, time, In a sort of Runic rhyme, To the tintinabulation that so musically wells From the bells, bells, bells, bells, Bells, bells, bells-- From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells. *sledge--sleigh, sled *tintinabulation--ringing or tinkling sound Q8: Is the tone/emotion the same or different in these stanzas? Q9: What tone/emotion do we have in the stanza about alarum bells? -happy -sad -scary/frightening -uncaring Q10: What tone/emotion do we have in the second stanza? -happy -sad -scary/frightening -uncaring |