THE USE OF SOUND IN POETRY
What is one of the poetic devices we will be looking at today?
Onomatopoeia
Onomatopoeia is a word or group of words that,
when spoken aloud, imitates the sound it
produces. Onomatopoeia is extremely useful in
written English because it helps authors to
describe sounds accurately and makes writing
much more lively and interesting.
Onomatopoeia – Some non-animal examples…
Onomatopoeia in different languages:
A dog barking
◻ In Albanian, ham ham
◻ In Arabic, haw haw, hab hab
◻ In Armenian, "հաւ հաւ," hav hav
◻ In Batak, kung-kung
◻ In Bengali: gheu gheu ঘেউ ঘেউ, bheu
bheu ঘেউ ঘেউ, bhou bhou েউ েউ
◻ In Brazilian portuguese: au au
◻ In Bulgarian, bow bow бау бау, djaff
djaff джаф джаф
◻ In German, wau wau, waff waff, wuff
wuff
◻ In Greek, ghav ghav γαβ γαβ, woof
◻ In Hebrew, hav hav
haw [‫הַ אּו־הַ אּו‬heb 4]
[,‫הַ ב־הַ ב‬heb 4]
haw
◻ In Hindi, bho bho भो भो
◻ In Hungarian vau vau
◻ In Icelandic, voff voff
◻ In Indonesian, guk guk
◻ In Catalan, bup bup
◻ In Italian, bau bau
◻ In Chinese, Cantonese, wōu-wōu 㕵㕵
◻ In Japanese, ワンワン (wan wan)
◻ In Chinese, Mandarin, wāng wāng 汪汪 ◻ In Kannada, bow bow
[zho 14]
◻ In Czech, haf haf
◻ In Danish, vuf vuf, vov vov, bjæf bjæf
◻ In Dutch, waf waf, woef woef
◻ In English, woof, arf, bow wow, ruff
◻ In Korean, meong meong 멍멍
◻ In Norwegian voff voff, vov vov
◻ In Persian, vaagh ‫واق‬vaagh ‫واق‬
◻ In Polish, hau hau
◻ In Portuguese, au au, ão ão, béu béu
◻ In Romanian, ham ham
◻ In Russian, gav gav (гав-гав), tyaf
tyaf тяф-тяф
◻ In Sinhalese, buh buh බුඃ බුඃ
◻ In Slovene, hov hov
◻ In Spanish, guau guau
◻ In Swedish, vov vov, voff voff
◻ In Tagalog, aw aw
◻ In Latgalian, vau vau
◻ In Tamil, vovw-vovw ல ொள் ல ொள், lollloll, vazh vazh
◻ In Latvian, vau
◻ In Telugu, bau bau
◻ In Lithuanian, au au
◻ In Thai, โฮ่ง ๆ (hong hong), บ๊ อก ๆ (bok
bok)
◻ In Estonian, auh auh
◻ In Macedonian, av av ав ав, dzhav
dzhav џав џав
◻ In Finnish hau hau, vuh vuh
◻ In Malayalam, bau bau
◻ In Uropi, waw waw
◻ In French, ouah ouah, ouaf ouaf, wouf
wouf
◻ In Marathi, bhuu bhuu भू भू
◻ In Vietnamese, gâu gâu, sủa sủa
◻ In Turkish, hav hav
100 sounds
Baa! clacked crashed flapped hiccups knocking mooed squealing
bang clanging creak flush hissed meowing murmured squished
bark clap crinkled gargled honk moaning oinked rattle strum
beep clash croaked groaned howled pattered revved swish
belch clatter crashed growling hummed peep splattered tapped
boom. Clicking creak grumbling jingle shrieked splash ticking
Bow-wow! clinking plopped ringing sizzling sniffed thud
bump clip-clopped crinkled pop ripped slap snorted spit thump
burp clucking coo croaked puff roar slurped snapped toot
buzz cough crunch grunted purr rumbled smacked squeak trickled
ca-ching! crack drip-drop gulped quacking screeched sprayed
chirp crackling fizzed hacking raspy rustled smashed
Tweeted wail whizzed woofed yapping zapped zipped zoomed
What is the second poetic device we will be looking at today?
What is alliteration?
Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning
of words in a series within a phrase or poetry line.
The repetition of sounds might imitate the sound of what is being
talked about in the poem. However, often the connection is much
more subtle and creates a mood or rhythm to influence the reader,
much like background music in a movie.
Alliteration in Langston Hughes’ poetry
A Dream Deferred
Dreams
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a soreAnd then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar overlike a syrupy sweet?
Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.
Find the alliteration in these Langston Hughes poems.
In your writing today…
Add some sound devices such as onomatopoeia
and alliteration to your poetry.
Think of the suitable places in your poems to add
these devices, places where you want to create a
certain tone, atmosphere or musical quality to
your poem.