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  ঘে�উ ঘে�উ, bheu bheu  ঘে�উ ঘে�উ, bhou bhou  �উ �উ

◻ In Brazilian portuguese: au au

◻ In Bulgarian, bow bow бау бау, djaff djaff джаф джаф

◻ In Catalan, bup bup

◻ In Chinese, Cantonese, wōu-wōu 㕵㕵◻ In Chinese, Mandarin, wāng wāng 汪汪 [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 Estonian, auh auh

◻ In Finnish hau hau, vuh vuh

◻ In French, ouah ouah, ouaf ouaf, wouf wouf

◻ In German, wau wau, waff waff, wuff wuff

◻ In Greek, ghav ghav γαβ γαβ, woof

◻ In Hebrew, hav hav ב ב־ַה? haw [heb 4],ַה?haw אּו אּו־ַה? [heb 4]ַה?

◻ In Hindi, bho bho  भो� भो�

◻ In Hungarian vau vau

◻ In Icelandic, voff voff

◻ In Indonesian, guk guk

◻ In Italian, bau bau

◻ In Japanese,   ワンワン (wan wan)

◻ In Kannada, bow bow

◻ In Korean, meong meong  멍멍

◻ In Latgalian, vau vau

◻ In Latvian, vau

◻ In Lithuanian, au au

◻ In Macedonian, av av ав ав, dzhav dzhav џав џав

◻ In Malayalam, bau bau

◻ In Marathi, bhuu bhuu  भो� भो�

◻ In Norwegian voff voff, vov vov

◻ In Persian, vaagh واق vaagh 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 Tamil, vovw-vovw  லொ��ள்லொ��ள், loll-loll, vazh vazh

◻ In Telugu, bau bau

◻ In Thai,   โฮ่�ง ๆ (hong hong),   บ๊�อก ๆ (bok bok)

◻ In Turkish, hav hav

◻ In Uropi, waw waw

◻ In Vietnamese, gâu gâu, sủa sủa

100 sounds

Baa! clacked crashed flapped hiccups knocking mooed squealingbang  clanging creak flush hissed meowing murmured squished

bark  clap crinkled gargled honk moaning oinked rattle strumbeep  clash croaked groaned howled pattered revved swish

belch  clatter crashed growling hummed peep splattered tappedboom. Clicking creak grumbling jingle shrieked splash ticking

Bow-wow!  clinking plopped ringing sizzling sniffed thudbump  clip-clopped crinkled pop ripped slap snorted spit thump

burp  clucking coo croaked puff roar slurped snapped tootbuzz cough crunch grunted purr rumbled smacked squeak trickled

ca-ching! crack drip-drop gulped quacking screeched sprayedchirp  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

What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore-And then run? Does it stink like rotten meat? Or crust and sugar over- like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

Hold fast to dreamsFor if dreams dieLife is a broken-winged birdThat cannot fly.

Hold fast to dreamsFor when dreams goLife is a barren fieldFrozen with snow.

A Dream Deferred Dreams

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.