Introduction: Onomatopoeia Poetry
What does Onomataopoeia mean?
It is the formation of a word with sounds imitative of the thing which they refer to and the use of such a word.Examples include: cuckoo, miaow/meow, neigh, cock-a-doodle-do, oink.
The term is also extended to cover words in which a sound is felt to be appropriate to some aspect of meaning, although the words do not necessarily denote sounds or sources of sound.
Examples include: zoom, zap, clang, buzz, clink, whoosh, whaam.
The combination sl-, often occurring in words with unpleasant or negative connotations, is sometimes cited as an example of 'secondary onomatopoeia'.
Examples include: slag, slang, slaver, sleazy, slime, slop, sluggard, slut.
Another term for Onomatopoeia which is actually contested amongst linguists and poets is 'sound symbolism'. However, that is not terribly important.
So what is Onomatopoeia poetry?
Advertisers have been using this technique for decades and many well known phrases we have heard on the radio and seen on television are forms of onomatopoeia poetry. The breakfast cereal 'Rice Krispies' for example has a mnemonic catchphrase "snap, crackle, pop". British road safety campaigns used "clunk click, every trip" to remind people to click the seatbelt on after clunking the car door closed.
Onomatopoeia for Children
If You Were Onomatopoeia (Word Fun)
Trisha's understandable text and the fun illustrations provided by Sara Gray make this a must-have book for your children to thoroughly and completely understand what Onomatopoeia is and means - it's a really fun lesson!
Amazon Price: $17.56 (as of 11/10/2009) 
Clang Went the Cymbals: An Onomatopoeia Alphabet Book
A great book for a Kindergarten Classroom. This book is about a boy who loses his stuffed bear at a parade. We had a stuffed animal day and marched around the classroom and school. This is one of the only parade books I have in the classroom, so it was a great addition to my library.
Amazon Price: $12.79 (as of 11/10/2009)
The First Example of Onomatopoeia Poetry
On the Ning Nang Nong by Spike Milligan
Where the Cows go Bong!
and the monkeys all say BOO!
There's a Nong Nang Ning
Where the trees go Ping!
And the tea pots jibber jabber joo.
On the Nong Ning Nang
All the mice go Clang
And you just can't catch 'em when they do!
So its Ning Nang Nong
Cows go Bong!
Nong Nang Ning
Trees go ping
Nong Ning Nang
The mice go Clang
What a noisy place to belong
is the Ning Nang Ning Nang Nong!!
Onomatopoeia Fun!
KA-BOOM! A Dictionary of Comic Book Words, Symbols & Onomatopoeia
Hey, comic book fans, good news. At long last there's a new dictionary and thesaurus of those odd words you only find in comics. KA-BOOM!: A Dictionary of Comic Book Words, Symbols & Onomatopoeia (Mora Publications, 124 pages, $19.95), compiled by Kevin J. Taylor, covers all those comic words, sounds and also includes the companion work BZZURKK! The Thesaurus of Champions.
Amazon Price: $17.95 (as of 11/10/2009)
Flush! An Ode to Toilets
Flush! is a story about the sound of toilets! It's a little bathroom humor and an ode to the commode. Fun for reading or storytimes! With hilarious and fun illustrations, this book elevates toilet humor to new heights. Children and adults will giggle and roar at the familiar sounds of this everyday fixture.
Amazon Price: $12.95 (as of 11/10/2009)
The Second Example of Onomatopoeia Poetry
Honky Tonk in Cleveland, Ohio by Carl Sandburg
The trombone pony neighs and the tuba jackass snorts.
The banjo tickles and titters too awful.
The chippies talk about the funnies in the papers.
The cartoonists weep in their beer.
Ship riveters talk with their feet
To the feet of floozies under the tables.
A quartet of white hopes mourn with interspersed snickers:
"I got the blues.
I got the blues.
I got the blues."
And %u2026 as we said earlier:
The cartoonists weep in their beer.
Roy Lichtenstein's use of Onomatopoeia
The Third Example of Onomatopoeia Poetry
The Bells by Edgar Allan Poe
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 tintinnabulation that so musically wells
From the bells, bells, bells, bells,
Bells, bells, bells-
From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells.
II
Hear the mellow wedding bells,
Golden bells!
What a world of happiness their harmony foretells!
Through the balmy air of night
How they ring out their delight!
From the molten-golden notes,
And an in tune,
What a liquid ditty floats
To the turtle-dove that listens, while she gloats
On the moon!
Oh, from out the sounding cells,
What a gush of euphony voluminously wells!
How it swells!
How it dwells
On the Future! how it tells
Of the rapture that impels
To the swinging and the ringing
Of the bells, bells, bells,
Of the bells, bells, bells,bells,
Bells, bells, bells-
To the rhyming and the chiming of the bells!
(Just two of the four verses)
Onomatopoeia Art
Onomatopoeia Art Poster Print, 24x18
Amazon Price: $14.99 (as of 11/10/2009)
Do you like using Onomatopoeia?
Why not have a go in the comments section!
Beaman wrote...
Thank you Jimmie, that is very kind of you. :)
It's a pretty good niche Kohuether
Posted March 18, 2009
Beaman wrote...
Thank you Jimmie, that is very kind of you. :)
It's a pretty good niche Kohuether
Posted March 18, 2009
kohuether wrote...
Squidoo is fun, huh? You have quite the niche for yourself created lenses about poetry. Well done!
Posted March 14, 2009
by Beaman
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