A Figure of Speech in Which Words Are Used to Imitate Sounds. Examples of Onomatopoeic

Onomatopoeia

A figure of speech in which words are used to imitate sounds. Examples of onomatopoeic words are buzz, hiss, zing, clippety-clop, cock-a-doodle-do, pop, splat, thump, and tick-tock. Another example of onomatopoeia is found in this line from Tennyson's Come Down, O Maid: "The moan of doves in immemorial elms,/And murmuring of innumerable bees." The repeated "m/n" sounds reinforce the idea of "murmuring" by imitating the hum of insects on a warm summer day.

Personification

A figure of speech in which nonhuman things or abstract ideas are given human attributes: the sky is crying, dead leaves danced in the wind, blind justice.

Metaphor

A figure of speech in which two things are compared, usually by saying one thing is another, or by substituting a more descriptive word for the more common or usual word that would be expected. Some examples of metaphors: the world's a stage, he was a lion in battle, drowning in debt, and a sea of troubles.

Alliteration

The repetition of the same or similar sounds at the beginning of words. Some famous examples of alliteration are tongue twisters such as Betty Botta bought some butter and Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.

Hyperbole

A figure of speech in which deliberate exaggeration is used for emphasis. Many everyday expressions are examples of hyperbole: tons of money, waiting for ages, a flood of tears, etc. Hyperbole is the opposite of litotes.

Simile

A figure of speech in which two things are compared using the word "like" or "as." An example of a simile using like occurs in Langston Hughes's poem Harlem: "What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up/ like a raisin in the sun?"

Haiku

Most popular definition, but there is more to haiku than meets the eye:

Haiku (also called nature or seasonal haiku) is an unrhymed Japanese verse consisting of three unrhymed lines of five, seven, and five syllables (5, 7, 5) or 17 syllables in all. Haiku is usually written in the present tense and focuses on nature (seasons).

The 5/7/5 rule was made up for school children to understand and learn this type of poetry.

For an in depth description of Haiku, please visit the Shadow Poetry Haiku, Senryu, and Tanka section. There is much more to haiku than the made up 5/7/5 version.

Example #1:

Pink cherry blossoms

Cast shimmering reflections

On seas of Japan

Ballad

A short narrative poem with stanzas of two or four lines and usually a refrain. The story of a ballad can originate from a wide range of subject matter but most frequently deals with folk-lore or popular legends. They are written in straight-forward verse, seldom with detail, but always with graphic simplicity and force. Most ballads are suitable for singing and, while sometimes varied in practice, are generally written in ballad meter, i.e., alternating lines of iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter, with the last words of the second and fourth lines rhyming.

Example:

The Ballad of Marian Blacktree

Refrain:

Oh, do you know the mountain road

That leads to yonder peak?

A few will walk that trail alone,

Their dreams they go to seek.

(I)

One such was Marian Blacktree,

A lowly sheperdess,

And courting her was Tom, the swain,

Who loved her nonetheless.

(II)

A thought occurred to Marian

While watching o'er her sheep,

And gazing at the mountain thus

She nodded off to sleep.

(Refrain)

(III)

That night she came to Tom and said

She longed to know the sky.

"I'm weary of this valley, love,

I want to learn to fly!"

(IV)

Poor Thomas did not want to leave,

This valley was all he knew.

So when she turned and left him there

Her heart, it broke in two.

(Refrain)

(V)

Her faithful swain did track her,

All night the trail led on,

And finally at the mountain top

He looked, but she was gone.

(VI)

As morning broke and lit the sky

An eagle he did see:

It circled 'round him thrice and cried.

He knew now she was free.

Limerick

A Limerick is a rhymed humorous or nonsense poem of five lines which originated in Limerick, Ireland.

The Limerick has a set rhyme scheme of : a-a-b-b-a with a syllable structure of: 9-9-6-6-9.

The rhythm of the poem should go as follows:

Lines 1, 2, 5: weak, weak, STRONG, weak, weak, STRONG, weak, weak, STRONG, weak, weak

Lines 3, 4: weak, weak, STRONG, weak, weak, STRONG, weak, weak

This is the most commonly heard first line of a limerick: "There once was a man from Nantucket."

Example #1:

The Test Pilot

A Plane builder needed a pilot,

So Bob told the guy, he would try it.

When Bob took to the air,

Plane parts fell everywhere.

Bob radioed “where shall I pile it?”

Example #2:

The Man From Aruba

There once was a man from Aruba,

Whose favorite hobby was scuba.

Every day he would wish,

He could spear a big fish.

But settled instead for canned tuna.

Sonnet

A Sonnet is a poem consisting of 14 lines (iambic pentameter) with a particular rhyming scheme:

Examples of a rhyming scheme:

#1) abab cdcd efef gg

#2) abba cddc effe gg

#3) abba abba cdcd cd

A Shakespearean (English) sonnet has three quatrains and a couplet, and rhymes abab cdcd efef gg.

An Italian sonnet is composed of an octave, rhyming abbaabba, and a sestet, rhyming

cdecde or cdcdcd, or in some variant pattern, but with no closing couplet.

Usually, English and Italian Sonnets have 10 syllables per line, but Italian Sonnets can also have

11 syllables per line.

French sonnets follow in this same pattern, but normally have 12 syllables per line.

Example #1:

Sonnet of Demeter--Italian Sonnet

Oh the pirate stars, they have no mercy!

Masquerading as hope they tell their lies;

Only the young can hear their lullabies.

But I am barren and I am thirsty

Since she has gone. No hope is there for me.

I will roam and curse this earth and these skies--

Death from life which Zeus sovereign denies.

My heart's ill shall the whole world's illness be

Till she is returned-- my daughter, my blood--

From the dark hand of Hades to my care.

With my tears these mortals shall know a flood

To show Poseidon's realm desert and bare.

No myrtle shall flower, no cypress bud

Till the gods release her...and my despair.

Example #2:

To--French Sonnet

Elle est muette. Waiting in wind towards nightfall,

dawn emerges early with purple hands, eager

for a song of mountains. Silhouetting meager

ground, sun throws her whispy shadow across and tall.

(She had never been imprisoned or subdued

beneath his lips, hands, or eyes, which roughly tasted,

perhaps, the small of her back ere passion wasted

her soul, or planets quit orbits standing still - queued.)

Elle est muette. Sighing under sun - coming twilight

beckons secret sentiments unspoken; verses

promised in breaths - never to be revealed; curses

against space and time for splitting the seams of night.

Fingers trace Venus in the sky - wishes are flung

and whispers are sent from tenderly silent tongue.

Example #3:

Sonnet--Italian Sonnet

I set my soul free down the dreamers lane

Thoughts of joyful times bring my mind aflight

Moons of memories drip so lovely light

Stars above hum a tune to ease my pain

I sail a sea where kings of past did reign

Thoughts buried deep burn in the stars so bright

To see the legends only I may sight

A life of imagery that pumps in vein

As life is written in a hidden page

I soar among all the things that will fly

I'm always seeking my soul's so lost core

Sooths all of my hate and my painful rage

Sorrow from all my blood dripped tears I cry

Dreams are the peace felt in life times before

Ode

An Ode is a poem praising and glorifying a person, place or thing.

Example #1:

An Ode To Dreamers

When dreamers dream

And lovers love

Do they receive their visions

From heaven above?

Or do they originate

Where all things start

Within our minds

Within our hearts?

I know not all

But what I do know is this

You cannot build a Kingdom

Upon a flimsy wish

So believe in your dreams

Follow them blind

Lest you loose them all,

To the hands of time.

Example #2:

Ode To A Butterfly

Oh! the butterfly

he flutters all day,

he roams the skies

with some delay.

He alights on trees, fences

and roses,

to whatever attracts his fancy

he will do his poses.

He's up, he's down

he dances with the breeze,

he comes, he goes

and does it with ease.

As I watch him

in pure delight,

I begin to wonder

if he knows his own plight.

For soon spring turns into summer

then summer flies quickly by,

the sun setting early

into a darkening sky.

The butterfly is gone now

replaced by snow,

but he will be back again

to put on his beautiful show.

Tongue Twister Poem

A Tongue Twister poem is made up of lines/verses that are hard to say when read aloud

by using similar consonant sounds in succession (use of alliteration). In other words, the

poem ties your tongue into knots. This form does not require end or internal rhyme.

Example #1:

Vino

vile vintage vino

via violent varicose veins

vagrant vapors vacate

vast vascular vessels

vanity vamoose

while visions of

voluptuous vixens

vibrating vigorously

virtually vaporize

into a vast vapid vat

of venomous venules

Example #2:

Six Pink Minks And Finks

six pink minks think finks stink

six finks think pink minks stink

six minks in creeks with finks stink

if six pink minks pick stinking ink finks

if six pink minks had six sticks

with six pink ink finks in six creeks

then six minks and six finks

would have sixty six pink minks and six ink finks

then sixty six pink minks

and sixty six ink finks

would make six ink finks stink

cause six pink minks make finks stink

Example #3:

Celebration

psilanthropists sucking psilocybin

shrooms suddenly shriek,

"Say, see celestial sentients

surrounding simple psychedelic

seers?"

Marijuana moochers munching moonpies

on morning meadowns meandered,

meeting mystical mountain madmen.

Tripping, twisting, tasting, turning,

tokers tapping tambourines,

shroomers singing songs

sigh subconsciously.

Wailing, whistling, whacked, and wired,

weird wanderers weep, "whoopie!"

and another aimless astral

avatar awakens,

amazingly.

Example #4:

Serenity

Mystic moonlight, moments meet...

Softly, somewhere songbirds sweet...

Simple, soothing, soulful sounds...

Mem'ries murmer, mossy mound...

Wander wistful, winding ways

Linger, loving, lilacs lay...

Lazy langour, listless leaves...

Weeping willow, wonder weaves...

Pausing, picture, pristine plain...

Ruling romance, restive reign...

Rising rapture, rustic ride...

Perfect pleasure, peace presides...

Example #5:

Transition

Caterpillar catnapping, caught in cocoon

Silently sleeping, seeking sunlit sky

Awake, aware, and awing at atmosphere

Last leaving his lodging, little larva leaps

Spreading his sprouting wings, sailing so skillfully

Wandering with wonder of the whirling world

Lost amid light lilies, he lies

Illuminated in indigo, imagination stirs

Dreams of dancing delightfully in daffodils

Moon moves beneath massive mountains

Sun slides into celestial ceiling

Beautiful butterfly so bubbly and bouncing

Colorful and cleverly casting his charm

Free Verse

Free Verse is an irregular form of poetry in which the content free of traditional rules of versification, (freedom from fixed meter or rhyme).

In moving from line to line, the poet's main consideration is where to insert line breaks. Some ways of doing this include breaking the line where there is a natural pause or at a point of suspense for the reader.

Following the direction of Walt Whitman, Ezra Pound and T.S.Eliot, many modern day poets use this particular form of expression.

Example:

Ode to Job

Job came down

in a

woosh, outstretched

and gliding into the horizon.

Blue shadowed

flight

arrested by

the beckoning marsh.

His greatness bears

much

yet not

the anguish of ancient

prophecy.

Situated grievances weigh

feathery

on this long,

strong back. Unconscious

emotion

numbs while

time drifts out

another

sun salted

day.