onomatopoeia is pronounced (on-o-mat-o-pe'-a)

Function: noun

1 : the naming of a thing or action by a vocal imitation of the sound associated with it (as buzz, hiss)

2 : the use of words whose sound suggests the sense

on-o-mato-poe-ic (adjective)

on-o-mato-poe-i-cal-ly or on-o-mato-po-et-i-cal-ly(adverb)

Onomatopoeia words imitate sounds from real life. They fall under different catagories:

Animal sounds: bark, meow, hoot, cuckoo, buzz...

Fast motion sounds: whip, zip, varoom, zoom

Fighting sounds: kaboom, pow, bam, smash

Food sounds: splash, slurp, gobble, munch

Mechanical sounds: beep, clank, rattle, click

Musical sounds: ring, ting, honk, jingle, toot, hum

It's pretty easy to think of children's rhymes with onomatopoeia words.  So many of us have said them as children and still repeat them today to our younger siblings, our children or grandchildren. Here are a few fimilar rhymes:

BAA BAA BLACK SHEEP

Baa Baa black sheep,

Have you any wool?

Yes merry have I

Three bags full,

One for my master,

One for my Dame

One for the little baby that lives down the lane

TWINKLE TWINKLE LITTLE STAR

Twinkle, twinkle, little star

How I wonder where you are,

Up above the world so high,

Like a diamond in the sky,

Twinkle, twinkle, little star

How I wonder, where you are.

Edgar Allan Poe was a famous American poet. He was born January 19,1809 and died October 7, 1849. He is known for so many selections such as ''The Raven", "The Tell Tale Heart", " Annabel Lee"... and so much more.

When one thinks of onomatopoeia words being used other than in children's rhymes,

"The Bells", another favorite poem by Poe, usually comes to mind. It is filled with onomatopoeia words. Enjoy.

All onomatopoeia words are typed in italics.

Hear the sledges with he 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.

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 molton-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!

Here the loud alarum bells-

Brazen bells!

What a tale of terror, now their turbulency tells!

In the startled ear of night

How they scream out their affright!

Too much horrified to sprak,

They can only shriek, shreik,

Out of tune,

In a clamorous appealing to the mercy of the fire,

In a mad expostulation with the deaf and the 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 tolling of the bells-

Iron Bells!

What a world of solemn thought their monody compels!

In the silence of the night,

How we shiver with affright

At the melancholy menace of their tone!

For every sound that floats

From the rust within their throats

Is a groan.

And the people- ah, the people-

They that dwell up in the steeple,

All alone

And who, tolling. tolling, tolling,

In that muffled monotone,

Feel a glory in so rolling

On the human heart a stone-

They are neither man nor woman-

They are neither brute nor human-

They are Ghouls:

And their king it is who tolls;

And he rolls, rolls. rolls,

Rolls,

A paean from the bells!

And his merry bosom swells

With the paean of the bells!

And he dances, and he yells;

Keeping time, time, time,

In a sort of Runic rhyme,

To the paean of the bells-

Of the bells;

Keeping time, time, time,

In a sort of Runic rhyme,

To the throbbing of the bells-

Of the bells, bells, bells-

To the sobbing of the bells;

Keeping time, time, time,

As he kneels, kneels, kneels,

In a happy Runic rhyme,

To the rolling of the bells-

Of the bells, bells, bells:

To the tolling of the bells,

Of the bells, bells, bells, bells,-

Bells,bells, bells-

To the moaning and the groaning of the bells.

By Edgar Allen Poe

The pit bull yelped,

As the police took him away,

Never to growl again,

At us kids in play,

The shriek, squeal, and scream of the English bulldog,

As he pinned him that day,

Crunch,

His massive jaws, locked it's teeth

Around it's now,

Blood oozing down,

Throat and head,

Grunting, wailing, plunk,

Kerplunk,

Oh man,

Is he dead?

That was enough,

To make us stay away,

From all canine for awhile,

When we're ready,

We'll enjoy teasing the neighbors poodles instead.

D. Alsup

Thank you for coming to this hub. Please feel free to add any poems with onomatopoeia words that you can think of. And let me know how you liked this hub. Thanks.