Literature Bright - ONOMATOPOEIA

What is ONOMATOPOEIA?

ONOMATOPOEIA is a literary device which imitates sounds; directly or indirectly.

Here are some examples:

• Suddenly, he heard footsteps near the window. (suggesting sound of footsteps)
• The sound of clinching teeth gives me goosebumps, apparently. (suggesting sound of clinching teeth)
• He tries to dodge and suddenly 'dush', the punch kisses his left cheek.
• "Kaboom". The bomb crashed the building and killed a few innocent civilians. 
• 'chirp, chirp', the yellow parakeet sings happily on the branch of the mango tree.
• The chirping sound of birds amuses me.(suggesting the chirping sound)

How to detect onomatopoeia in a literature piece?
It is easy, though. All you have to do is identify the sounds. Read the extract below to identify the onomatopoeia.

As I walked alone in the forest that day, I felt free. Free as a bird. Free as I ever could be. The chirping sound of birds was wild but inspirational. The crispiness of the dried leaves can be heard upon stepping on the ground. The wild river flew soothed me as a music of the nature. And the breeze whistled gently to my ears.

In the extract above, there are a few sounds suggested by the writer.

• The chirping sound of birds was wild but inspirational  - the sound of the birds chirping is said a bit noisy but it also inspire the persona that day.
• The crispiness of the dried leaves can be heard upon stepping on the ground  - the persona could hear the sound of dried leaves when he walked in the forest.
• The wild river flew soothed me as a music of nature  - the river creates a sound of water flowing which is also a music of nature.
• And the breeze whistled gently to my ears  - the breeze blew gently and as is it whistled on the ears of the persona.

 When you read the lines, you could imagine how the birds, river, dried leaves and breeze sound like. All the sounds above are onomatopoeia.


Now, read the lines below and detect four onomatopoeia.

Flint dashed to the door as the shadow approached. With a very stingy ray of light, he couldn’t see straight. He bumped on the door and he bumped hard. He cared less about his head and headed to the front door. Afar from his thought, he smashed a mirror on his left and the mirror cracked to the floor. He grabbed the door knob and shook it hard. He opened the door and slammed it hard. And suddenly, ‘bang!’ he was shot out of nowhere. He saw blood on his right shoulder and ‘buff’ he collapsed on the ground.

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