Sunday, October 05, 2008

Onomatopoeia and the Poetry of Seamus Heaney

Onomatopoeia is a word or a grouping of words that imitates the sound it is describing, suggesting its source object, such as "click", "bunk", "clang", "buzz", "bang", or animal noises such as "oink", "moo", or "meow". The word is a synthesis of the Greek words όνομα (onoma, = "name") and ποιέω (poieō, = "I make" or "I create") thus it essentially means "name creation", although it makes more sense combining "name" and "I do", meaning it is named (and spelled) as it sounds (e.g. quack, bang, etc.)

Can you find any examples of onomatopoeia in this poem by Seamus Heaney?

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