Onomatopoeia is a literary device where a word mimics the actual sound one hears. For example, the following words in quotes are onomatopoetic
The "buzzing" bee flew away, or the books fell on the table with a loud "thump."
Onomatopoeia is used to "create a heightened experience for the reader. And onomatopoetic words are descriptive and provide a sensory effect and vivid imagery in terms of sight and sound."
Selected Haiku and Tanka (whose lines in quotes are onomatopoetic):
at four p.m.
my spirit drops down
like the sun
but then an old friend calls
"chick-a-dee-dee-dee-dee"
red lights, January 2014
Neal Whitman
harvest morn
"rat-a-tat-tat" of olives
on our tarp
Stardust Haiku, 69, September 2022
Roberta Beach Jacobson
at typewriter
backspacing to a typo
"ra ta ta ta tat"
my anti-war muse
machine-gunned dead
Honourable Mention, Third International Tanka Competition
Guy Simser
"nee-naw, nee-naw ..."
a cloud of doves in flight
dripping blood
Chen-ou Liu
FYI: Nee-naw Entery, Wiktionary: Imitating the sound of a siren on a vehicle used by emergency services. And for more about haiku noir, see my "To the Lighthouse" post, Haiku Noir
Added:
crows "caw-caw-caw"
in the front yard maple ...
ten years of my tongue
acclimating to the way
my white neighbor speaks English
Added:
men link arms in lines
chanting olay, olay, olay ...
a football in midair
FYI: Olé/Olay is a Spanish interjection used to cheer on or praise a performance
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