Poetry Month is here. We must think about repetition, alliteration, rhyme, meter or rhythm, hyperbole, metaphor and on and on. What about onomatopoeia? Whole poems are written using this device. I think about Edgar Allan Poe’s, “The Bells.” Just reading this poem aloud tickles my soul. Most famous of all is the word ‘tintinnabulation’. Just say it two or three times as it rolls off your tongue, it feels wonderful. Think about the line, “…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.”
I think that poetry requires us to pay more attention to our use of words. Words must have meaning when used in any context; but words used in poetry must fit the rhythm or rhyme or feel of the poem.
Pick a poem today that you have always loved. Read it aloud and listen; you will find that the words fit. Just like in our lives, we find joy, when life as we live it matches perfectly to our dreams.
K. B. Pellegrino, Author
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