Some poems you read with your eyes. An onomatopoeia poem makes you listen, because bells clang, rain splashes, and a jazz band crashes right off the page.
If you want poems that sound as loud as the world around you, or as soft as a whisper, start here.
Below, you will find famous onomatopoeia poem examples from Poe, Browning, and Sandburg, short poems and nonsense verse for kids, and the quiet cases that are easy to miss.
A simple method for writing your own closes things out. Every excerpt is public domain, and newer poems are described instead of quoted. Read them aloud for the full effect.
What Is an Onomatopoeia Poem?
An onomatopoeia poem is a poem where words that imitate real sounds, such as buzz, crash, or sizzle, carry much of the meaning.
Instead of describing a noise, the poem makes it. There is no fixed form or length: a few lines about a kitchen can qualify, and so can a long classic like Poe’s “The Bells.” What sets these poems apart is emphasis.
A poem that uses one sound word in passing is not built around sound, while an onomatopoeia poem builds its scene from sound words line after line.
Comic books and nursery rhymes lean on the same idea, so most readers already know it before they meet it in a poem.
Famous Onomatopoeia Poems and What to Listen For
Many classic examples of onomatopoeia in poetry rely on one trick: the poet lets sound do the describing.
Instead of telling you a bell is loud, the poem hands you the noise itself. These three poems show how far that trick can stretch, from ringing metal to a rush of small feet to a noisy jazz band.
“The Bells” by Edgar Allan Poe
Poe (1809-1849) wrote “The Bells” in four sections, and the bell changes in each one.
Sleigh bells “tinkle, tinkle, tinkle” first, wedding bells ring and chime next, alarm bells scream in the third, and iron bells toll and groan in the fourth. The loudest stretch comes in the alarm section:
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,
Public-domain excerpt. Read the full text of “The Bells” on Poets.org.
Say “clang” and “twanging” out loud and notice how the hard c and t sounds land like a hammer.
The repeated “ang” in twanging and clanging keeps the ring going from one line to the next, much like a bell that hums after it is struck.
“The Pied Piper of Hamelin” by Robert Browning
Browning (1812-1889) uses sound words to make a crowd audible before it appears. In this passage, the Piper plays his pipe, and the town’s children come running:
There was a rustling that seemed like a bustling
Of merry crowds justling at pitching and hustling,
Small feet were pattering, wooden shoes clattering,
Little hands clapping, and little tongues chattering,
Listen for the stacked “-ustling” and “-attering” endings. They rattle one after another, the way wooden shoes would in a street.
Even “clapping” and “chattering” count as onomatopoeia here, since their sounds match the actions they name.
“Honky Tonk in Cleveland, Ohio” by Carl Sandburg
Sandburg (1878-1967) turns a jazz band into a barnyard in the opening lines of this poem:
It’s a jazz affair, drum crashes and cornet razzes.
The trombone pony neighs and the tuba jackass snorts.
Public-domain excerpt. Read Sandburg’s poem in full on Poets.org.
“Crashes” and “razzes” are sound words for instruments, while “neighs” and “snorts” borrow animal noises for brass. The band ends up sounding loud, rough, and a little ridiculous.
Onomatopoeia Poems for Kids to Read Aloud
Young readers do not need a lesson on figures of speech to enjoy sound words. They need something they can whisper, shout, and act out.
Onomatopoeia poems for kids work best when they are short, noisy, and easy to read in a group.
When you choose onomatopoeia poems for kids, look for lines that repeat a sound word, because repetition gives children a cue to join in.
Scenes that invite movement, such as splashing, stomping, or clapping, also work well, since the poem becomes a small performance.
Short Poems With Onomatopoeia
Here are two short poems with onomatopoeia, written for this page.
The first rhymes. The second does not, which shows that either approach works.
Short poems with onomatopoeia also suit young readers, since a handful of sound words can carry a whole scene.
Rain Boots
Drip, drip, drizzle on the glass,
Pitter-patter on the grass.
Splish! My boot finds a puddle deep.
Splash! The water starts to leap.
Squelch, squelch, squelch up the muddy lane,
Then drip, drip, drizzle once again.
Morning Noise
The kettle clicks.
The steam hisses.
The toaster pops,
and a spoon clinks against the bowl.
Crunch, crunch, crunch.
Slurp.
Somebody is awake.
Read each poem twice, once in a whisper and once at full volume. The same words feel different at each setting, which makes a quick experiment for a classroom or a living room.
Nonsense Poems Like “On the Ning Nang Nong”
Spike Milligan’s “On the Ning Nang Nong” first appeared in his 1959 collection Silly Verse for Kids, and Penguin’s Silly Verse for Kids page notes that the poem was voted Britain’s funniest.
Because it is still under copyright, it is described here rather than quoted.
Milligan mixes real sound words, such as the bong of a cow and the boo of a monkey, with invented ones, including the name of the place itself.
Elsewhere in that made-up land, trees ping and mice clang, so ordinary things make surprising noises.
To turn it into call and response, a parent or teacher can read each line and let children answer with the sound word. Invented words make joining in easy, since there is no wrong way to say them.
Loud and Quiet Examples of Onomatopoeia in Poetry
Loud onomatopoeia in poetry tends to pile up hard consonants and quick syllables, as in clang, crash, and clatter, making the lines sound crowded and metallic. Each of the three poems above works this way.
Quiet examples are harder to catch, because they use soft, open sounds that most readers take for ordinary words. In Tennyson’s “Morte d’Arthur,” Sir Bedivere reports what he heard at the lake:
I heard the ripple washing in the reeds,
And the wild water lapping on the crag.
Public-domain excerpt.
“Ripple” and “lapping” are everyday words, yet the light l and p sounds in them tap like small waves.
Quiet cases like these are worth hunting for in your own reading, since they show that a poem does not need a BOOM to earn the label.
Onomatopoeia Versus Alliteration and Assonance
Onomatopoeia imitates a real sound, while alliteration repeats opening consonant sounds and assonance repeats vowel sounds, so one line can use all three at once.
| Sound Device | What It Does | Example | Why It Fits |
| Onomatopoeia | Imitates a real sound | “buzz,” “clang,” “clash” | The word itself sounds like the noise it names, even when it stands alone. |
| Alliteration | Repeats initial stressed consonant sounds | “slippery slope” | The repeated s sound links the words, but nothing imitates a real sound. |
| Assonance | Repeats vowel sounds without repeating consonants | “sleepy green trees” | The long e sound repeats while the surrounding consonants change. |
| Overlap | A single line can use more than one device | “clash” and “clang” | The shared cl- is alliteration, and both words are onomatopoeia because they imitate metal. |
How to Write Your Own Onomatopoeia Poem
To write an onomatopoeia poem, pick a topic full of noise, list every sound it makes, and build your lines around the best sound words.
Read the draft aloud and cut anything that muffles the noise. Rhyme is optional, so let the rhythm of the sounds decide the shape.
- Pick a noisy topic: Choose a scene with plenty of sound, such as a thunderstorm, a kitchen at breakfast, or a busy street.
- List every sound it makes: Write down all the noises before you draft any lines.
- Sort the sounds into groups: Try impacts (thump, crash), animals (quack, buzz), machines (beep, vroom), and voices (giggle, shush). Pick a few from each so the poem doesn’t lean on one kind of noise.
- Start with your strongest sound words: Write lines that carry them, instead of hunting for noises to fit an idea you already have.
- Borrow structure from the poems above: Poe returns to one sound word like a refrain, and “Morning Noise” lets one-word lines such as “Slurp.” carry the noise. Mark which sounds do the work in the examples of onomatopoeia in poetry that you like, and copy the technique.
- Keep the first draft short: In a short poem, each sound word has room to land.
- Read it aloud and cut what muffles the noise: Hard consonants hit, while soft ones hush, so check that each sound word matches the feeling of its line.
Why Sound Words Make a Poem Worth Reading Aloud
An onomatopoeia poem lets sound do the describing, and the examples above show how differently that can work.
Poe hammers the ear with clanging metal, Browning fills a street with rattling shoes, Sandburg turns brass into barnyard animals, and Tennyson proves a soft ripple counts as much as a crash.
Each one also supports more than one reading, since a sound word can suggest the object, the mood, or both.
Now try it yourself: pick one poem from this page, read it aloud twice, then write four lines around your three favorite sound words.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Are 5 Sentences Using Onomatopoeia?
The bacon sizzled in the pan. Thunder boomed over the hills. The door slammed behind her. Bees buzzed around the flowers. Coins clinked into the jar.
What Is a Song That Has Onomatopoeia in It?
Kesha’s “Tik Tok” (2009) is a common pick, since the title copies a clock’s tick. Charli XCX’s “Boom Clap” (2014) and Jessie J’s “Bang Bang” (2014) build their hooks on impact sounds.
How Do You Pronounce Onomatopoeia?
It is pronounced on-uh-mat-uh-PEE-uh, with the stress on the fifth syllable, “pee.” Splitting the word into chunks makes the spelling much easier to say.
Do Different Languages Have Different Onomatopoeia?
Yes, because each language filters real sounds through its own speech sounds. An English rooster says cock-a-doodle-doo, a French one says cocorico, and a German one says kikeriki.
