Wednesday, May 25, 2011

What is an example of onomatopoeia in the poem "South" by Kamau Brathwaite?

Caribbean poet and scholar Kamau Brathwaite uses various literary devices in his nostalgic poem "South," which remembers fondly the island beaches of his home. While he invokes metaphors, personification and onomatopoeia to create a sense of imagery, a prime example of onomatopoeia, or a word that imitates the sound it describes, can be found towards the end of the poem:



they rememer us just as we left them.


The fisherman, hawking the surf on this side


of the reef, stands up in his boat


and halloos us: a starfish lies in its pool.



Here, the word "halloos" is an example of onomatopoeia. The poem references a fisherman standing up in his boat to greet the narrator, so the word "halloos" is phonetic for the "hello" the man is giving.

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