E.g. I bring fresh showersfor the thirsting flowers. (Shelley) [4]
Once upon a midnight dreary while I pondered weak and weary. (Poe) [45] RHYTHM exists in all spheres of human activity and has various forms. It is a deliberate arrangement of speech into regularly recurring units intended to be grasped as a definite periodicity which makes rhythm a SD. Rhythm, therefore, is the main factor which brings order into the utterance. Rhythm reveals itself most conspicuously in music, dance and verse [4]. Rhythm may also be very important in prose, bringing either speed or monotony to the utterance. In the fragment below the rhythmic arrangement of words shows how fast the sails of the windmill were turning: E.g. In front of them, the sails of the windmill stuttered. They began to turn slowly, with much clattering and creaking, shedding chunks and splinters of rotten vanes. The speed of the sails increased. Around, around, around-around-around, around-aroundaround. It turned like a haunted Ferris wheel in a carnival of the damned. /Dean Koontz Cold Fire/ [34]
Practice: Exercise 1. Read the given passages. Analyze the cases of onomatopoeia printed in bold type, try to describe the way different people walked and speak of the effect produced.
Example: Thumpa-thumpa-thumpa. Gage’s small bare feet thundering along the hallway runner. /Stephen King Pet Sematary/
In the fragment we see a case of onomatopoeia “Thumpa-thumpa-thumpa.” The hyphenated graphical form shows that Gage ran rather than walked, and probably was putting his feet flat on the floor.
1. Dussander shuffled past him and into the living room, his slippers wish-wishing on the floor. /Stephen King Apt Pupil/ (from Different Seasons by S. King)
2. Laurel thought of the listless clup-clup sound of her high heels on the cement, and the lack of echo when Captain Engle cupped his hands around his mouth and called up the escalator for Mr. Toomy. /Stephen King The Langoliers/
3. Hilary parked her car in the garage and walked to the front door. Her heels made an unnaturally loud tock-tock-tock sound on the stone footsteps. /Dean Koontz Whispers/
4. ‘Okay!” The louder clack-clack of her feet. “here’s your snack, Gage. I got to go to school.” /Stephen King Pet Sematary/
Exercise 2. Read the given passages and pick out cases of direct and indirect onomatopoeia from the units in bolt type. Speak about the effect produced by it.