Rattle-rattle, rattle-rattle, Bing. Boomlay, boomlay, boomlay, BOOM


Current mood: anti-establishment

Category: Writing and Poetry



"Rattle-rattle, rattle-rattle,
Bing.
Boomlay, boomlay, boomlay, BOOM,"

[With a philosophic pause.]

A roaring, epic, rag-time tune
From the mouth of the Congo
To the Mountains of the Moon.

(excerpted from "Congo" by Vachel Lindsay)


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That poem would never fly today. Bad enough that it rhymes - it also makes use of onomatopoeia. That's a "no-no".

Is "no-no" itself a no-no?. I'm tempted to flip-flop on that one.



DON'T BE A DING DONG


Not one teeny tiny bit
of onomatopoeia!

No click clacks
from the railroad tracks,
no rabbits
hippity hopping.

No horses
clippity clopping.
No tick tocks
from Grandfather clocks,
and from fishes,
no flip flopping.

No splish splashing, oeitha!
NO ONOMATOPOEIA!




(From Deeplip's Little Book of Poems about Poetry and Poets)