Advances in Language and Literary Studies ISSN: 2203-4714 Vol. 5 No. 6; December 2014 Copyright © Australian International Academic Centre, Australia The Functions of Onomatopoeia in Modern English and Arabic Poetry: A Study in Selected Poems by Lawrence and al-Sayyab Haitham K. Al-Zubbaidi University of Baghdad, College of Arts, Department of English E-mail:
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[email protected] Doi:10.7575/aiac.alls.v.5n.6p.181 Received: 24/08/2014 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.7575/aiac.alls.v.5n.6p.181 Accepted: 16/10/2014 Abstract Onomatopoeia has always been a functional poetic device which enjoys a high sound significance in the poetry of many languages. In modern English and Arabic poetry alike, it proves to be vital and useful at different levels: musical, thematic and at the level of meaning. Still, the cultural difference looms large over the ways it is employed by the poets of each. The present paper investigates the employment of onomatopoeia in the poetry of D. H. Lawrence (1885-1930) and Badr Shakir al-Sayyab (1926-1964) who are chosen due to the importance they enjoy in modern English and Arabic poetry and the richness of their poems in onomatopoeias. The conclusions reached at are in a sense related to cultural differences which govern the use of onomatopoeia for specific aims rather than for others. Keywords: Onomatopoeia, Modern poetry, Arabic poetry, Comparative literature, rhyme and rhythm. 1. Definitions Dictionaries and encyclopedias present a seemingly unanimous definition of onomatopoeia. Etymologically speaking, this word came from the Greek onomatopoiia which means "the making of a name or word" (in imitation of a sound associated with the thing being named); or from onomatopoios, from onoma (gen.