Poetry Spotlight: Onomatopoeia and Shel Silverstein

Shel Silverstein is one of my favorite poets. His poems (well, most of them) are appropriate for children, but also are able to make adults step back and think. I was first introduced to him by my fourth-grade teacher, Mr. Flores. Ever since that time, I have shared my love of this unique and talented poet.

In a number of his poems, he used the technique of onomatopoeia, or sound words. One particular poem which my students over the years would repeatedly ask me to read to them was "Peanut Butter Sandwich" which can be found in his book "Where The Sidewalk Ends."

Peanut Butter Sandwich

I’ll tell you the story of a silly young king

Who played with the world at the end of a string

But he only loved one single thing

And that was a peanut butter sandwich .

Towards the end of the poem you really get a chance to see just how much fun Shel Silverstein had when playing with sound making words.

A puff of dust a screech a squeak

the king’s jaw opened with a creak .

Photo Credit: Dano