Onomatopoeia

"The Moon"

By: Robert Louis Stevenson

(poem from onomatopoeia poetry.blogspot.com)

The moon has a face like the clock in the hall;
She shines on thieves on the garden wall,
On streets and fields and harbour quays,
And birdies asleep in the forks of the trees.

The squalling cat and the squeaking mouse,
The howling dog by the door of the house,
The bat that lies in bed at noon,
All love to be out by the light of the moon.

But all of the things that belong to the day
Cuddle to sleep to be out of her way;
And flowers and children close their eyes
Till up in the morning the sun shall arise

Biographical Information

      Born on November 13, 1850, in Edinburgh, Scotland, Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson came from a long line of prominent lighthouse engineers. During his boyhood, he spent holidays with his maternal grandfather, a minister and professor of moral philosophy who shared his love of sermons and storytelling with him. Prone to illness, Stevenson spent many of his early winters in bed, entertained only by his imagination and a great love of reading, especially William Shakespeare, Sir Walter Scott, John Bunyan and The Arabian Nights.

    Encouraged to follow the family tradition of lighthouse engineering, he began studies at the University of Edinburgh in 1867, but quickly discovered he preferred a career in literature. Stevenson spent the next four years traveling through Europe, mostly around Paris, publishing essays and articles about his travels. In 1876, he met Fanny Vandegrift Osbourne, a married woman ten years his elder. After several months in the U.S. with his wife and her young son, Stevenson brought his family back to Britain. Frequently sick, he continued to write seriously, producing the bulk of his best-loved work. His first successful novel, Treasure Island was published in 1884, followed by A Child's Garden of Verses in 1885, and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in 1886. 

      A representative of Neo-romanticism during the Modernist period of English literature, Stevenson was an incredibly popular and successful writer. Though many leading critics dismissed his work entirely, he was admired by many authors, including Jorge Luis Borges, Ernest Hemingway, Rudyard Kipling, Vladimir Nabokov, and J. M. Barrie. He was also friends with Henry James, who was a vocal supportor his work.

(biographical information from poets.org)

Explanation of Technique

       In onomatopoeia poems, words are used to imitate the natural sounds of things. The author can use these types of words to help the reader to hear the sounds of words they are supposed to represent. This is used to create sounds effects, which can make a poem more interesting and dynamic. The onomatopoeia featured in, "The Moon", are phrases like, "the squalling cat", "the howling dog", and "the squeaking of the mouse".

Interpretation of Poem

       This poem by Robert Louis Stevenson, describes what goes on while the moon is up and the sun is down is the sky. All of this is used to make the poem more interesting and dynamic. A message behind this poem can be that the moon is marvelous. When I look at the moon, it intrigues my eyes. It is interesting how various animals react to the moon in the poem, like the dog howling at it.

(picture from allposters.com)

Visual Explanation

        I chose the picture above, because the moon was the centerpiece of Robert Louis Stevenson's poem, "The Moon".  In the poem he described how various animals reacted to it. Another thing he described in the poem is how civilization tends to slow down while the moon up, like people and other things sleeping. The moon is an interesting figure in the universe.