Edgewater 1

Tamia Edgewater
Queen Curmano
L.A period 7
13 April 2015
The voice that owns the land
The rumbling, soothing sound of thunder is loud and frightening at times, but at times it
can be calming. It quiets the land, and makes everything peaceful. This beautiful poem Twelfth
song of thunder by an anonymous author describes thunder as a good thing and not a bad thing.
All the poetic devices and the calm positive tone explains the theme, that thunder is a good thing
to have around every once in a while.
In the poem Twelfth song of Thunder has poetic devices that explain the soothing
sound of thunder and explains how thunder actually works. The author uses hyperbole in the
beginning of stanza one and two and at the end of stanza one and two as well The voice that
beautifies the land" (Anonymous 1,6,7,12). This explains how thunder quiets the land and makes
it very beautiful, especially when there is rain involved. Detailed examples of how thunder
sounds were exaggerated to help explain the magnitude of thunder. Alliteration also helps in
explaining the magnitude of thunder in the poem, which was "again and again it sounds"(5,11).
The sound of thunder makes noise and how the noise of thunder repeats itself. The anonymous
author explained how thunder works and didn't created a sound reference. One last poetic device
that the author used was a free verse throughout the entire poem, for example: " the voice of
thunder, within a dark cloud" (3,4). Free verse is when there's a poem that doesn't have a rhyme
scheme to it and there are some parts in the poem that sort of rhymed. It seems like the poet

Edgewater 2

wanted to put some information into the poem and didn't care if it rhymed or not. These poetic
devices the author used in " Twelfth song of Thunder" are important because they help the reader
understand the poem a little more.
The poem " Twelfth song of thunder" has a calming tone to describe the soothing sound
of thunder makes on the earths surface. " the voice that beautifies the land" (stanza 1) explains
how the sound of thunder quiets the land and makes it beautiful. Thunder has a powerful noise
that silents the land and when there's Thunder then there's rain traveling along. Thunder takes
control of the land and sometimes brings bright lightning bolts to help flash the land. Another
quote that explains the tone would be "again and again it sounds" (5,11). The sound of thunder
repeats and the sound keeps a steady beat, it depends where its at, weather its close or far the
volume will end up changing. The Anonymous author didn't put any sounds, but he explained the
sound thunder made. One last quote that explained the tone was " the voice of thunder, within a
dark cloud" (3,4). Thunder is calming but sometimes dark clouds help make it better. The dark
clouds that surround the sky on a stormy day is nice to have around, and keeps the sun away for
awhile. This poem has a calming tone to it and the tone calm helps define the rumbling thunder
on the land.
Thunder is a good thing, it helps people more than we would know, and thunder helps
wildlife too. Sometimes thunder travels with rain and the rain helps make the land smell fresh
and healthy, it also makes the earth beautiful as well. The anonymous author had positive
words to say about thunder and how thunder leaves a trace on the world. Thunder can be very
harmful at times, but its good to have around every once in a while.

Edgewater 3

Works Cited
"Twelfth Song of Thunder [Navajo Tradition]." Poetry Foundation. Poetry
Foundation, 2015. Web. 13 Apr. 2015.
<http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/246774>.