Onomatopoeia

Onomatopoeia (adjective onomatopoeic) is the use of words to imitate the sounds they are describing. Wods like 'Boom!' and 'Crash' are everyday examples, as is the child's word, 'Nee-naw', trying to imitate the sound of its siren. Advertisers often appeal to onomatopoeia: "Snap, crackle, pop" is a slogan based on the sound of a cereal reacting to milk. Comic strips and graphic novels oftern invent new words to communicate the sounds of their scenes, often the vilent sounds: 'Ker-pow!' and 'Zap' are examples.

Poets often use onomatopoeia.

The quotation given for alliteration, "the stuttering rifles’ rapid rattle", followed by "the monstrous anger of the guns", is an example of more than alliteration: it is also an example of Owen was trying to say what a battlefield of the first World War sounded like; in my view, he is remarkably successful in distinguishing between the deep, dull boom of heavy artillery ("monstrous anger of the guns") and the crisper, sharper crackling of the ordinary soldiers’ rifles.