In the story "The Tell-Tale Heart," what is an example of onomatopoeia?

is a
literary device in which a word is formed to imitate a sound. Examples include "ring,"
"pow," "snap," and "boom." 

The first example
of onomatopoeia in Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Tell-Tale Heart" is the word
"creaked." It describes the sound the lantern made when the narrator lifted the slats
to reveal the light.

And then, when my head was well in
the room, I undid the lantern cautiouslyoh, so cautiouslycautiously (for the hinges creaked)I
undid it just so much that a single thin ray fell upon the vulture eye.

The next example is the word "groan." The old man wakes
up startled when the narrator slips and makes a noise with the lantern. After asking who is
there and hearing nothing, the narrator describes his groans of terror. The word groan describes
the sound that came out of the old man's throat. The quote is below: 

Presently I heard a slight groan, and I knew it was the groan of
mortal terror. It was not a groan of pain or of griefoh, no!it was the low stifled sound that
arises from the bottom of the soul when overcharged with awe. I knew the sound well.

The third example is the word "chirp." In the story, it
is describing the sound a cricket makes by rapidly rubbing its legs together. The narrator is
speculating as to what the old man is thinking. He supposes he is rationalizing the noise by
saying it was the wind, or a mouse, or a cricket: 

He had
been saying to himself"It is nothing but the wind in the chimneyit is only a mouse crossing
the floor," or "It is merely a cricket which has made a single chirp."

The next example occurs when the police come over to investigate
after the neighbors report the shriek they heard. He is chatting casually with them, and then he
becomes uncomfortable and wants them gone. The narrator states: "My head ached, and I
fancied a ringing in my ears." The word ringing describes the sound in his ears and is
another example of onomatopoeia. 

The sound of the heartbeat itself is not
described with onomatopoeia because it isn't really happening. It is all a figment of the
narrator's imagination.