Definitions

Index
................................................................................................................................................................. 1
Simile....................................................................................................................................................... 2
Metaphor .................................................................................................................................................. 5
The Highwayman ................................................................................................................................... 5
Sophisticated metaphors ........................................................................................................................... 8
................................................................................................................................................................. 9
Personification ....................................................................................................................................... 12
Use the A4 page provided to employ the visualisation strategy Sketch to Stretch. ................................... 17
QUIZ ..................................................................................................................................................... 18
Alliteration ............................................................................................................................................. 19
............................................................................................................................................................... 20
............................................................................................................................................................... 21
Assonance .............................................................................................................................................. 22
Onomatopoeia ........................................................................................................................................ 26
Repetition............................................................................................................................................... 29
Hyperbole .............................................................................................................................................. 32
Imagery .................................................................................................................................................. 34
Rhyme.................................................................................................................................................... 38
............................................................................................................................................................... 38
Rhythm .................................................................................................................................................. 39
Quizzzzzz ............................................................................................................................................... 40

The poet employs vivid poetic

devices to enable the responder to
see the images in the poem or
imagine the world or the people
being described in the poem.

Simile
A simile is used to compare two things, and to show the
similarity between them.
It compares one thing to something else using the words like,
as or than.

She eats like a pig.

Ian Thorpe is faster than a fish.
It was as light as a feather.
He had eyes like a hawk.
Life is like a box of chocolates.
These are very evident in every day speech, especially insults and
clichs.

Activity 1
Rewrite the following lines. Underline the simile in each one.
a) She is as sly as an old fox which has survived many winters.
b) He was as strong as a weightlifter in his first month of training.
c) After she felt the sting of the snakebite, her face went as cold as
ice.

Activity 2
Can you complete these similes?
a) as heavy as
b) a memory like an
c) runs like the

The Warm and the Cold

The freezing dusk is closing
Like a slow trap of steel
On trees and roads and hills and all
That can no longer feel.
But the carp

But the carp is

S submerged in its depth
Like a planet is in its heaven.

And the badger is wrapped in its bedding,

Like a loaf in the oven.
And the butterfly resides in its
mummy like a violin in its case.
And the owl inhabits its feathers
Like a doll in its lace.

Activity 3
a) Read the poem and with your partner, highlight the similes.
b) Using detail from the poem, explain the impact of the poets use
of contrast (which is brought about by the similes).
Write
about 5 lines.

A Book Is Like
A book is like an open flower, scented pages, fragrant hours.
A book is like a crafty fox, surprising in its clever plots.
A book is like a fairy's wings, with princesses, enchanted kings.
A book is like a windowsill, where breezy thoughts are never still.
A book is like an hour glass, whose pages flow as hours pass.
A book is like a lock and key that opens doors and sets minds free.
A book is like an ancient clock that speaks the times but never talks.
A book is like an open letter, when read again the friendship's better.
A book is like an apple core with seeds inside for growing more.
A book is like a trusted friend that keeps its secret to the end.

Metaphor
A metaphor is used by composers to compare two things by
saying something IS something else.

His mind is a scrambled egg.

Her hair was silk.
We are flogging a dead horse.
Her room was a pig sty.
He crashed through the undergrowth,
setting off a storm of birdsong.

Activity 1

The Highwayman
The wind was a torrent of darkness among
the gusty trees,

The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon

cloudy seas,
The road was a ribbon of moonlight, over the
purple moor,
And the highwayman came ridingRiding-ridingThe highwayman came riding, up to the old
inn-door.
By Alfred Noyes

My family
My family lives inside a medicine chest:
Dad is the super-size band aid, strong and powerful
but not always effective in a crisis.
Mom is the middle-size tweezer,
which picks and pokes and pinches.
David is the single small aspirin on the third shelf,
sometimes ignored.
Muffin, the sheep dog, is a round cotton ball, stained
and dirty,
that pops off the shelf and bounces in my way as I open
the door.
And I am the wood and glue which hold us all together
with my love.
~~Belinda

Explain the metaphor from the beginning of this poem.

Sophisticated metaphors
The English poet William Blake (1757 1827) used a special
kind of metaphor when he wrote:

Tiger, Tiger, burning

bright
In the forests of the
night

Although Blake did not

use is, are, was or were to
introduce the metaphor,
he compares the tiger
with fire (burning bright).

Blake suggests the colour, movement and power of the

tiger is the same as fire,
without saying Tiger, Tiger is a fire.

Vocabulary What is another word we can use instead of suggests?

William Shakespeare also favoured this more sophisticated kind of

metaphor.

Theres daggers in mens

smiles. (Macbeth)
Activity 2
Discuss with your partner what
you think this really means.
Share.

Activity 3

Metaphors suggests a resemblance, as in

A mighty fortress is our house.
What does this wild ocean suggest? Write your metaphor.

Personification
When a poet describes non-human things as having human
qualities, it is PERSONification.

The bare tree shivered in the winter wind.

The tree grieved its loss of freedom in the newly paved
street.

Activity 1
Write your own personification:
1.

2.

Activity 2

Activity 3

Activity 4
Rewrite the following lines. Underline the example of personification in
each.
a) The post, tired of holding up the
weighty beams, had started to bend.

b) The old bridge groaned as the

heavily-laden truck rattled across it.

c) His shadow followed him silently

towards the gallows.

Activity 5
Select one of the above.
Write a descriptive paragraph in which you use the line to good
effect.

Personification is a special kind of metaphor in which a nonhuman thing is given human qualities.

The Fog

Slowly, the fog,

Hunch-shouldered with a grey face,
Arms wide, advances,
Finger-tips touching the way
Past the dark houses
And dark gardens of roses.
Up the short street from the harbour,
Slowly the fog,
Seeking, seeking;
Arms wide, shoulders hunched,
Searching, searching,
Out through the streets to the fields,
Slowly the fog
A blind man hunting the moon.
F.R McCreary

Activity 6
How does McCleary use personification
The Fog?

The Personification
example

The image it conveys

1
2
3
4

Activity 7
Sketch to Stretch The Fog

Use the A4 page provided to employ the visualisation

strategy Sketch to Stretch.

in

QUIZ
Here is an example of a free verse poem (no patterns) which allows
the poet to express ideas and feelings without being restricted by a
set form or patterns.

The Last Songman

Alone I sit.
I wait.
I wait.
My country cries red tears
for there are no more songs.
No more stories around the
everlasting fire.
No more young men here
to dance and leap like flames.
I am the last of the song men.
I go.
I go.
To join Purpupriki
among the stars.
The stars,
flowers
of my country.
Archie Weller

Activity
Find an example of:
a) Simile
b) Metaphor
c) Personification
d) Repetition
123e) Action verbs

Alliteration
Alliteration is the repetition of a consonant sound
in closely placed words.
It is used to echo or repeat a sound, usually for emphasis
and/or to link the words together.

Twigs twist in the twilight sky.

The dark plastic skeleton dangled

dangerously near my door.

Alliteration often creates

rhythm too.

Season of mists and

mellow fruitfulness
(To Autumn - Keats)

Activity
For these new products, compose a catchy phrase of 4-5 lines using
alliteration.
a) Toobright Toothpaste
b) Crystals Cakes
c) Lion Liquorice
d) Your choice

In poetry, repetition of sounds is the basis for

patterns of rhyme, alliteration and assonance.

Assonance
Assonance is when the poet repeats the same vowel sound
in words close together.

Billys pen hit the desk and it

ricocheted into the window.

It is used by poets to link words and to create a musical effect.

The stream glides quietly

beneath,
Green and deep.

In poetry, repetition of sounds is the basis for

patterns of rhyme, alliteration and assonance.

Activity1
Write the following, circling the assonance.
a) The island of ice rises from the east,
yet eyes do not sight it.
b) I lie here and sigh for the lies Ive heard.
c) We weep for the daffodils in the spring,
For they will sleep too long and not keep.

Activity2
Compose one or two lines for the following, including an example of
assonance.
a) A bird singing in a tree
b) Traffic
c) A lazy, sunny day

Activity 3

Activity 4

Activity 5
What is the effect of the assonance in the following lines?

So twice five miles of fertile ground

(Kubla Khan Coleridge)

Activity 6
Find your clockface partner (_______oclock). Together:
1. Highlight the assonance.
2. How many other techniques can you find?
3. Complete a Y chart to accompany the imagery in this poem.
Rain
Rain races,
Ripping like wind.
Its restless rage
Rattles like
Rocks ripping through
The air.
By Jake

Onomatopoeia
Onomatopoeia is the use of words that sound like the action
they represent.

Oink!
Bang!
Smash!

Onomatopoeia is a fancy term for a word that mimics a sound. For

example:
buzz
splish-splash
flitter-twitters
hushes
cuckoo
ring-ring

achoo
bang
fizz
hiss
ticktock
click

quacked
tap
zip
beep
boink
slurp

boom
vroom
whinny
sizzle
whisper
boom

Poets use onomatopoeia to bring their images to life. It adds to the

auditory (sound) qualities of the poem.

The creak of a door

The whirr of the engine
Fly away screeching

Activity1
The end of the day
In the sweltering heat under buzzing fluorescent lights,
The clock ticks, ticks, ticks.
Students slumped on desks, heads lolling, voices softly mumbling.
RING!!!
Semi-conscious bodies spiring to life;
Books bang. Bags zip. Chairs screech.
Chattering like birds, leaving behind the space.
Empty.
a) Read the poem aloud. With your partner, highlight the
onomatopoeia.
b) Using detail from the poem, explain the effect created by the 3rd
last line.

Activity 2
Create examples of onomatopoeia using the words below .
The first one has been done for you.
1 Sizzle

The sizzle of sausages cooking

2 Swoosh
3 Crash
4 Boom
5 Rattle
6 Roar

When poets need to describe a sound but there is no onomatopoeic

word in English, they can use their imagination to create one:

Lawn Mower
Wha-oop; throop, throop, throop, throop, ba-lomp.
Wha-oop; throop, throop, throop, throop, ba-lomp.
Wha-oop; throop, spultt, spultt, splatt, ba-room,
Brummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Activity 3
How is this lawn mower different?
Create a 2-4 line poem about THIS one.

Repetition
Repetition is when a pattern, a
word or concept is repeated.

Activity 1
a) Mother Nature loves repetition.
What other patterns in nature can you think of?

Activity 2
b) Are all Mother Natures repetitions perfect copies?
c) Why is it better this way?

Activity 3
Which do you think is the most effective repetition from the three
below? List your reasons as dot points.
1. T. S. Eliot's "Ash-Wednesday":

Because I do not hope to turn again

Because I do not hope
Because I do not hope to turn....

2. Coleridge's "Rime of the Ancient Mariner":

I looked upon the rotting sea,

And drew my eyes away;
I looked upon the rotting deck,
And there the dead men lay.
3. Robert Frost, "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening":

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.

Activity 4

Hyperbole
Hyperbole is the use of exaggeration. It is not meant to be
taken literally
Hyperboles are exaggerations to create emphasis or effect.

"The bag weighed a ton.

Hyperbole helps to make the point that the bag was very heavy,
although it probably does not actually weigh a ton.
Common Examples of Hyperbole

I'm so hungry I could eat a horse!

This cat weighs a ton!
She's as big as a house.

Hyperbole in Shakespeare:
"Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood
Clean from my hand? No.
Lady Macbeth, Act II, Scene II of Macbeth

It is used to evoke strong feelings or to create a strong

impression.

Activity 1
Explain in your own words what you think Lady Macbeth means.

Activity 2
Discuss a selection of the following with your partner. Share.
1.

I ate the whole cow.

2.

There are millions of other things to do.

3.

Running faster than the speed of light.

4.

It took light years for this to work.

5.

I waited in line for centuries.

6.

I've told you a thousand times: don't exaggerate.

7.

I had to walk fifteen miles uphill both ways, in snow two

metres deep.

8.

If I don't get these jeans, I will DIE!

9.

I have a million things to do today.

10.

She cried for days.

11.

The whole world was staring at me.

12.

The package took forever to arrive in the mail.

13.

It took him two seconds to drive here.

14.

Her smile was a mile wide.

15.

His teeth were blinding white.

16.

My car is a million years old.

17.

I don't have two cents to rub together.

18.

Maybe I'll do it in a million years.

19.

I was so embarrassed, I thought Id die.

20.

I am so tired I could sleep for a year.

Imagery
The mental picture evoked by the
poets use of words.

It awakens and appeals to

the senses.
Imagery is the creation of a sound, smell or picture
created in the readers mind by memory, imagination or
a stimulus.
Imagery often comes from the figurative language, especially similes
and metaphors that are used in poetry, plays and other literary works.

Imagery: Words with Impact

Imagery intensifies the impact of the poets
words as he shows us with his words
rather than just telling us what he feels.

Song lyrics are full of imagery.

T.S. Eliot
This is an excerpt from Preludes, an imagery poem by T.
S. Eliot. You can almost see and hear the horse steaming
and stamping and smell the steaks:

The winter evening settles down

With smell of steaks in passageways.
Six o'clock.
The burnt-out ends of smoky days.
And now a gusty shower wraps
The grimy scraps
Of withered leaves about your feet
And newspapers from vacant lots;
The showers beat
On broken blinds and chimney-pots,
And at the corner of the street
A lonely cab-horse steams and stamps.
And then the lighting of the lamps.

Edwin John Pratt

The Shark by Edwin John Pratt introduces the reader to
a shark - in detail, painting a picture so vivid you can
practically see it in your mind's eye:

The Shark
His body was tubular
And tapered
And smoke-blue,
And as he passed the wharf
He turned,
And snapped at a flat-fish
That was dead and floating.
And I saw the flash of a white throat,
And a double row of white teeth,
And eyes of metallic grey,
Hard and narrow and slit.
Then out of the harbour,
With that three-cornered fin
Shearing without a bubble the water
Lithely,
Leisurely,
He swamThat strange fish,
Tubular, tapered, smoke-blue,
Part vulture, part wolf,
Part neitherfor his blood was cold.

Cynthia in the Snow

It SUSHES.
It hushes
The loudness in the road.
It flitter-twitters,
And laughs away from me.
It laughs a lovely whiteness,
And whitely whirs away,
To be
Some otherwhere,
Still white as milk or shirts.
So beautiful it hurts.
~Gwendolyn Brooks

Rhyme
Rhyme is the repetition of the end sound of words.
brown crown
happy chappy

Rhythm
The rhythm of a poem is the beat.

Quizzzzzz
1. Underline the similes in this poem:

Similes
Black as words on printed pages.
Sad like tigers locked in cages.
Long as thread unrolled from spools.
Straight like legs on wooden stools.
Quiet as a school at night.
Happy like a bird in flight.
Tight as fuzzy skin on peaches.
White like dunes of sand on beaches.
Cold as scoops of frozen peas.
Fun like writing similes.

by Lill Pluta

2. The metaphor Family

My brother is a dragon.
My moms a teddy bear.
I am a shaggy sheepdog,
with a ton of tangled hair.
My dad is a tug boat.
He is stronger than us all.
One sister is an ant,
but her twin is 6ft tall!
This family have all been described using metaphors.
From what has been described draw a picture of this
family:

3.

4. Circle the onomatopoeia word from each of

the following lines of Camping:

Camping
The fire crackles under the stars.
Sausages sizzle above the fire . . .
Campers are crunching on potato chips.
The tent poles click and clack together.
We rustle our sleeping bags
As we prepare to go to sleep.
Chirp! Chirp! The crickets say, Good-night.

5.