1. A poetic lesson if you take the time, You’ll understand better through nursery rhymes. Mother Goose wrote them long ago, Now through this lesson you’ll be in the know. Mrs. McManus’ English 7

2. Identifying poetic devices isn’t as hard as it sounds. In fact, if you learn some examples, you may find it easy to identify the poetic devices in just about any poem! Rather than trying to learn the various devices and new poetry all at once, I thought we would look at some poems that most of us already know so well – nursery rhymes! This lesson will help you to identify these 10 poetic devices… Alliteration Imagery Metaphor Onomatopoeia Personification Assonance RepetitionRhyme Scheme SimileStanza Let’s begin…

3. Betty Botter Betty Botter bought some butter, But she said, “The butter’s bitter. If I put it in my batter, It will make my batter bitter; But a bit of better butter That would make my batter better.” So she bought a bit of butter Better than her bitter butter, And she put it in her batter And the batter was not bitter. So ‘twas better Betty Botter Bought a bit of better butter. Alliteration The repetition of initial consonant sounds.

4. Assonance The repetition of vowel sounds. Handy-Pandy Handy-Pandy, Jacky dandy, Loves plum cake and sugar candy. He bought some at a grocer's shop, And please away went hop, hop, hop.

5. Imagery Words or phrases that appeal to any sense or any combination of senses. Winter Cold and raw the north winds blow Bleak in the early morning. All the hills are covered with snow, And winter’s now come fairly. Can you imagine the chilly winds? Can you see the hills covered with snow?

6. Metaphor A comparison between two objects with the intent of giving clearer meaning to one of them. Mary, Mary Mary, Mary,,quite contrary. How does your garden grow? With silver bells and cockleshells And pretty maids all in a row. The metaphor here is comparing flowers to “pretty maids”. Metaphors can be tough to see sometimes. A metaphor is an implied simile. It does not, like a simile, state that one thing is like another or acts as another. Often forms of the “to be” verb are used, such as “is” or “was”, to make the comparison in a metaphor. For example: “He fought as fiercely as a lion” is a simile (compares using the word “as”.) “He was a lion in the fight” is a metaphor.

7. Onomatopoeia The use of words which imitate sound Baa Baa Black Sheep Baa, baa, black sheep Have you any wool? Yes sir, yes sir, Three bags full; One for the master, And one for the dame, And one for the little boy Who lives down the lane.

8. Personification A figure of speech which gives inanimate objects human traits or abilities. Hey Diddle Diddle Hey diddle diddle, The cat and the fiddle, The cow jumped over the moon; The little dog laughed To see such a sport, And the dish ran away with the spoon. Can a dish and a spoon run? Of course not.

9. Repetition The repeating of words, phrases, lines or stanzas. The Little Bird Once I saw a little bird Come hop, hop, hop; So I cried, “Little bird, Will you stop, stop, stop?” And was going to the window To say, “How do you do?” But he shook his little tail, And far away he flew.

10. Rhyme Scheme The sequence in which the rhyme occurs. The first end sound is represented as the letter “a”, the second is “b”, etc. Hickory Dickory Dock Hickory, dickory, dock, The mouse ran up the clock. The clock struck one, And down he run, Hickory, dickory, dock. aabbaaabba They rhyme scheme for this poem is aabba.

11. Simile A grouping of two or comparison between two objects using a specific word or comparison such as “like” or “as”. Mary Had a Little Lamb Mary had a little lamb With fleece as white as snow. And everywhere that Mary went The lamb was sure to go.

12. Stanza A grouping of two or more lines of a poem in terms of length, metrical form, or thyme scheme. Humpty Dumpty Sat on a wall. Humpy Dumpty Had a great fall. All the king’s horses And all the king’s men Couldn't put Humpty Together again. First Stanza Second Stanza

13. The Clock There’s a neat little clock – In the schoolroom it stands – And it points to the time With its two little hands. And may we, like the clock, Keep a face clean and bright, With hands ever ready To do what is right. Poetic Devices Quiz Many poems contain multiple poetic devices. See if you can answer three questions about poetic devices in “The Clock.” Click on this slide to show each answer. How many stanzas are in “The Clock”? What is the rhyme scheme in the first stanza? Can you identify one example of personification in “The Clock”? Two First Stanza Second Stanza ABCB ABCBABCB (referring to the clock) …it points to the time With its two little hands.

14. Bibliography ● Clarita pulgarcita. (2008, March 6). Retrieved from http://claritapulgarcita.blogspot.com/2008/03/trabalenguas-betty-botter.html Many of the graphics used in this lesson were taken from this website. ● Glossary of poetic devices. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.kyrene.org/schools/brisas/sunda/poets/poetry2.htm This website was used to retrieve the definitions of the various poetic devices. ● Hey diddle diddle nursery rhyme window. (2003-2011). Retrieved from http://www.walldecorshops.com/KA5815070RHYMES.html The graphic associated with the poem “Hey Diddle Diddle” was found on this website. ● Mother goose: a classic collection of children's nursery rhymes. (2008). Atlanta, GA: Dalmatian Publishing Group. This book contained the Mother Goose poems used throughout this PowerPoint presentation. ● Nursery rhymes online. (2007-2011). Retrieved from http://www.nurseryrhymesonline.com/mary_had_a_little_lamb-2395.php Many of the graphics used in this lesson were taken from this website. ● Yannucci, L. (2011). Mama lisa's world. Retrieved from http://www.mamalisa.com/?t=hes&p=1731&l=O Many of the graphics used in this lesson were taken from this website.