Download Reviewing poetic techniques

English Planner: To include
Reviewing poetic techniques
 What is a simile?
 What is a metaphor?
 What is personification?
 What is onomatopoeia?
 What is rhyme?
 What is rhythm?
 What is reflection?
 What is imagery?
Students give two examples of each of the above and explain how the technique works to enhance
meaning.
Students answer the following questions:
 What is alliteration?
 Write a sentence alliterating your name.
 What is assonance?
Write a sentence with your name in it using assonance.
Descriptive poem is handed out on an A4 sheet with room for annotation. Students read silently. Teacher
presents a dramatic reading. Students identify any words they don’t know. Definitions discussed and
meaning discussed in context.
Teacher explains the poem’s meaning. (This will be used as a model by students in future work.)
In groups or pairs students highlight poetic techniques, name them and explain how they work to enhance
meaning.
Students write meaning onto poem sheet.
Students re-read the poem silently.
Handout 1
Definitions
Simile
A simile describes something by comparing it to something else using the words like, as or than.
 She eats like a pig.
 Ian Thorpe is faster than a fish.
These are very evident in every day speech, especially insults and clichés.
Metaphor
A metaphor describes something by saying that it is something else. Usually the items being compared are
very different but meaning is enriched by the connotations of the second item.
 There’s daggers in men’s smiles (Shakespeare).
Personification
Personification is a special kind of metaphor in which a non-human thing is given human qualities.

The tree grieved its loss of freedom in the newly paved street.
Alliteration
Alliteration is the repetition of a consonant sound, usually for emphasis and / or to link the words together.
Alliteration often creates rhythm too.

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness (To Autumn - Keats)
Assonance
Assonance is the repetition of a vowel sound (not necessarily the letter) where the end of the words are
different. It is sometimes called half-rhyme. Assonance links words together and often creates rhythm
through rhyme.

So twice five miles of fertile ground (Kubla Khan – Coleridge)
Onomatopoeia
Onomatopoeia is when the word makes the sound it is describing. It adds to the auditory qualities of the
poem.

oink; bang; smash.
Rhyme
Rhyme is the repetition of the end sound of words.


brown – crown
happy – chappy
Rhythm
The rhythm of a poem is the beat.
Repetition
Repetition is when a word or concept is repeated.
Imagery
Imagery is the creation of a sound, smell or picture created in the reader’s mind by memory, imagination or
a stimulus. Imagery often comes from the figurative language, especially similes and metaphors, that is
used in poetry, plays and other literary works.
Handout 2
Poetry unit: how to create a lesson
1.
Decide which poetic technique you are going to teach through your poem.
2.
Think about how you can teach this technique through your poem in a fun way.
3.
Make up the activities to teach your technique poetry.
4.
Test the activities on your group to see if they work.
5.
Write up the activities.
Similies
A simile describes something by comparing it to something else using the words like, as or than.
 She eats like a pig.
 Ian Thorpe is faster than a fish.
These are very evident in every day speech, especially insults and clichés.
Kitchen
Tiles like a chessboard
You’ll lose yourself in the game
Microwave like a bomb
Radioactive
Kettle like a steam train
Whistling endlessly
The fridge big, white and always hungry
Like a polar bear
The kitchen like a circus
A huge hazard.
by Joel, Donna and Rachael
Explanation
This poem is made up of similes. Similes are used to compare one object or thing with another using like,
as or than, e.g. ‘The kitchen like a circus, a huge hazard.’
Questions
1.
2.
3.
4.
Explain what you think this poem is about.
How many similes are in the poem?
What does the simile ‘tiles like a chessboard’ mean? Explain what it describes.
How is a ‘kettle like a steam train’? Explain what ‘whistling endlessly ‘ means. How does this contribute
to the poem?
Activities
1. Fill in the gaps using your own words.
a) The kitchen like a ____________________.
b) Microwave like a ____________________.
c) The fridge, __________ like a __________.
d) The cupboard is like a ________________.
2. Write a poem about school. Use as many similes as you can.
3. Try to draw a picture of the kitchen being described in the poem.
Metaphors
Miss Dunkencof
Miss Dunkencof is a wicked witch,
mean and scary with yellow green
teeth.
Miss Dunkencof is a velvet black crow,
she screeches and scratches at
everyone
while showing her claws.
Miss Dunkencof is a feral cat
with a rugged furry coat and blood stained claws
who pounces and snaps.
Miss Dunkencof is a foghorn
with a booming loud voice who bellows like thunder
and snarls like a doberman.
by Mattie, Kale, Jess
Personification
Personification
Personification is a special kind of metaphor in which a non-human thing is given human qualities.

The tree grieved its loss of freedom in the newly paved street.
The Tree
Winter has arrived and the cold snow begins to fall
The tree feels naked as it shivers through the season.
Spring has awoken the flowers burst with colour
The tree begins to dance as new life begins.
Summer is here, as the heat begins to rise
The tree bathes in the sunlight as its bark goldens.
Summer has passed and Autumn has begun
The tree starts to weep as its leaves continue to fall.
by Matthew, Melanie and Rachael
Questions
1. What is the definition of personification?
2. Highlight the personification in this poem.
3. Name all the human qualities given to the tree. What do these qualities tell us about the tree?
4. In groups, act out the qualities given to the tree in this poem.
5. Fill in the missing places with your own human qualities (personification).
Winter has arrived and the cold snow begins to fall. The tree feels ________ as it __________ through
the season. Spring has ________ the flowers burst with colour. The tree begins to ________ as new
life begins. Summer is here, as the heat begins to rise. The tree _________ in the sunlight as its bark
goldens. Summer has passed and Autumn has begun The tree starts to ____________as its leaves
continue to fall.
6. Write a poem with 4 or more lines using personification at least twice.
Alliteration
Alliteration is the repetition of a consonant sound, usually for emphasis and / or to link the words together.
Alliteration often creates rhythm too.

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness (To Autumn - Keats)
Waves
Big, beautiful, brutal waves
Smashing, crashing, pounding waves
Wet, washing, wonderful waves
Painful, harsh, hot waves
Waves are wonderful, big or small
Wet and washing upon the shore.
Fun waves, crunching waves,
The enjoyment while you’re there.
The sadness when you leave.
Anything else, I don’t care.
by Brett, Mitch and B
Activities
1. Why do we use alliteration in poems?
a) Make them fun
b) Make children fit
c) Make good sound imagery
d) Because we can
2. Alliteration poetry
Using 3 letters of your choice
Write 3 poems of your choice
If you match them to your Anthology theme, they can be used in your Anthology.
The Girl
As the wind blows through the weeping willow
The young girl sits and wonders
Trembling at the thought of our world
Demoralising into nothing but hatred and hostility.
She thinks of famine, fighting and
freedom.
And wishes that the world hadn’t come to this.
She wishes for hope, happiness, truth, freedom, beauty and love.
As the wind blows through the weeping willow.
The young girl sits and wonders ……
by Candice and Elle
Activity
Highlight the alliteration in this poem.
Assonance
Assonance is the repetition of a vowel sound (not necessarily the letter) where the end of the words are
different. It is sometimes called half-rhyme. Assonance links words together and often creates rhythm
through rhyme.

So twice five miles of fertile ground (Kubla Khan – Coleridge)
The Beach
When Lara goes to the beach
She sees people eating chips
When Lindsay goes to the beach
He sees Bodyboarders Bodyboarding
Brilliantly
When Dane goes to the beach
He sees surfers surf 66 foot tsunamis
When Lauren goes to the beach she
swims swiftly through
silky surf.
by Dane, Lindsay, Lara and Lauren.
Activities
When a vowel sounds the same in the middle of a word this is called assonance. An example is book and
foot: this is assonance of the “oo” sound.
Write a sentence using the the vowel sound “ear”, 3 times
Write a sentence using the the vowel sound “ei”, 3 times
Write a sentence using the the vowel sound “ai”, 3 times
Write a sentence using the the vowel sound “o”, 3 times
Repetition and rhyme
Repetition: When you repeat the word, phrase or idea in a poem.
Rhyme: When the ends of two words have the same sound.
Progress
People are like ants, like ants in the scrub.
The scrub becomes sky scrapers, looming above.
The ants bustle about, expanding their rest,
Unjustified, they strive for height
To be on top, to beat the rest
To own the most technologically advanced nest.
Good intentions turn to greed.
Greed and corruption are emotions that feed
The desire for progress
Which never relents.
They know not the damage their actions have caused
They cannot see how their actions have caused
The suffering of trees
The death of the animals
The slow and dolorous demise of mother earth.
By Sarah, Gemma and Ferry
Questions
1. Replace the rhyming words in “Progress” with words of the your choice. (must rhyme).
2. What impact could repetition have on a poem?
3. Create either a repetitious or rhyming poem for your Anthology.
4. Draw a picture representing each stanza.
5. In a group perform “Progress” the way you feel it should be performed, e.g. emphasise keywords (read
with feeling) and draw on images for each stanza.
The Classroom
The doors are brown like an old dead tree trunk.
The wafting stench smells like rotten carpet.
The old blackboard hangs like a rickety picture on an old rusted nail.
The dripping, dirty, dusty taps rust away in the corner of the room.
The bubblegum covered desks sit in bundles of five slowly decaying like a group of dead, rotting corpses in
an ugly unpainted, stinky, giant coffin.
by Nick, Kayla and Ryeann
Activity
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Students read poem.
Students draw a picture of the room represented in this poem.
Students highlight and main techniques used in this poem.
Discuss answers in class.
Students write their own poems using one of the techniques in this poem.
Poetry game: race. Students are given a poem, told how many of each techniques are present. First
group to find all techniques wins.
Neglected Nature
As fumes from the tractor’s exhaust rise
The Amazon giants plummet to the dispersed soil.
Until one stands solitary
The destroyers strive.
The golden sky is choked
By the excreted debris.
Flocks of birds flee the scene.
A terrible massacre has just occurred.
Corpses litter the ground.
The chosen are taken and are to be,
Transformed into stationery.
Left stranded and neglected,
A tapir crouches in fear.
He is not alone,
In his former home,
The jaguar still roams.
Activity
Highlight all the techniques you can find using the checklist below.
simile
Description
imperative
image
adverb
repetition
Metaphor
metonymy
alliteration
exaggeration
rhyme
Assonance
oxymoron
verb
personification
onomatopoeia
Noun
juxtaposition
Meanings
Oxymoron: two seemingly opposite concepts put together, e.g. dangerously safe.
Juxtaposition: two opposing concepts are put together.
Metonymy: when part of something is used to represent the whole thing.
What is the theme?
The theme of this poem is that to satisfy our needs we hurt others. How is the message given using
techniques? Write a paragraph answer. Write your own poem expressing a personal opinion then perform
it using a puppet show.
Handout 3
Poetry unit: essay writing
There are many approaches to teaching essay writing. Use the one you are most comfortable with.
Essays consist of a long answer to a question. Your job in writing an essay is to create a thesis which
answers the question and to support it using arguments and evidence from the text. A good essay:
a)
b)
c)
d)
answers the question
refers closely to the text by providing examples and quotations
contains a series of well argued points that support the central thesis
is clearly expressed.
The essay has three sections. The introduction is one paragraph in which you answer the question and
give an overview of the aspects you will discuss in this essay.
The second section contains several paragraphs. Each paragraph deals with one aspect of the answer. It
answers the question in the first sentence (a topic sentence). The middle two or three sentences give an
example, name the language technique used and explain how this answers the question. The final
sentence sums up how your evidence supports your argument and answers the question.
In the final paragraph, the conclusion, the writer makes a statement explaining how their evidence proves
their thesis.
Question
How does the poet, Judith Wright, express her message in the “The Surfer”?
How: what are the poetic techniques used?
Her message: the sea can be dangerous, even though it is fun.
Plan
The sea is fun
alliteration
assonance
metaphor
metonymy
repetition
simile
alliteration
metaphor
onomatopoeia
repetition
rhyme
second person
The sea can be dangerous
simile
Handout 4
Poetry unit work samples
Essay 1
In her poem “Colour Bar” Oodergoo Noonuccal states her firm belief that racism is extremely wrong and
unjust. She achieves this by using visual techniques including metaphor and description; also by using
sound techniques including alliteration, repetition, assonance and rhyme.
With the use of metaphor and description, Kath Walker expresses her opinion that racism is disgusting
behaviour which shows the worst side of people. “The Colour Bar! It shows the meaner mind of moron
kind,” suggests that racist people are ignorant. Another metaphor, “Justice a cant of hypocrites, content
with precedent,” shows the poet’s opinion that some people who are supposedly ‘Christian’ are content to
overlook racism even though they could do something; they think, that they have done enough. The
extended metaphor, “As long as brothers banned from brotherhood you still exclude. The Christianity you
hold so high is but a lie”, highlights how wrong and un-Christian racism is. A strong visual image is created
by the language the poet uses in the description, “But when a child comes home in tears fierce anger
sears”, is used. Both this example and the metaphor, “Vile men jeer because my skin is brown”’ suggest
that the author and her family have experienced racism. Kath Walker has successfully used the visual
techniques metaphor and description to express her opinion that racism is an unacceptable outrage.
Ms Walker achieves the expression of her belief that racism is wrong with the use of sound imagery,
rhyme, alliteration, assonance and repetition. The combination of rhyme and alliteration in “…meaner mind
of moron kind”, highlights the poet’s low opinion of racist people. The assonance in “fierce”, and “sears”,
creates strong visual images for the reader of the vexation felt by parents when their children come in
contact with racism. The repetition of “all”, emphasises the word and its meaning; it emphasises the idea
that everyone is loved equally by god, no matter what their race is. In “… brothers banned from
brotherhood You still exclude”, the idea of being left out or discriminated against because of your race is
repeated using the words “banned” and “exclude” which have the same meaning. The poet states her idea
that racism is wrong by using the sound imagery techniques alliteration, rhyme, assonance and repetition.
Kath Walker effectively communicates to the reader her strong feelings of outrage and disgust for racism
through the poetic techniques she uses in her poem “Colour Bar”. These techniques include the visual
techniques of metaphor and description; also the sound techniques of repetition, assonance, alliteration
and rhyme.
by Gemma
Essay 2 (extract)
Judith Wright in “The Surfer” tells us that although the sea can be fun, it can also be very dangerous. Her
use of alliteration, rhyme, assonance, onomatopoeia, repetition, metonymy, simile, imperative and
metaphor provides clear images both of the joy experienced in the surf and its potential danger.
Using alliteration, repetition, rhyme and assonance the poet explains how surfing in the sea can be
exhilarating. In “… and swimming so went out of sight“, the ‘s’ is alliterated, highlighting the swimmer’s joy.
The repetition of “muscle” expresses both the physical enjoyment of the surfer and his connection with the
wave. “sight” and “delight” are rhymed to emphasise the poet’s opinion that the surfer is having a great
time. The assonance in “those” and “foam” create a sound image for the reader of the long. Lazy waves
and the easy way the surfer catches them. The poet successfully expresses her opinion that the sea is a
source of pleasure through her use of sound imagery.
Judith Wright also uses similes, metonymy and metaphors to express her opinion that the sea can be fun.
“The gulls went wheeling in air as he in water, with delight” is a simile used to create an image of the joy felt
by the surfer as he glided through the surf. The surfer’s delight is reinforced in the metaphor “he thrust his
joy against the weight of the sea”; he is so exhilarated that his body has become full of joy. The poet uses
metonymy “muscle or arm…” To express the physical quality of the surfer’s experience. By using simile,
metaphor and metonymy Judith Wright makes clear to the reader the possibilities for having fun by the sea.