Senior Phase

English Home Language Poetry Study Pack

Langston Hughes
Figures of Speech and Poetic Devices
Let’s recap some figures of speech that are often found in poetry.

Metaphors: direct comparisons.

For example: Jabu is going through a
rollercoaster of emotions.

Jabu is not literally on a rollercoaster. Jabu’s

emotions are compared to a rollercoaster
because they are going up and down.

Similes: indirect comparisons containing like or as.

For example: Thato and Faith are like two peas in a pod.

Thato and Faith are not literally peas. They share

very similar characteristics.

Personification: giving human qualities to

non-human things.

For example: The sun smiled down on us when we

had a picnic.

Did you know?

Although t and d do not look the same,
Alliteration: the repetition of consonant
they can share the same sound because
sounds, often for an audible effect.
they are both plosives – they sound like
little ‘explosions’ when you say them. For example: Shut the shutters before the
shouting makes you shudder.

Assonance: the repetition of vowel sounds

For example:

The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain.

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 English Home and Language Study Pack

Onomatopoeia: imitation of sounds.

For example: Can you hear the buzzing of bees?

Imagery: words that appeal to the five senses: seeing, hearing,

smelling, tasting and touching.

For example: Reading her mean message felt like an arrow

through my heart.

There is no literal, physical arrow piercing his/her heart.

Reading the mean message was emotionally painful.

Hyperbole: a massive exaggeration.

For example: I have asked you a million times to keep quiet!

Oxymoron: unmatched, completely opposite terms.

For example: That is a pretty ugly dress!

Enjambment: one line or stanza running into the next without

any punctuation marks to separate it.

For example:

...When he shall die,

Take him and cut him out in little stars,

And he will make the face of heaven so fine

That all the world will be in love with night

And pay no worship to the garish sun

Romeo and Juliet (III.ii.21-25)

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 English Home and Language Study Pack

The Technicalities

Theme: what the poem is about; the message of the poem.

Tone/mood: the attitude expressed towards the subject

matter of the poem as interpreted by
the reader.
Remember!
The poet and the
Poet: the person who wrote the poem.
speaker are not the
Speaker: The “voice” of the poem speaking to the reader. same entity!

Rhyme scheme: how the poem uses rhyming words.

Different poems can have different rhyme schemes, no

rhyme scheme at all, or several different rhyme schemes in
the same poem.

We indicate the rhyme scheme of a poem by looking at

words that rhyme at the end of eachline and marking it
with a letter.

Fun Fact!
When the words at the end of two lines rhyme one
beneath the other, it is called a rhyming couplet.

For example:
a
Upon a nice mid-spring day.
Let's take a look at Nature's way.
a
Breathe the scent of nice fresh air, b
Feel the breeze within your hair. b

The coolness of the night a

Refreshes my skin. a
The stars shine so bright, b
Causing me to grin. b

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 English Home and Language Study Pack

Rhythm: what the poem sounds like when it is read based on the beat and flow of the words,
lines, and stanzas.

Diction: the choice of words and language used throughout the poem.

Structure: the way the poem looks with its lines, breaks, and stanzas.
A stanza of four lines is called a quatrain.
A stanza of five lines is called a quintet.
A stanza of six lines is called a sestet.
A stanza of eight lines is called an octave.

Sonnet: a poem that has 14 lines.

The two most common types of sonnets are Shakespearean/English/Elizabethan sonnets

and Petrarchan/Italian sonnets.

Shakespearean/English/Elizabethan sonnets:

• 14 lines

• Three quatrains

• One rhyming couplet at the end.

• abab cdcd efef gg rhyme scheme.

Petrarchan/Italian sonnets:

• 14 lines

• One octave

• One sestet

• A change, also known as the volta, takes place between the octave and the sestet.

• The change is developed throughout the sestet and concluded at the end of the poem.

Elegy: a sad poem typically about loss and death that sometimes ends on an optimistic note.

Lyric: a rhythmic poem with a clear rhyme scheme that sounds almost like a song.

Free verse: mostly modern poems with no rhyme scheme. Free verse poems may also lack
punctuation marks.

Ballad: a poem that usually tells a dramatic, emotional story.

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 English Home and Language Study Pack

Class Activity 1
There Will Come Soft Rains (War Time)
by Sarah Teasdale
Study the poem and its analysis below and answer the questions that follow.

There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground, a S sound alliteration
Stanza 1
And swallows circling with their shimmering sound; a

And frogs in the pools singing at night, b personification

Stanza 2
And wild plum trees in tremulous white, b T sound alliteration

Robins will wear their feathery fire_ c Enjambment

Stanza 3
_Whistling their whims on a low fence-wire; c W and F sound alliteration

And not one will know of the war, not one_ d N sound alliteration
Stanza 4
_Will care at last when it is done. d

Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree_ e

Stanza 5
_If mankind perished utterly; e

And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn, f

Stanza 6
Would scarcely know that we were gone. f

The poem uses vivid imagery that appeals to the senses:

Theme:
We can smell the rain as it hits the ground,
We can see the swallows shimmering, Nature will prevail and
We can hear the swallows, survive long after humans
We can hear the frogs singing in the ponds, and have caused their own
We can hear the robins demise.

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 English Home and Language Study Pack- Class Activity 1

Function of Rhyme Scheme: Tone:

Reinforces the theme of cyclical predictability in nature Somewhat depressing;
by giving us an idea of how each stanza will rhyme. the speaker is trying to
drive the point home
that humans will destroy
themselves, but nature
Glossary: will carry on without
tremulous: trembling; shaking lightly. sympathy or even noticing.

robins: birds that move from place to place as

Function of Enjambment:
seasons change
To create flow that
whims: a sudden desire to do something
emphasises how nature
perish: to die, especially suddenly or violently exists in a continuous
cycle.

These words symbolise elements of nature are used throughout the poem without
expressly referring to nature by its name: swallows, frogs, plum trees, -robins, bird, and
tree.

Questions
1. Explain the poem's theme in your own words.





2. The poem consists of 6 stanzas of two rhyming lines each. What do we call a pair of
rhyming lines?

3. Based on what you have learnt, what type of poem is this? Motivate your answer.




4. Refer to line 7. Taking the theme and tone of poem into consideration, explain why
you think the poet used the word 'war' specifically.





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 English Home and Language Study Pack- Class Activity 1

5. Refer to line 4 and line 12, and complete the following sentences:

The poet made use of because she gave to

things. Spring does not wake up and frogs cannot

sing like humans do.

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 English Home and Language Study Pack

Class Activity 2
Read and analyse the following poem carefully, then answer the questions that follow.
Refer to the glossary for unfamiliar words.

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

by William Wordsworth

I wandered lonely as a cloud --

That floats on high o'er vales and hills, --
When all at once I saw a crowd, --
A host, of golden daffodils; --
Beside the lake, beneath the trees, --
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze. --

Continuous as the stars that shine --

And twinkle on the milky way, --
They stretched in never-ending line --
Along the margin of a bay: --
Ten thousand saw I at a glance, --
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance. -- Glossary:

vales – valleys
The waves beside them danced; but they --
daffodils – flowers, usually yellow
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee: --
margin – edge or border
A poet could not but be gay, --
sprightly – energetic
In such a jocund company: --
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought -- glee – happiness or excitement

What wealth the show to me had brought: -- gay – cheerful or happy

jocund – cheerful, bright or joyful

For oft, when on my couch I lie --
vacant – not thinking about
In vacant or in pensive mood, --
anything in particular
They flash upon that inward eye --
pensive – thinking deeply about
Which is the bliss of solitude; --
something
And then my heart with pleasure fills, --
solitude – being alone
And dances with the daffodils. --

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 English Home and Language Study Pack- Class Activity 2

Questions
1. Indicate the rhyme scheme on the poem in the spaces provided.

2. What do you notice about the rhyme scheme?





3. The poem consists of four stanzas of six lines each. What do we call a stanza of six
lines?

4. The title of the poem contains a figure of speech. Complete the following sentence:

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud is a because it is a(n)

comparison containing the word . The same figure of speech can be
found in stanza where is compared
to .

5. The poem contains symbols that represent nature. List three of them.

6. Taking the symbolism into account, explain what you think the theme of the poem is
in your own words.





7. Choose ONE of the following:

The tone of the poem is:

a. depressing

b. cautionary

c. joyful

d. optimistic

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 English Home and Language Study Pack- Class Activity 2

8. Refer to Stanza 1: what does the daffodils ‘fluttering’ and ‘dancing’ tell you about the
way the daffodils moved?





9. Refer to Line 11.

a. Identify the figure of speech

b. Motivate your answer to Question 9 a





c. Explain how this figure of speech contributes to the overall image the speaker is
trying to create.





10. Refer to stanza 3

a. Identify two figures of speech

• in lines and

• in line

11. Explain the function of both figures of speech by completing the following sentences.

a. in line gives qualities that are

because cannot dance like people
do.

b. in lines and contirbutes to the

image of the movement of the daffodils because there is no .

12. The speaker is someone who enjoys quiet time and being alone in their own company.
Do you agree or disagree? Motivate your answer by referring to the dictation of the
poem.





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 English Home and Language Study Pack- Class Activity 2

13. Write a short paragraph about how you would feel if you unexpectedly came across a
beautiful field of flowers.





















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 English Home and Language Study Pack Answers

Activity 1 Answers
There Will Come Soft Rains (War Time)
by Sarah Teasdale
1. Explain the poem's theme in your own words.

Learners’ own logical responses. Must make mention of nature constantly renewing itself
while humans will cause their own demise/nature will always be there long after we are
gone/nature has the power to restore itself and recover whereas humans will eventually
die out due to their own actions.

2. The poem consists of 6 stanzas of two rhyming lines each. What do we call a pair of
rhyming lines?

A rhyming couplet.

3. Based on what you have learnt, what type of poem is this? Motivate your answer.

A lyric. The poem consists solely of rhyming couplets like a song.

4. Refer to line 7. Taking the theme and tone of poem into consideration, explain why you
think the poet used the word 'war' specifically.

War symbolises violence, death, and destruction, which ties in with the theme that
humans will cause their own extinction whereas nature, which has no war and lives in
peace, will continue to thrive and survive long after we have gone.

5. Refer to line 4 and line 12, and complete the following sentences:

The poet made use of personification because she gave human qualities to non-human
things. Spring does not literally wake up and frogs cannot sing like humans do.

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 English Home and Language Study Pack Answers

Activity 2 Answers
I Wander Lonely as a Cloud
by William Wordsworth

1. Indicate the rhyme scheme on the poem in the spaces provided.

ababcc dedeff ghghii jkjkll

2. What do you notice about the rhyme scheme?

Each stanza follows the structure of abab and ends with a rhyming couplet.

3. The poem consists of four stanzas of six lines each. What do we call a stanza of six lines?

A sestet.

4. The title of the poem contains a figure of speech. Complete the following sentence:

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud is a smilie because it is a(n) indirect comparison

containing the word 'as' . The same figure of speech can be found in stanza 2 where field
of daffodils (or similar) is compared to the endless stars in the sky (or similar) .

5. The poem contains symbols that represent nature. List three of them.

cloud/valleys/hills/daffodils/lake/trees/breeze/bay/waves Any three.

6. Taking the symbolism into account, explain what you think the theme of the poem is in
your own words.

Learners’ own logical answers as long as it makes mention of the beauty of nature and
the impact it can have on humans or anything similar.

7. Choose ONE of the following:

The tone of the poem is:

a. depressing

b. cautionary

c. joyful

d. optimistic

8. Refer to Stanza 1: what does the daffodils ‘fluttering’ and ‘dancing’ tell you about the
way the daffodils moved?

Learners’ own logical answers as long as it makes mention of the daffodils moving
gracefully, like they were dancing, in a visually pleasing manner.

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 English Home and Language Study Pack- Class Activity 2 Answers
9. Refer to Line 11.

a. Identify the figure of speech

Hyperbole

b. Motivate your answer to Question 9 a

The speaker states that he saw “ten thousand” daffodils immediately, which is an
exaggeration because there is no way that the speaker knew how many flowers
there were.

c. Explain how this figure of speech contributes to the overall image the speaker is
trying to create.

By exaggerating and saying that he immediately saw “ten thousand” daffodils, the
speaker contributes to the image that there was a massive field of flowers in front
of him – so many that he couldn’t even count them and they stretched as far as the
eye could see.

10. Refer to stanza 3

a. Identify two figures of speech

• Enjambment in lines 13 and 17

• Personification in line 13

11. Explain the function of both figures of speech by completing the following sentences.

a. Personification in Line 13 gives the waves qualities that are human because waves/
water/lakes/oceans cannot literally dance like people do.

b. Enjambment in Lines 13 and 17 contributes to the image of the movement of the

daffodils because there is no punctuation.

12. The speaker is someone who enjoys quiet time and being alone in their own company.
Do you agree or disagree? Motivate your answer by referring to the dictation of the
poem.

I agree. The title and first line of the poem state that the speaker was wandering in a
‘lonely’ way. The final stanza of the poem reinforces this idea with “bliss of solitude”,
which indicates that the speaker is more than happy to spend their time by themselves.


13. Write a short paragraph about how you would feel if you unexpectedly came across a
beautiful field of flowers.

Learners’ own answers.

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