Name: ___________________
Block: ____
From “Television” by Roald Dahl
In almost every house we've been,
We've watched them gaping at the screen.
They loll and slop and lounge about,
And stare until their eyes pop out.
(Last week in someone's place we saw
A dozen eyeballs on the floor.)
And treasure isles, and distant shores
Where smugglers rowed with muffled oars,
And pirates wearing purple pants,
And sailing ships and elephants,
And cannibals crouching 'round the pot,
Stirring away at something hot.
(It smells so good, what can it be?
Good gracious, it's Penelope.)
I: Imagery
Definition- Using figurative language to appeal to a reader’s physical senses.
Example from the poem- “They loll and slop and lounge about” Dahl’s descriptive word
choice creates a visual image in your head. The kids aren’t just sitting watching the tv, they’re
“slopping,” and “lounging!”
H: Hyperbole
Definition- Exaggerating in a big way to provide emphasis.
Example from the poem- “And stare until their eyes pop out…” Obviously, we know that
your eyes aren’t really going to pop out of your head from watching tv. Dahl goes on to say he
saw “A dozen eyeballs on the floor,” which is obviously untrue, but illustrates his point that
watching too much tv is bad for your eyes.
A: Alliteration
Definition- Using words with the same beginning consonant sound close together in a
series.
Example from the poem- “pirates wearing purple pants,” “sailing ships,” “cannibals
crouching,” and “good gracious” all repeat consonants to create a playful, sing-songy sound and
rhythm.
Write an example of Imagery, Hyperbole, or Alliteration from your independent reading book:
Name: ___________________
Block: ____
From “The Lanyard” by Billy Collins
The other day I was ricocheting slowly
off the blue walls of this room,
moving as if underwater from typewriter to
piano,
from bookshelf to an envelope lying on the
floor,
when I found myself in the L section of the
dictionary
where my eyes fell upon the word lanyard.
No cookie nibbled by a French novelist
could send one into the past more suddenly—
a past where I sat at a workbench at a camp
by a deep Adirondack lake
learning how to braid long thin plastic strips
into a lanyard, a gift for my mother.
S: Simile
Definition- Making a comparison between two things using the helping words “like” or
“as.”
Example from the poem- “moving as if underwater from typewriter to piano…” The
speaker is moving “as if” underwater, which we can imagine. He isn’t actually underwater, but is
comparing his movements to what it would be like if he was.
O: Onomatopoeia
Definition- Using a word that imitates a sound.
Example from the poem- “No cookie nibbled…” Imagine yourself taking a nibble of a
cookie. Your mouth makes the same shape you would to make the “n” sound at the beginning of
the word! Isn’t poetry fun?
Write an example of either Simile or Onomatopoeia from your independent reading book:
Name: ___________________
Block: ____
From “Sonnet 18” by William Shakespeare
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature’s changing course, untrimmed;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st,
Nor shall death brag thou wand’rest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to Time thou grow’st.
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
M: Metaphor
Definition- Making an implied comparison between two things that seem unrelated but
really share some characteristics.
Example from the poem- “the eye of heaven shines…” We wouldn’t normally put an eye
and the sun together and compare the two. The sun doesn’t have a pupil or eyelashes and
probably isn’t looking at us. But if you imagine the sun as the heavens looking down on you, the
comparison makes sense. It’s not really an eye- it’s a metaphor.
P: Personification
Definition- Giving human qualities and actions to a non-human thing or idea.
Example from the poem- “Nor shall death brag…” Shakespeare personifies death here
by giving it the ability to brag or boast. Considering it’s just an idea, that’s not actually possible.
By the way, personifying death is nothing new, and is very common in Literature.
Write an example of either Metaphor or Personification from your independent reading book: