Poetry Through Nursery Rhymes

Mrs.
McManus’ English 7
Poetic Devices
Through Nursery Rhymes
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.
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 Assonance Imagery
Metaphor Onomatopoeia
Personification Repetition Rhyme Scheme
Simile Stanza
Let’s begin…
Alliteration
l li te r ati on
A Betty Botter
e re p e ti tion
Th Betty Botter bought some butter,
a l c o ns o na nt
of init i But she said, “The butter’s bitter.
If I put it in my batter,
sounds.
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.
Assonance
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.
Imagery Imagery
r d s o r p h rases
Wo
t a p p e a l t o any Winter
tha
e n se o r a n y
s Cold and raw the north winds blow
o m b in a ti o n of
c Bleak in the early morning.
senses. 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?
Me ta p h or
ison
Metaphor
A co m p a r
w o o bj e cts Mary, Mary
t
between t o f
in t e n
with the Mary, Mary, ,quite contrary.
i ng c l e a rer
giv e of How does your garden grow?
n g to o n
m ean i With silver bells and cockleshells
them. 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.
Onomatopoeia
Onomatopoeia Baa Baa Black Sheep
The use of words Baa, baa, black sheep

which imitate sound 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.
Personification
Hey Diddle Diddle
on i f i ca t i on
Pers Hey diddle diddle,
o f s p e e ch
A figure The cat and the fiddle,
es
which giv je cts The cow jumped over the moon;
a t e o b
inanim The little dog laughed
a n t r a i ts or
hum To see such a sport,
abilities. And the dish ran away with the spoon.
Can a dish and a spoon run? Of course not.

ep eti ti o n
R
p e a t in g of Repetition
The re
d s, p h r a ses,
wor
s o r s t a n zas .
line 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.
Rhyme Scheme
Hickory Dickory Dock
e Sch em e
Rhym Hickory, dickory, dock, a
q u e n c e in
The s e The mouse ran up the clock. a
t h e r h y me
which f ir st The clock struck one, b
. T h e
occurs And down he run, b
d so u n d is
e n s th e
n t e d a Hickory, dickory, dock. a
represe e
r “ a ” , th
lette , e tc.
s “ b ”
second i
They rhyme scheme for this poem is aabba.

Simile
Mary Had a Little Lamb
Simile Mary had a little lamb
A grouping o With fleece as white as snow.
f two or
comparison And everywhere that Mary went
between two The lamb was sure to go.
objects using
a
specific word
or
comparison s
uch as
“like” or “as
”.
Stanza
g o f tw o or Stanza
A groupin
re li n e s of a
mo s o f
n te r m
p o em i Humpty Dumpty
t h , m e tr ical
leng
, or t h y me Humpty Dumpty
form Sat on a wall. First
scheme. Stanza
Humpy Dumpty
Had a great fall.
All the king’s horses

And all the king’s men
Second
Couldn't put Humpty Stanza
Together again.
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.
The Clock How many stanzas are

A
in “The Clock”?
There’s a neat little clock –
B First Two
In the schoolroom it stands –
C Stanza What is the rhyme scheme
And it points to the time
B in the first stanza?
With its two little hands.
ABCB
And may we, like the clock, Can you identify one
Keep a face clean and bright,
Second example of personification
Stanza in “The Clock”?
With hands ever ready
(referring to the clock)
To do what is right.
…it points to the time
With its two little hands.
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
● Yannucci, L. (2011). Mama lisa's world. Retrieved from http://www.mamalisa.com/?t=hes&p=1731&l=O

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Mrs.

This lesson will help you to identify these 10 poetic devices…

Alliteration Assonance Imagery

Personification Repetition Rhyme Scheme

Handy-Pandy, Jacky dandy,

Can you imagine the chilly winds? Can you

The metaphor here is comparing flowers to “pretty maids”. Metaphors can be

Onomatopoeia Baa Baa Black Sheep

The use of words Baa, baa, black sheep

Can a dish and a spoon run? Of course not.

Once I saw a little bird

And was going to the window

They rhyme scheme for this poem is aabba.

All the king’s horses

The Clock How many stanzas are

● Glossary of poetic devices. (n.d.). Retrieved from

● Hey diddle diddle nursery rhyme window. (2003-2011). Retrieved from

● Nursery rhymes online. (2007-2011). Retrieved from

● Yannucci, L. (2011). Mama lisa's world. Retrieved from http://www.mamalisa.com/?t=hes&p=1731&l=O

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