Year 7 PoetryHomework Booklet

Homework week 1 – Similes worksheet page 3

Homework week 2 – ‘Daffodils’ and similes page 4 AND Alliteration worksheet page 5

Homework week 3 – Personification page 6 & Daffodills again page 4

Homework week 4 – Metaphors questions on ‘Nature, the Gentlest Mother’ page 7

Homework week 5 – Read ‘The Green Cornfield’ and answer questions on page 8

Homework week 6 – Complete the Colour Symbolism spider diagrams on page AND complete the metaphor exercise on page 10

Merry Christmas! Our present to you: homework. Complete the Round up of Poetic Devices sheet on page 11. Merits for anyone who produces their own poem, page 12.

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Some advice: Take your red exercise books home on Fridays

and complete the work over the weekend. It should take you about 30 minutes.

Write your answers in your red exercise books along with the date, the title and question number.

Try every question. You might find some tricky. Don’t worry, just do your very best.

Remember to bring your books into every lesson.

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Similes1) Write out the two similes in the two sets of pictures at

the top of the page.

2) Complete the following by trying to make the most interesting comparisons possible:

As deep as … _____________________________________________________________________________________ As light as a …____________________________________________________________________________________ As slow as a … ___________________________________________________________________________________ As high as a …____________________________________________________________________________________ As flat as a …_____________________________________________________________________________________ As hard as... ______________________________________________________________________________________ As dry as ... ______________________________________________________________________________________ As clever as ... ____________________________________________________________________________________ As crazy as ... _____________________________________________________________________________________

3) Explain how each simile below describes a person. Try to think of words that are similar to

what is being described. As agile as a monkey: describes a person who is a quick mover, who is swift and light on their

feet._________ As blind as a bat: _________________________________________________________________________________ Like a rock: _____________________________________________________________________________________ As bright as a button: _____________________________________________________________________________ Like an erupting volcano: __________________________________________________________________________

4) What’s the image in your mind? Draw the similes below:

The boxer’s punch was like being hit with an iron fist.

The birds on the tree branch looked like music notes on a

page.

The car shot through the night like a bullet.

Her eyes were like still, blue pools.

When analysing a simile it is important to try and identify what the speaker or writer is trying to communicate.

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Daffodils by William Wordsworth (1804)

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I wandered lonely as a cloudThat 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 shineAnd twinkle on the milky way,They stretched in never-ending lineAlong the margin of a bay:Ten thousand saw I at a glance,Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced, but theyOut-did the sparkling leaves in glee;A poet could not be but gay,In such a jocund company!I gazed—and gazed—but little thoughtWhat wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lieIn vacant or in pensive mood,They flash upon that inward eyeWhich is the bliss of solitude;And then my heart with pleasure fills,And dances with the daffodils.

William Wordsworth was a defining poet of the English Romantic Movement. Like other Romantics, Wordworth’s personality and poetry were deeply influenced by his love of nature, especially by the sights and scenes of the Lake District, in which he spent most of his adult life. Wordsworth wrote Daffodils on a stormy day in spring, while walking along with his sister Dorothy near Ullswater Lake, in England. He imagined that the daffodils were dancing and invoking him to join and enjoy the breezy nature of the fields. The poem contains six lines in four stanzas, as an appreciation of daffodils and is a simple and melodious poem that celebrates the happiness that nature evokes.

1) Find the first simile and copy it into your book. This is a simile about how Wordsworth was feeling when he was out walking one day. Next to the simile you’ve copied describe in your own words how you think he was feeling. Explain why.

2) Choose two other sentences or phrases you like in this poem and explain why you like it.

Amazingly Awesome Alliteration!

Different types of alliteration: Assonance - the repetition of vowel sounds (a, e, i, o, u, ou, ea,) - "I wore a fleecy green jacket easy and tall." Consonance - is the repetition of consonant sounds (c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, t, v, w, x, y, z, th, ff, ) at the beginning of

words - "Big, bold, blobs of rain." Sibilance- repetition of ‘S’- ‘slowly but surely the sand swallowed my shoes.’

The different forms of alliteration can greatly affect the sound, therefore the mood, of a poem. A repetition of vowel sounds can sometimes create an angry mood, whereas softer sounding consonant sounds created a mellower mood. Of course, there are no set rules for this and it always depends on what the poem is about. A common use for alliteration is emphasis, so if a poet is using alliteration they want to draw your attention to those particular words. It’s your job to think about why.

Alliteration is a powerful way to:

allow the poem to flow more quickly as the sounds are repeated slow the poem down as each word is emphasised create clear images create a certain mood or atmosphere – heavy or light, quick or slow

1) Write alliteration words for these letters in your book – be creative:

B: _________________________________________________________________________________

M: ________________________________________________________________________________

T: _________________________________________________________________________________

R: _________________________________________________________________________________

L: _________________________________________________________________________________

2) Try and make sentences using assonance in your book:

Examples: The thunder from the CLOUD was LOUD. The CLOCK went tick-TOCK.

Use the sound ‘AI’: _________________________________________________________________________

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Alliteration is the repetition of letters at the start of words; this creates a repetition of sound within a line of poetry

big brown bear pink pig great green giant sunny sky

1) Write 3 examples of your own in your book: A. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________

B. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________

C. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Use the sound ‘EA’: _________________________________________________________________________

Use the sound ‘AY’: _________________________________________________________________________

Personification is giving human or animal abilities and qualities to

non-human objects to make them

seem aliveThe headlights blinked in the darkness. The sun smiled brightly all day. Leaves danced in the breeze.

1) Identify the personification below. Copy out the three examples of personification your think are best in your books:

a) A young boy ran to open the door for his mother. yes /no

b) I found all my paperwork sitting on the table. yes /no

c) Trucks were filled with large packages. yes /no

d) In the heavens there were many bright stars. yes /no

e) Only a small tree sighed in the gentle breeze. yes /no

f) The building was closed because of the fire. yes /no

g) Fog crept in from the sea. yes /no

2) Go back to the Wordsworth poem Daffodils and find some examples of personification.

1) Underline them and label them.

2) Explain why you think Wordsworth decided to use personification to describe the daffodils.

3) Choose a noun from List A, a verb from List B and create your own personified sentences in your book:

List A List B

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1. _________________________________________________

_________________________________________________

2. _________________________________________________

_________________________________________________

3. _________________________________________________

_________________________________________________

Personify the following sentences by change the words in brackets to words that would describe a human's actions:

1. The puppy (barked) ______________ when I left for school.

2. Hair (is) __________________ on my head.

3. The piano keys (moved up and down)________________________.

4. The space shuttle (took off)_____________.

Sun Moon Stars Sky Sea StoneNight Mountain Dawn Morning Lake Flower

Tells Shows Teaches Listens Remembers Brings Looks Dances Dreams Guides Takes Wonders

Nature, the Gentlest Mother by Emily Dickinson

Nature the gentlest mother is, Impatient of no child, The feeblest of the waywardest. Her admonition mild.

In forest and the hill By traveller be heard, Restraining rampant squirrel Or too impetuous bird.

How fair her conversation A summer afternoon, Her household her assembly; And when the sun go down,

Her voice among the aisles Incite the timid prayer Of the minutest cricket, The most unworthy flower.

When all the children sleep, She turns as long away As will suffice tolight her lamps, Then bending from the sky

With infinite affection An infiniter care, Her golden finger on her lip, Wills silence everywhere.

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1. _________________________________________________

_________________________________________________

2. _________________________________________________

_________________________________________________

3. _________________________________________________

_________________________________________________

Metaphors:

Answer the following questions:

1)Look closely at the poem and highlight the comparisons made between nature and a mother.

2)Are these descriptions fair? Why?

3)What other similarities/differences between nature and a mother that could be made?

Write your answers into your book.

Emily Dickinson (1830 – 1886) was born in Amherst, Massachusetts. Around 1850 she started to write poetry and over the year experimented with a number of different styles and types of poems. She was very prolific, wrote over 1800 poems; but was equally shy and solitary. In her own lifetime only six of her poems were published. After her death her poems were brought out by her sister Lavinia, who edited three volumes between 1891 and 1896. Even then the task wasn’t fully completed, and it wasn’t until the 1950s that the job of bringing

A Green Cornfield

The earth was green, the sky was blue: I saw and heard one sunny morn A skylark hang between the two, A singing speck above the corn;

A stage below, in gay accord, White butterflies danced on the wing, And still the singing skylark soared, And silent sank and soared to sing.

The cornfield stretched a tender green To right and left beside my walks;

I knew he had a nest unseen Somewhere among the million stalks.

And as I paused to hear his song While swift the sunny moments slid, Perhaps his mate sat listening long,

And listened longer than I did.

Christina Rossetti (1830-1894)

Write your answers in your workbook

1. List the colours that have been used in the poem and what you think they suggest or mean.

2. Where has Rossetti used sibilance(check your alliteration worksheet) in the poem and what is the effect?

3. Rossetti uses birds and butterflies in this poem to present a positive and beautiful image of nature. Is this successful? Why?

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Emily Dickinson (1830 – 1886) was born in Amherst, Massachusetts. Around 1850 she started to write poetry and over the year experimented with a number of different styles and types of poems. She was very prolific, wrote over 1800 poems; but was equally shy and solitary. In her own lifetime only six of her poems were published. After her death her poems were brought out by her sister Lavinia, who edited three volumes between 1891 and 1896. Even then the task wasn’t fully completed, and it wasn’t until the 1950s that the job of bringing

4. Which parts of the poem interested you the most as reader? Choose a line or phrase and explain why you like it.

Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830 – 1894) was an English poet who wrote a variety of romantic, devotional, and children's poems. She was one of the most important of English woman poets, who was the sister of the painter-poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and a member of the Pre-Raphaelite art movement.

In the poem ‘A Green Cornfield’, the narrator is reliving a special afternoon she once spent in a cornfield. For the first time she acknowledged “the million stalks” and realizes how much humans should appreciate the rich, fertile soil of the earth and its ability to produce food for humanity. She finds solace in watching the butterflies and pauses to listen to the skylarks serenading one another. She unintentionally loses track of time while in the cornfield because she is treasuring each moment of listening to the sounds of the creatures and the witnessing the commonly unnoticed beauty of nature.

1) Sometimes poets use colour in interesting ways to show a particular ideas or emotions. This is because we tend to associate certain colours with certain things. Copy and complete the spider diagrams below into your books.

Use the example to help you write your ideas down:

For example:

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weddings

Colour & SymbolismWhite

snow

cleanliness

purity

Now you try:

When a poet uses an object (such as colour) to represent something else it is called symbolism.

Symbols are everywhere!

2) What could the following symbolise:

Metaphors

3) Explain the meaning of each metaphor in your books

a) He showered her with giftsb) You are the sunshine of my lifec) You'll be blown away!d) The boss thundered into the roome) This homework is a breezef) There was a blizzard of activity at the emergency roomg) His face was weathered by a long, troubled life

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Black Green Red

Yellow Blue

Round up of poetic devices

1) Print this sheet off and then highlight all the poetic devices in the poems using the ‘Find’ box definitions to help you. Use different colours for each

different device. (Not all poems have every device)

Silver Walter de la Mare

Slowly, silently, now the moon

Walks the night in her silver shoon;

This way, and that, she peers, and sees

Silver fruit upon silver trees;

One by one the casements catch

Her beams beneath the silvery thatch;

Couched in his kennel, like a log,

With paws of silver sleeps the dog;11

Find:

Simile = as or like something

Metaphor = is something

Onomatopoeia = eg BANG!

Alliteration = same starting sounds

Personification = to make it human

Repetition = use the same word

The Wind Stanley Cook

From their shadowy cote the white breasts peep

Of doves in silver feathered sleep

A harvest mouse goes scampering by,

With silver claws, and silver eye;

And moveless fish in the water gleam,

By silver reeds in a silver stream.

Over to you Your task is to produce a series of poems describing nature as you see it and experience it.

You might write about:

Trees Wind Mountain Beach River New life Growth Flowers Birds (or another animal of your choice) The seasons (summer, spring, autumn, winter)

or anything that inspires you!12

The Wind Stanley Cook

On the Ning Nang Nong Spike Milligan

On the Ning Nang Nong

Where the Cows go Bong!

and the monkeys all say BOO!

There’s a Nong Nang Ning

Where the tree’s go Ping!

And the tree tops jibber jabber joo.

Minibeasts Mike Jubb

Creatures of the summer term:

Sliding slugs and wiggling worms,

Spiders spinning silken nets,

Crickets playing castenets:

Woodlice in their armour squeeze

Under stones and fallen trees.