Spelling 
Hyperbole
Simile
Personification
Limerick
Alliteration
Metaphor
Syllables 
Hy.per.bol.e
Sim.i.le
Per.son.i.fi.ca.tion
Lim.er.ick
Al.lit.ter.a.tion
Met.a.phor
Phonics (how to say it!) hahy-pur-buh-lee
sim-uh-lee per-son-uh-fi-key-shuh-n
lim-er-ik
uh-lit-uh-rey-shuh
-n
met-uh-fawr, -fer

Week One - Limericks
Learning Objective: To verify the characteristics of a limerick
Everyone must read the limericks and characterise what makes a limerick
Most should create a set of instructions for someone wishing to write a limerick
Some will create their own limerick using the techniques that they have learnt.
Task 1 – Characteristics of a limerick
Read the following limericks:
1) There was an old person of Fratton
Who would go to church with his hat on.
'If I wake up,' he said,
'With a hat on my head,
I will know that it hasn't been sat on.'
2) There once was a fly on the wall
I wonder why didn't it fall
Because its feet stuck
Or was it just luck
Or does gravity miss things so small?
3) There once was a slimmer named Steen
Who grew so phenomenally lean
And flat, and compressed,
That his back touched his chest,
So that sideways he couldn't be seen.
1) Fill in the missing words in this table, looking at the above examples of limericks
(and any others your family may know!) for clues.
LINES: A limerick should have _______ lines.
RHYME: The _____, ______ and _______ line should rhyme; as should the
______ and ______ line.
SYLLABLES: The first, second and fifth line should have _____ or _____ syllables, and the third and forth line should have ______ or ______.

Task 2 – Limericks for Dummies
Write a set of instructions for someone wishing to create a limerick. As well as the things discussed above, think about:

Possible subject matter

The tone of the poem

What does the first line usually include?

How should people wishing to write a limerick begin?
Task 3 – Now it’s your turn!
Write your own limerick!
If you are struggling on how to begin, wither think about rhymes or your first line.
Limericks often begin ‘There once was a person from somewhere / called something’. If you think of this line you can then consider rhymes.
Alternatively, you could think of the rhymes first and then use these as a basis for your limerick.

Week Two
Learning Objective: To examine how individual words can conjure up complex images
Everyone must examine the individual words used in a poem and consider the wider themes.
Most should look at common images and associations of these images
Some will attempt to use the same language as the poet to create their own poem
ALL MUST ALSO READ THE ORIGINAL POEM AFTERWARDS
It is situated just before the student and parent comment boxes
Task 1 – Scrambled words
A A A A A aerial an and and and and are are bees best better bring but by charabancs clear cormorants cow dances darning did dong ducks Eastern extraordinary extraordinary feet flowers glittered glittered gull here home how how I I in in it it it kerb level light light like like long me me me mind mind mind mind moo my my my my nature needles no observed observing occasional of of of of of on on on or or or or ordinary ordinary out process rock shillyshallied shilly-shallying shoals small spread started stood stopping the the the the the the the the the the their their their there things things thought tidal to to to to took took took traffic truth unregarded various walk walk was water water vater water weeds were whichever wings with yelped
1) Look at the words in the box above. They are all taken from a poem. What do you think the poem is about, and why? Highlight the words that you take from the list.
Give at least two ideas. For example:
‘I think the poem may be about a man who is stuck in a traffic at a level crossing because a cow is stopping everyone from going. He is no ordinary cow as he has
wings and dances with ducks….’ Etc.
If you are stopping your homework here, remember to go to the end of this weeks homework and read the poem!

Task 2 – Images and associations
Looking at the following lines, think about the words you would connect them with.
After you write down the words that come to mind, think about the associations of this phrase.
Image Associations
I took my ______ for a walk
Word you would expect
Dog • Going for fresh air
• Seeing new sights
• Exploring
Various ducks ______ here and there
An occasional ______ yelped
Shoals of _______
My ________ took me home
If you are stopping your homework here, remember to go to the end of this weeks
homework and read the poem! Think about how the poet manipulates the language and mixes up words and phrases that you would not usually expect to go together to create new and exciting images.
Task 3 – Create your own
Look again at the words first given in the box. Try to create your own poem using as many of these words as you can.
Now, read the poem. Was it anything like yours?

The poem
An Ordinary Day
Norman MacCaig
I took my mind a walk
Or my mind took me a walk –
Whichever was the truth of it.
The light glittered on the water
Or the water glittered in the light.
Cormorants stood on a tidal rock
With their wings spread out,
Stopping no traffic. Various ducks
Shilly-shallied here and there
On the shilly-shallying water.
An occasional gull yelped. Small flowers
Were dong their level best
To bring to their kerb bees like
Aerial charabancs. Long weeds in the clear
Water did Eastern dances, unregarded
By shoals of darning needles. A cow
Started a moo but thought
Better of it … And my feet took me home
And my mind observed to me
Or I to it, how ordinary
Extraordinary things are or
How extraordinary ordinary
Things are, like the nature of the mind
And the process of observing.
Cormorant: a diving sea bird

Week Three
Learning Objective: To explore how personification can be used in poetry
Everyone must read the poem by James Reeves, finding examples and describing the effects of personification.
Most should explore the images that Reeves uses in more detail
Some will write their own poem using personification to describe the sea
Task 1 - Personification
Read the following poem by James Reeves:
The Sea
James Reeves
The sea is a hungry dog,
Giant and grey.
He rolls on the beach all day.
With his clashing teeth and shaggy jaws
Hour upon hour he gnaws
The rumbling, tumbling stones,
And 'Bones, bones, bones, bones! '
The giant sea-dog moans,
Licking his greasy paws.
And when the night wind roars
And the moon rocks in the stormy cloud,
He bounds to his feet and snuffs and sniffs,
Shaking his wet sides over the cliffs,
And howls and hollos long and loud.
But on quiet days in May or June,
When even the grasses on the dune
Play no more their reedy tune,
With his head between his paws
He lies on the sandy shores,
So quiet, so quiet, he scarcely snores.
1) The main technique that the poet uses to bring the sea to life is personification.
He describes the sea as if it had living characteristics, in this case a dogs. Find four examples in the poem that make the sea feel like a dog.
2) What effect does this personification have? You can begin your sentence with
‘describing the sea as if it were a dog makes it seem…’

Task 2 - Images
James Reeves creates some powerful visual images through his poetry. Look at the examples below and describe the pictures they create for you. Find another example of powerful imagery and do the same.
Describe the pictures it creates Images
‘With his clashing teeth and shaggy jaws’
‘Hour upon hour he gnaws, / The rumbling tumbling stones’
‘And the moon rocks in the stormy cloud’
Task 3 – Your turn
James Reeves compares the sea to a dog. What other animal could you describe the sea as? Write your own poem of about six lines comparing the sea to a different creature. Start the poem in the same style, with the opening line: ‘The sea is a…..’.

Week Four
Learning Objective: To identify the effect specific language and poetic techniques can have within a poem
Everyone must read the poem and consider what the poet means.
Most should look at the poet’s use of verbs and think about how he uses them to create different effects.
Some will focus on other poetic techniques the writer uses, finding examples and exploring the effect of these techniques.
Task 1 – The boy’s feelings
Read the poem below, which describes the effects of a strong wind on a boy caught in a tree.
‘Windy Boy in a Windswept Tree’
The branch swayed, swerved,
Swept and whipped, up,
Down, right to left,
Then leapt to right again,
As if to hurl him down
To smash to smithereens
Smithereens: Small Pieces
On the knife-edge grass
Or smother
In the close-knit quilts of moss.
Out on a crazy limb
He screwed his eyes tight shut,
To keep out the dizzy ground.
Sweat greased his palms;
Fear pricked his forehead,
The twisted branches lunged and lurched,
His body curved, twisted, he arched
His legs and gripped the bark
Between his ankles.
The crust of bark
Sharp as glasspaper
And rough with wrinkles
Grazed his skin
And raised the raw red flesh
And crazed his mind

With fears of breaking.
Then the mad-cap, capering wind
Dropped.
The branch steadied,
Paused,
Rested.
He slowly clambered, slowly back,
Slowly so safely,
Then dropped
Like a wet blanket
To the rick-like, reassuring ground.
Finally, without a sound
He walked carefully
Capering: Jumping Wildly
1 ) At the end of the poem the boy drops to the ground and walks home in silence.
Write a paragraph describing the thoughts in his head as he walks home, thinking back to the experience in the tree and how he feels now. Write it in first person mode (‘I…’)
Home.
Geoffrey Summerfield
Task 2 – Looking at verbs
2) One of the reasons that this poem is so exciting is the writer’s choice of verbs.
Look at the list below, and try to rank them. Verbs you place near the top should be active verbs which create the strongest sense of force and power. Verbs you place near the bottom will be the most passive and calm.
 Swayed
 Swerved
 Swept
 Whipped
 Leapt
 Hurl
 Smash
 Smother
 Lunged
 Lurched
1 – ACTIVE
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10 – PASSIVE
You could ask your parents to order them too, seeing if they thought the same.

Task 3 – Poetic Techniques
Geoffrey Summers uses lots of different poetic techniques. Firstly, find examples of the techniques. You should be able to spot at least two for each technique. Following this, consider why the poet uses that particular technique (the effect of the technique). I have done the first one for you.
Technique Examples
Personification • ‘Leapt to the right again /
As if to hurl him down’
• ‘The twisted branches lunged and lurches’
Effect
Personification is used to give the impression that the tree is attacking the boy. This makes the tree sound aggressive, and the boy sound like a victim. The wind is therefore made to seem more powerful.
Metaphor
Alliteration
Simile

Week Five
Learning Objective: To analyse how a factual account can be transformed into a poem
Everyone must read both versions of the story (newspaper and poem) and answer the questions.
Most should compare both versions, looking at the narrative voice, content, and language used.
Some will find their own newspaper story and turn this into a poem.
Task 1 – Fact turned poetry
This is an article from a newspaper that tells the story of a rabbit who fell into a concrete mixer but still managed to survive.
1) What is the reader meant to feel towards the rabbit? Sympathy? Hatred?
Something else?
3) Pick a phrase that makes you feel that.
4) How does the writer show the personality of the rabbit?
Now, read the poem below.

Rabbit in Mixer Survives
By Roger McGough
Tell us a story Grandad
The bunny rabbits implored
About the block of concrete
Out of which you clawed.
Tell every gory detail
Of how you struggled free
From the teeth of the Iron Monster
And swam through a quicksand sea.
How you battled with the Humans
(And the part we like the most)
Your escape from the raging fire
When they held you there to roast.
The old adventurer smiled
And waved a wrinkled paw
All right children, settle down,
I’ll tell it just once more.
His thin nose started twitching
Near-blind eyes began to flood
As the part that doesn’t age
Drifted back to bunnyhood.
When spring was king of the seasons
And days were built to last
When thunder was merely thunder
Not a distant quarry blast.
How leaving the warren one morning
Looking for somewhere to play
He’d wandered far into the woods
And there had lost his way.
When suddenly without warning
The earth gave way, and he fell
Off the very edge of the world
Into the darkness of Hell.
Sharp as the colour of a carrot
On a new-born bunny’s tongue
Was the picture he recalled
Of that day when he was young.
Trance-formed now by the memory
His voice was close to tears
But the story he was telling
Was falling on deaf ears.
There was a lot of giggling and nudging
And lots of “Sssh – he’ll hear”
For it was a trick, a game they played
Grown crueller with each year.
Poor old Grandad they tittered
As they one by one withdrew
He’s told it all so often
He now believes it’s true
Young rabbits need fresh carrots
And his had long grown stale
So they left the old campaigner
Imprisoned in his tale.
Petrified by memories
Haunting ever strong
Encased in a block of time
Eighteen inches long
* * *
Alone in a field in Devon
An old rabbit is sitting, talking,
When out of the wood, at the edge of the world,
A man with a gun comes walking.
5) What are the younger rabbits attitudes towards the older rabbit? Respectful, in awe, mocking, or neutral? Find a quotation which supports this view.

Task 2 – Comparisons
Fill in the following table about each text, using quotations as evidence. The first has been done for you.
Newspaper Article Poem
How does the writing hook the reader’s interest?
The article begins with a paragraph that summarises the story.
Although it tells you that the rabbit ‘still had the strength to dig its way free’, the reader still wants to know how it did it.
The poem begins with the baby rabbits asking their granddad to tell them a story. McGough does not just write that the bunnies asked him, but ‘implored’.
This is a strong verb which implies how desperately the bunnies want to hear the story.
How does the writing keep you reading?
How does the text create sympathy for the rabbit?
Which one creates the most, and why?
How much detail does the text go into about the rabbits time in the mixer?
Which one is more, and why?
What do you like about each text? Which do you like more, and why?

Task 3 – Making poetry out of fact
Now it’s your go! Ask your family or friends if they have read any interesting stories in the newspaper lately. Using that factual writing as a basis, write a poem. Think about whose perspective it will be told from. Will you miss out any details, or add any new ones in?
Think about poetic techniques you have looked at both in your home learning and in class. Are there any of these you could incorporate?
If you want, aim for about 6 stanzas of four lines each modelling your poem on Roger
McGoughs. Alternatively, choose a different style of poem. It is completely up to you! If you can, attach the newspaper article to your homework.