GROUP A

AB PSYCHOLOGY
4TH YEAR

Poetry WORLD LITERATURE

Group A
Christian Bjorg Halrynjo
Jovilyn Guanzing
Esther Joy Hugo
Marie Jenelyn Tadefa
Marife Reyes

I . The Tree – Joyce Kilmer

1l G R O U P A
GROUP A
AB PSYCHOLOGY
4TH YEAR
‘Trees’ by Joyce Kilmer was written in February of 1913 and was first published in
Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. It was then included in Trees and Other Poems, one of
Kilmer’s most popular volumes. It is for ‘Trees’ that Kilmer is most widely remembered.
The poem has become well-loved due to its accessible simplicity and has been frequently
included in popular anthologies of modern poetry. In more recent years, it has been set to
music and performed by several different musicians.

There has been speculation since the conception of this piece about whether or
not there was one tree the poet had in mind while composing the text. It has been
suggested that Rutgers University or the University at Notre Dame are possible locations
for the tree Kilmer has in mind. Although, the poet later stated the poem was written in
the family home in Mahwah, New Jersey likely placing the specific setting, (if there is one),
there.

 Main kind of poetry:

 Narrative poetry:
Epic

 Rhythm:
The poem uses a literary device called couplet. A couplet is two lines of poetry.
Kilmer uses six different couplets. Most of the couplets are usually connected with
rhyming end words.

The rhyme scheme of the poem is aa, bb, cc, dd, ee, aa. This happens because the
final words of the first couplet have same sounds (see, tree), second couplet (prest,
breast), third couplet (day, pray), fourth couplet (wear, hair), fifth couplet (lain, rain),
while the last couplet has the same sound with the first couplet (me, tree).

Meter:
I think I that I I shall ne I ver see I
x / I x / I x / I x / I

The line shows a clear pattern of iambic feet; since each line has four feet, this
rhythm is called iambic tetrameter. The iambic means the unstressed syllable is
followed by the stressed one. Unstressed is represented by [x] and stressed is
represented by [/]. Iambic [x/].

Rhyme:

2l G R O U P A
GROUP A
AB PSYCHOLOGY
4TH YEAR
Alliteration
A nest of robins in her hair; (Line 8)
And lifts and leafy arms to pray. (Line 6)

The words her and hair in Line 8 begin with letter h, while the words lifts and
leafy in Line 6 begin with letter l. The poet uses alliteration to produce
beautiful effect on the reader.

Assonance
Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast. (Line 4)

The poet uses poetry device assonance. This is the repetition of a vowel sound
within a line in poetry. In the poem, the words against, earths, breast in Line 4
have similar vowel sound e. This provides tone and musical
color.

Consonance
Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast. (Line 4)
A tree that may in summer wear (Line 7)

The words against, sweet, and breast in Line 4 end with t sound. Further in Line
7, the words summer and wear have the final sound of r.

Repetition
A poem lovely as a tree
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
A tree that looks at God all day
A tree that may in summer wear
But only God can make a tree.

The word tree is repeated five times (5x). This emphasizes how the poet
appreciates and praises trees.

 Imagery:
I. SYMBOLS:
Kinesthetic Imagery
And lifts her leafy arms to pray; (Line 6)

The branch rises to pray.

II. FIGURES OF SPEECH

3l G R O U P A
GROUP A
AB PSYCHOLOGY
4TH YEAR

A. Based upon Likeness

Personification
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest (Line 3)
Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast; (Line 4)
A tree that looks at God all day. (Line 5)
And lifts her leafy arms to pray. (Line 6)
A tree that may in Summer wear (Line 7)
A nest of robins in her hair; (Line 8)

The words hungry mouth (Line 3), breast (Line 4), looks (Line 5), arms (Line 6), wear
(Line 7), hair (Line 8) are used in which human attributes. In the poem, Kilmer
personifies a tree in different ways. This shows that its extensive use of this figure of
speech displays that the tree is alive. It shows how people should praise God.

Simile
A poem lovely as a tree (Line 2)
Poems are made by fools like me, (Line 11)

The poet uses the literary device simile. Simile is a comparison between two unlike
objects using the words like or as. In the poem, Kilmer uses the word as in Line 2,
while the word like is also used in Line 11.

In the poem, simile is the great device used to give the reader something to
compare an object to which gives the object a greater effect.

B. Based Upon Other Relations

The ‘breast’ is figuratively the soil of the earth. Metonymy means “a change of
name” and is so called because in this figure a thing is spoken of not by its own
name, but by the name of some conspicuous accompaniment.

 Meaning
The poet uses simple words and phrases to make it understandable and to clarify his
intentions. By using different literary devices such as simile and personification, the
poet makes the poem more effective to convey his message and to show the beauty
of God’s creation. Thus, “TREE” is a poem which shows the poet’s religious faith and
world’s nature beauty. Stylistics, by this analysis, has shown that there is a distinction
between poetic and non-poetic language as a means of defining literature, language
manipulated in ways that signal it as different from ordinary language.

4l G R O U P A
GROUP A
AB PSYCHOLOGY
4TH YEAR
I . Peter Piper
Peter and his famous pickled peppers first appeared in print in 1813 in John Harris's Peter
Piper's Practical Principles of Plain and Perfect Pronunciation. "Peter Piper" is an English-
language nursery rhyme and well-known alliteration tongue-twister. It has a Roud Folk
Song Index number of 1945.

The earliest version of this tongue twister was published in Peter Piper's Practical
Principles of Plain and Perfect Pronunciation by John Harris (1756–1846) in London in
1813, which includes a one name tongue-twister for each letter of the alphabet in the
same style. However, the rhyme was apparently known at least a generation earlier. Some
authors have identified the subject of the rhyme as Pierre Poivre, an eighteenth-century
French horticulturalist and government administrator of Mauritius, who once investigated
the Seychelles' potential for spice cultivation.

 Main kind of poetry:

 Narrative poetry:
Ballad

 Rhythm:
Meter: Iambic Foot: x/x/x/
Pe ter I pi per I picked a I peck of I pi ckled I pe ppers I
x / I x / I x /I x / Ix / I x / I

The first 2 line shows a clear pattern of iambic feet; since each line has six feet, this
rhythm is called iambic hexameter. The iambic means the unstressed syllable is
followed by the stressed one. Unstressed is represented by [x] and stressed is
represented by [/]. Iambic [x/].

Rhyme: Alliteration

 Imagery:
Symbols:
Picked - kinesthetic

 Meaning
Peter Piper tongue twister is denotative – literal narrative poem.

5l G R O U P A
GROUP A
AB PSYCHOLOGY
4TH YEAR
I . Betty Botter
Betty Botter is a tongue-twister written by Carolyn Wells. It was originally titled "The
Butter Betty Bought." By the middle of the 20th century, it had become part of the
Mother Goose collection of nursery rhymes.

 Main kind of poetry:

 Narrative poetry:
Ballad

 Rhythm:
Meter: Iambic Foot: x/x/x/
Be tty I Bo tter I bought some I bu tter I
x / I x / I x / I x / I

The line shows a clear pattern of iambic feet; since each line has four feet, this
rhythm is called iambic couplet. The iambic means the unstressed syllable is followed
by the stressed one. Unstressed is represented by [x] and stressed is represented by
[/]. Iambic [x/]. It also has two-syllable pattern /'b__tə 'b__tə 'b__tə/.

Rhyme: Alliteration

 Imagery:
Symbols:
Gustatory – ‘Bitter’

 Meaning
Peter Piper tongue twister is denotative – literal narrative poem.

6l G R O U P A