Poetry Out Loud

Kacey Cowley

Catch a Little Rhyme

Once upon a time I caught a little rhymeI set it on the floor but it ran right out the doorI chased it on my bicycleBut it melted to an icicle I scooped it up into my hatBut it turned into a cat

I caught it by the tail But it stretched into a whale I followed it in a boatBut it changed into a goatWhen I fed it tin and paperIt became a tall skyscraperThen it grew into a kiteAnd flew far out of sight

Eve Merriam (7/19/1916 – 4/11/1992)American poet and writer.Her First book, Family Circle, won the Yale Younger Poets

Prize. Published a total of 88 books.Her book , The Inner City Mother Goose, inspired a 1982

Broadway musical called, Inner City.Died in 1992 from liver cancer.5th recipient of NCTE award Poetryatplay.org

Catch a Little Rhyme

• Literal meaning- this poem is literally about rhyming.

• Figurative meaning- the speaker is talking about catching rhymes, so she probably is talking about trying to rhyme.

Rhyme

• End rhyme • Couplets

“I set it on the floorBut it ran right out the door”

Imagery

• The rhyme has stretched into a whale

• The rhyme turned into a tall skyscraper

Imagery

• It turned into a kite and flew far out of site.

It turned into a cat

Personification

• “ I set it on the floor but it ran right out the door.”• “..but it melted into

an icicle”• “..it turned into a

cat”• “..it stretched into a

whale”

A rhyme cannot run.

A rhyme can’t melt

A rhyme can’t physically change.

A rhyme can’t stretch.

Personification (continued)• “…it changed into a goat”

• “..it became a tall skyscraper”

• “..grew into a kite”

• “..flew far out of sight”

A rhyme cannot change into a goat

A rhyme cannot become a skyscraper

A rhyme cannot grow or become a kite

A rhyme can’t fly

Catch a Little Rhyme

• Purpose- to show that even though the rhyme was “changing” it was still a rhyme.

• Theme- Things can change within a matter of seconds, but even though its different over all whatever it is its still the same

Meanings

• Literal- In this poem Eve Merriam is talking about how many different times a rhyme can change and how many different things a rhyme can change into.

• Figurative- I see this as she is daydreaming and the way it is changing through her own mind and at the end when the kite flew away that would be the end of her daydream and when she comes back to reality.

Websites

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eve_Merriam