Self-Assessment: Nursery Rhymes
Completion requirements
Self-Assessment: Nursery Rhyme
Consider the rhyme scheme in the following poems.
Jack and Jill went up the hill
To fetch a pail of water.
Jack fell down and broke his crown,
And Jill came tumbling after.
What is the rhyme scheme?How many feet are in each line? (Count the stressed syllables. One stressed syllable with its associated unstressed syllable(s) = one foot.)Rhyme Scheme
- a b c b
What types of rhymes are used?Number of feet per line
- 4, 3, 4, 3
Types of rhymes
- Internal and masculine – Jill/hill; down/crown
- Partial, end – water/after
Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet,
Eating her curds and whey.
Along came a spider and sat down beside her
And frightened Miss Muffet away.
What is the rhyme scheme?How many feet are in each line?Rhyme Scheme
- a b c b
What types of rhymes are used?Feet per line
- 4, 3, 4, 3
Rhyme Scheme
- Internal and feminine – Muffet/tuffet; spider/beside her
- Feminine, end – and whey/away
Simple Simon met a pieman
Going to the fair.
Said Simple Simon to the pieman,
Let me taste your wares.
What is the rhyme scheme?How many feet are in each line?Rhyme Scheme
- a b a b
What types of rhymes are used?Feet per line
- 4, 3, 4, 3
Types of rhymes
- Internal and feminine – Simon/pieman
- Partial, masculine, end – fair/wares
There was an old lady who swallowed a bird.
How absurd, to swallow a bird!
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider
That wiggled and jiggled and tickled inside her.
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly.
I don't know why she swallowed a fly.
I guess she'll die.
What is the rhyme scheme?
Rhyme Scheme
- a a b b c c c
How many feet are in each line?
Feet per line
- 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 2
What types of rhymes are used?
Types of rhymes
- Internal and feminine – absurd/ a bird
- Internal and feminine – wiggled, jiggled
- Internal and masculine – why/fly
- Masculine, end – bird/bird; fly/fly/die
- Feminine, end – spider/inside her
Sing a song of sixpence,
A pocket full of rye.
Four and twenty blackbirds
Baked in a pie.
When the pie was opened,
The birds began to sing.
Now wasn't that a tasty dish
To set before a king?
What is the rhyme scheme?
Rhyme Scheme
- a b c b d e f d
How many feet are in each line?
Feet per line
- 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2
What types of rhymes are used?
Types of rhymes
- Masculine, end – rye/pie; sing/king
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the king's horses and all the king's men,
Couldn't put Humpty together again.
What is the rhyme scheme?
Rhyme Scheme
- a a b b
How many feet are in each line?
Feet per line
- 4, 4, 4, 4
What types of rhymes are used?
Types of rhymes
- Masculine, end – wall/fall
- Feminine, end – king's men/again
- Feminine, internal – Humpty Dumpty
Georgie Porgie, puddin' and pie,
Kissed the girls and made them cry;
When the boys came out to play,
Georgie Porgie ran away.
What is the rhyme scheme?
How many feet are in each line?Rhyme Scheme
- a a b b
What types of rhymes are used?Feet per line
- 4, 4, 4, 4
Types of rhymes
- Masculine, end – pie/cry
- Feminine, end – to play/away
- Internal, feminine – Georgie Porgie
Little Bo-Peep
Has lost her sheep
And doesn't know where to find them.
Leave them alone,
And they'll come home
Wagging their tails behind them.
What is the rhyme scheme?
How many feet are in each line?Rhyme Scheme
- a a b c c b
What types of rhymes are used?Feet per line
- 2, 2, 3, 2, 2, 3
Types of rhymes
- Masculine, end – Peep/sheep
- Partial, feminine, end – alone/come home
- Feminine, end – to find them/behind them
Twinkle, twinkle little star.
How I wonder what you are.
Up above the world so high.
Like a diamond in the sky.
Twinkle, twinkle little star,
How I wonder what you are.
What is the rhyme scheme?
How many feet are in each line?Rhyme Scheme
- aabbaa
What types of rhymes are used?Feet per line
- 4, 3, 4, 3
Types of rhymes
- Masculine, end – star/are; high/sky
Little Boy Blue come blow your horn.
The sheep's in the meadow; the cow's in the corn.
Where is the boy who looks after the sheep?
He's under the haystack, fast asleep.
What is the rhyme scheme?
How many feet are in each line?Rhyme Scheme
- a a b b
What types of rhymes are used?Feet per line
- 4, 4, 4, 4
Types of rhymes
- Masculine, end – horn/corn
- Feminine, end – the sheep/asleep
Jack Spratt could eat no fat.
His wife could eat no lean.
And so betwixt the two of them,
They licked the platter clean.
What is the rhyme scheme?
How many feet are in each line?Rhyme Scheme
- a b c b
What types of rhymes are used?Feet per line
- 4, 3, 4, 3
Types of rhymes
- Internal and masculine – Spratt/fat
- Masculine, end – lean/clean
Old Mother Hubbard went to the cupboard
To get her poor dog a bone.
When she got there, her cupboard was bare,
And so, her poor dog had none.
What is the rhyme scheme?
How many feet are in each line?Rhyme Scheme
- a b c b
What types of rhymes are used?Feet per line
- 4, 3, 4, 3
Types of rhymes
- Internal and feminine – Hubbard/cupboard
- Internal and masculine – there/bare
- Partial, masculine, end – bone/none
Please contact your teacher if you have questions.