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Poem
*Lessons in Life
Brigette Bryant & Daniel Ho
Warm up
What do you feel when you meet your friend after a long time?
Building a friendship with someone is easy or difficult? Why?
Having a friend is like planting a flower
Show love and kindness it one day will bloom
Let’s be aware as we walk on this planet
Even the tiniest creature needs room.
Lessons in life aren’t always so simple
Nothing you’re given will ever come free
Even the smallest of gifts deserves “thank you”
I respect you and Eliot
George you respect
I think of you and you think of me.
Remember everyone here is important
When you’re forgotten it makes you feel sad
Know that you matter and you make a difference
Let no one shame you or make you feel bad.
Lessons in life aren’t always so simple
Nothing you are given will ever come free
Even the smallest of gifts deserves “thank you”
I respect you and you respect
I think of you and you think of me.
Bridgette Bryant & Daniel Ho
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Glossary
kindness (n) - humble
bloom (v) - come into
tiniest (adj) - smallest
forgotten (v) - out of mind
deserves (v) - be qualified for
A. Comprehension Questions
1. What is planting a flower compared to?
2. What does the tiniest creature need?
3. What do the smallest gifts deserve?
4. What will happen if you fail to give importance to others?
5. What do you learn from your lessons in life?
6. Pick and write the rhyming words from the third stanza.
7. “Having a friend is like planting a flower.” Explain.
Figures of speech
a. Simile:
A ‘Simile’ is a figure of speech, in which two unlike things are compared, using the
words, ‘like’ or ‘as’. It is used to bring a dramatic effect in Prose. Simile is one of the most
common forms of a figure of speech and is also used in poems as well as our day-to-day
talks.
Examples:
• as blind as a bat (means that someone is not willing to notice)
• like peas in a pod (means that two people are quite similar)
• as wise as an owl (refers to someone who is very smart / knowledgeable)
• quiet like a mule (refers to someone who is silent / quiet)
• as brave as a lion (refers to someone who is too brave/courageous)
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Exercise:
Answer the following.
1. Write a sentence using ‘as fast as the wind’.
2. Write a simile using the word ‘like’.
3. Create a simile using the word ‘as’.
4. What does ‘as smart as a fox’ mean?
2. Metaphor:
A ‘Metaphor’ is quite similar to a ‘Simile’, as a ‘Metaphor’ also compares two unlike
things. But a Metaphor has an implied or a hidden meaning between unrelated things.
Here, for a Metaphor we do not use words such as ‘like’ or ‘as’. Unlike Similes which
compare two things, Metaphors directly state a comparison to things that are in no way
similar. We can use Metaphors to explain an idea, but its literal meaning should not be
taken. It is only to be used as a symbolism.
Examples:
• My father was boiling mad. (implies that he was too angry)
• She is the apple of my eye. (implies that she is too dear to me)
• Your brain is a computer. (implies that your brain is smart and quick)
• Her voice is music to his ears. (implies that her voice makes him feel happy)
• The given task was a breeze. (implies that the task was not difficult)
Exercise:
1. Which of the given options is a Metaphor?
a) Life is like a chocolate box. b) Raj is like his twin brother.
c) His words are pearls of wisdom. d) The bus is slow as a snail.
2. What does "The world is a stage” mean?
3. Identify the Metaphor in the sentence.
Her hair is always a rat’s nest in the morning.
4. Write a sentence on your own that includes a Metaphor.
William Shakespeare invented over 1700 of our common words by changing nouns
into verbs, changing verbs into adjectives, connecting words never before used
together, adding prefixes and suffixes and devising words wholly original.
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