AC9E4LE04: Examine the use of literary devices and deliberate word play in literary texts, including poetry, to shape meaning

Notice the wording, then explain its effect

Learning intention: Examine how literary devices and deliberate wordplay shape meaning in stories and poetry, using exact words as evidence.

• A pun plays on more than one meaning, or on similar-sounding words, for a deliberate effect. The context must support the joke.
• A neologism is a newly coined word or a new use of a word. In a poem, it may create freshness or playfulness. An unfamiliar word is not automatically an invention or a mistake.
• Emotive language encourages an emotional response. Adjectives such as lonely, hopeful or treasured can shape how a subject seems. Readers may respond differently, but interpretations need evidence.
• A literary device is a deliberate language choice such as comparison, personification, exaggeration or a sound pattern. Naming it is not the same as explaining what it does here.

Success: I explain a word’s intended meaning, point to context, and describe a likely effect. For a pun I explain the linked meanings; for an invented word I explain how its context gives it meaning.

Worked poem: Bicycle Break

Original poem: My bicycle rested beside the wire. / “I cannot go on. I am two-tyred!” / Two wheels stood still in the afternoon sun; / the rider laughed and parked the fun.

Two-tyred sounds like too tired. The bicycle has two tyres, and tired suggests needing a rest. Both meanings fit the scene, making its rest playful. This is deliberate spelling for a joke, not the ordinary spelling of tired.

Worked poem: Puddle Morning

Original poem: I call this game a splishquest: / we hunt for puddles, east and west. / Each tiny splash becomes a clue; / our soggy socks know what to do.

Splishquest combines a splash-like sound with quest, a search or adventure. Puddles and clues give the new word meaning. The invention makes an ordinary game sound adventurous. Unlike the bicycle pun, it need not use two already established meanings.

Try it: Explain what “mooncrumbs” might mean in this original line: “On the lake, moonlight broke into mooncrumbs bright and small.” Model: small patches of reflected light, imagined as crumbs. The lake and moonlight supply the context.

Worked poem: The Rescue Box

Original poem: A shivering joey in a worn-out box, / a gentle hand beside the locks. / The lonely night began to fade; / a sheltered bed was softly made.

Shivering and lonely suggest vulnerability or discomfort. Gentle, sheltered and softly suggest care. The movement toward shelter can feel reassuring. “Lonely” is an adjective about the night’s feeling; “softly” describes how the bed was made. Explain the emotional contribution rather than labelling every word an adjective.

Worked comparison: Two Gardens

Original A: Proud sunflowers lift their golden heads. Original B: Weary sunflowers lower their faded heads. Proud/lift/golden suggest vigour; weary/lower/faded suggest tiredness or decline. Several choices work together. Another reader may feel sympathy rather than sadness, if the explanation fits those words.

Try it: Replace weary with hopeful and explain the change. Model: hopeful may suggest expectation of better things, shifting the response away from simple tiredness. Check the whole line; one word does not erase all the other clues.

Comparisons and personification

Original poem: The creek lay like a silver ribbon / threaded through the grass. / One leaf turned slowly in its light, / then let the quiet water pass.

The simile compares the creek with a narrow shining ribbon. Slowly and quiet support calm. A simile uses an explicit comparison such as like or as; not every occurrence of like or as makes a simile. “The creek was a silver ribbon” makes a metaphor. Neither version says the water is literally cloth.

Original scene: The wind knocked fiercely at our door, then muttered down the lane. Knocking and muttering present the wind like a forceful visitor: personification gives human-like qualities or actions to something non-human, including animals or abstract ideas where appropriate.

Exaggeration and sound

Original poem: My five-minute wait felt a thousand winters long; / my ice-cream dream was almost mine. / At last I reached the ice-cream stand; / a dripping cone was in my hand. The vast time claim is hyperbole: it communicates impatience, not a literal age.

Original poem: Soft sparks settle; sleepy shadows sway. / We fold the noisy games away. Repeated nearby starting sounds create alliteration; the repeated s sounds join sleepy to support quietness here. “Tap-tap” can imitate a sound: onomatopoeia. Sound contributes with meaning; a repeated letter alone does not guarantee a mood.

Boundary: explain concrete meaning and effects. Advanced poetry terminology, fixed symbolism rules and allusion analysis are not required.

Read: Wildflower by Kirli Saunders

Kirli Saunders is a Gunai author. Read her poem Wildflower on the authorised Red Room Poetry page. Discuss the particular words in this poem rather than treating one poet as representing all First Nations Peoples.

Read the complete poem on Red Room Poetry. An adult can read it aloud with you. The poem remains on its publisher’s page; no purchase or account is required.

Find a word about difficulty and a word that gives value. In this poem, “struggles” suggests difficulty and “precious” makes something feel valued. The image of flowers growing from an unpromising place can suggest hope through hardship. This is an interpretation supported by the contrast, not a rule about what every reader must feel.

Discuss: How do the difficult growing place and the valued flowers work together? Model response: The contrast makes growth seem hopeful even when circumstances are difficult. Say which word or image supports your response. If the source cannot be opened, leave this reading task pending and return later; an original SkillrHub poem is not a substitute for reading the named author’s work.

• “A pun is any funny sentence.” Explain the linked meanings or sounds and why both fit.
• “A neologism is just a misspelling.” Look for deliberate invention and meaning supplied by the surrounding text.
• “Naming metaphor explains the poem.” Say which qualities are carried across and what they suggest here.
• “Emotive language forces everyone to feel the same.” Support a plausible response with exact wording and allow other supported readings.
• “Poetry is all nonliteral.” Some details are literal; use context to decide which comparison, exaggeration or human-like action needs interpretation.

• 1. Model: explain the bicycle pun’s two meanings, then work out splishquest using puddles and clues.
• 2. We do — guided analysis: underline feeling words in The Rescue Box and compare the two sunflower lines. Connect each choice to an effect.
• 3. Shared and independent response: read Kirli Saunders’s linked Wildflower with support, discuss the difficulty/value contrast, then independently explain an original poem and invent a meaningful new word.
• 4. Check: use the exit poem. Look for exact wording, intended meaning and contextual effect. If a learner only names a device, ask “What does that comparison help you imagine?”

Support: read the short poems aloud and provide “The word … suggests … because …”. Core: explain a pun and one emotive choice. Extend: revise a word or image to change the mood and justify the change. Materials: this lesson and the authorised poem webpage. Readers can use oral or written responses; no personal disclosure is needed.

Can a pun depend on sound?

Yes. Two-tyred and too tired sound alike; the bicycle and rest make both meanings fit.

Do all new words have clear meanings on their own?

No. Read the context. Mooncrumbs becomes understandable when the poem describes moonlight breaking into small patches on a lake.

How can an adjective shape a poem’s meaning?

Weary makes the sunflowers seem tired; proud suggests vigour or satisfaction. Link the word to its subject and surrounding details.

How do we respond respectfully to a named First Nations poem?

Name the author and text, read the actual work, and explain particular words or images. Do not invent a cultural meaning or generalise one poet’s perspective to every First Nations person.

Original scene: “Lettuce celebrate!” said the rabbit, raising a crunchy leaf. Question: Explain the wordplay. Answer: Lettuce sounds like let us; the actual food connects the sound joke to the rabbit’s action. Review hint: give both meanings, not just “it is funny”.

Original line: The treasured scarf waited on the chair. Question: How does treasured shape meaning? Answer: It suggests affection and value, while waited personifies the scarf. A word-linked explanation is stronger than simply listing devices.

Selected answers support practice. Open responses require the actual poem explanation or created text and an adult’s check. The Wildflower activity requires the named source to be read; a completion click is not sufficient.

Original poem: The lonely lantern watched the lane; / then friendly footsteps came through rain. Explain one personification and how the feeling changes.

Expected evidence: watched gives the lantern human-like attention. Lonely suggests isolation; friendly footsteps suggest company arriving. Accept a different supported emotional response. Reteach by pairing each claim with an exact word if a learner only retells.

Then explain one difficulty/value contrast in Wildflower using the authorised reading link. Mastery evidence combines original text interpretation, meaningful wordplay and the actual named First Nations poem response.

Curriculum Coverage & Elaborations

The content description is the required target. The elaborations below are taught as examples and contexts, not as disconnected checklist wording.

• E1: defining neologisms and puns, and identifying how they are used by authors to create a sense of freshness, originality and playfulness
• E2: discussing poetic language, including adjectives that engage readers emotionally and bring the poet’s subject matter to life
• E3: exploring emotive language in texts by First Nations Australian poets and authors

Curriculum equivalents for Examine the use of literary devices and deliberate word play...

Mapped skill: examine the use of literary devices and deliberate word play in literary texts, including poetry, to shape meaning

These references identify matching or closely related learning. Curriculum sequence, terminology and depth vary, so teachers should use the mapped skill and lesson difficulty to confirm suitability.

Australian Curriculum v9.0 is the canonical source for this SkillrHub lesson. Victoria and NSW entries name the closest published state codes or outcomes; international entries are planning references rather than claims of identical curricula.

• Australian Curriculum Version 9.0
• Victorian Curriculum F-10
• NSW Curriculum
• Common Core State Standards
• England National Curriculum
• New Zealand Curriculum
• NCERT textbooks

• AC9E4LA01: Explore language used to develop relationships in formal and informal situations
• AC9E4LA02: Identify the subjective language of opinion and feeling, and the objective language of factual reporting
• AC9E4LA03: Identify how texts across the curriculum have different language features and are typically organised into characteristic stages depending on purposes
• AC9E4LA04: Identify how text connectives including temporal and conditional words, and topic word associations are used to sequence and connect ideas
• AC9E4LA05: Identify text navigation features of online texts that enhance readability including headlines, drop-down menus, links, graphics and layout
• AC9E4LA06: Understand that complex sentences contain one independent clause and at least one dependent clause typically joined by a subordinating conjunction to create relationships, such as time and causality
• AC9E4LA07: Investigate how quoted (direct) and reported (indirect) speech are used
• AC9E4LA08: Understand how adverb groups/phrases and prepositional phrases work in different ways to provide circumstantial details about an activity