Poetry: The Pig - Roald Dahl

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• havo
• Leerjaar 5

The Pig - Roald Dahl

What is the rhyme scheme?

1. rhyming couplets: AABB
2. alternate rhyme: ABAB
3. enclosed rhyme: ABBA
4. free verse

Metre is the rhythm of the poem.

Each line is divided into a number of feet:

monometre 1     /      dimetre 2

trimetre 3           /      tetrametre 4

pentametre 5    /      hexametre 6

heptametre 7    /      octametre 8

A foot consists of 2 or 3 syllables (lettergrepen) with a specific stress pattern (klemtonen).

Two-syllable feet

Iambic pentametre → unstressed/stressed

 That time / of year / thou mayst / in me / behold

Trochaic tetrametre → stressed/unstressed

 Tell me / not in / mournful / numbers

Spondaic → stressed/stressed

Three-syllable feet

Anapestic trimetre → unstressed/unstressed/stressed

 And the sound / of a voice / that is still

Dactylic hexametre → stressed/unstressed/unstressed

 This is the / forest prim/eval, the / murmering / pine and the / hemlocks

What is the meter?

1. iambic pentameter
2. iambic tetrameter
3. trochaic hexameter
4. trochaic trimeter

What is the POV?

1. 1st person, limited to the farmer
2. 1st person, limited to the pig
3. 3rd person, limited to the pig
4. 3rd person, omniscient

Give an example of alliteration.

Give an example of repetition.

Give an example of enjambement.

Give an example of onomatopoeia.

Who are the two main characters in the poem?

Despite the pig's knowledge, he cannot figure out the answer to which very important question?

If you compare the pig to mankind, what is Dahl saying about us, humans?

Dahl has portrayed an interesting conflict between the "meaning of life" and "survival of the fittest". Explain.