Kim Carnahan (TpT Seller) re: Identifying Poetic Devices in Song Lyrics
Crystal, I appreciate the time you took to make this, and the relevance to teenage students. However, I am disappointed in this resource for several reasons. I am afraid that this is going to be painful for you, but I actually am avoiding leaving you a very negative rating by sending you a message about this resource. At best, it is clever and useful. At worst, it is sloppy and incorrect, and I am stunned that your previous reviewers did not find these errors. First, in "Other Examples" is the glaring, almost shocking error of "Charles Dickenson." There is no such author. The quote you cited is from Charles Dickens. Tale of Two Cities, as a novel title, should be italicized, not in quotations - and you only placed a single quotation mark. Let's teach them proper MLA 2009 form - see Purdue OWL if you have any questions about this. Next, to help students to find all instances of figurative language in each example, wouldn't it help to provide as many blanks as there are instances, per question? I am specifically referring to numbers 4, 11, 13 (answer sheet number, #12 on the paper) (which needs many blanks, and also, needs to have "hyperbole" as an answer also), second number 13 on your answer sheet, and 17. Your answer sheet is misnumbered and does not correspond 1:1 with your student worksheet. Also, your explanation of the metaphor in #6 is incorrect. Clearly, love is not being compared to war; it is being directly compared to a battlefield, as stated in the quote. In "other examples," bittersweet is one word http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bittersweet and should be represented as such. Alliteration: reverse your apostrophes to go in the right direction. Onomatopoeia: "hiss" is misspelled. Also, I have some uneasiness about #11. I looked up, and confirmed, my suspicion about the first part of the quote, "That girl is a dime . . ." It means she is a "10," but a "dime" is also slang for $10 worth of a drug. Knowing that students are very likely to know this definition, I just wouldn't use the example. Actually, I would probably leave that one out altogether because of the sexual nature of the metaphor of gun and holster. Because I will have to spend an inordinate amount of time revising this document if I wish to use it (I already have spent too much time on this, but didn't want to leave you a negative rating), I would like to request a refund of my purchase price. I am just so disappointed that you would not only put this in front of students riddled with errors as it is, but also present it before your peers as something professionally done and excellent. It is not. Thank you for your time and consideration.
March 3, 2013