Figurative Language

Messy Room by Shel Silverstein

Whosever room this is should be ashamed!

His underwear is hanging on the lamp.

His raincoat is there in the overstuffed chair,

And the chair is becoming quite mucky and damp.

His workbook is wedged in the window,

His sweater's been thrown on the floor.

His scarf and one ski are beneath the TV,

And his pants have been carelessly hung on the door.

His books are all jammed in the closet,

His vest has been left in the hall.

A lizard named Ed is asleep in his bed,

And his smelly old sock has been stuck to the wall.

Whosever room this is should be ashamed!

Donald or Robert or Willie or--

Huh? You say it's mine? Oh, dear,

I knew it looked familiar!

1. How is figurative language used in the poem? Give specific word(s), explain what type of figurative language it is, and why the poet chose to use this figurative language.

Hypervole has been used in this poem. The sentence "Whoever room this is should be ashamed" is exaggerated. The poet chose to use this figurative language to invoke emotion and image, giving the reader a clue of how messy the room is.

2. Tell us why you like this poem in no less than 100 words.

I like this poem because it is funny. The author found a room very messy, and illustrated how messy it was, with maybe a bit of exaggeration. Then, he questioned whose room it is, and when being told that was his room, only then did he realise that room was really his room, which is hilarious as people always recognise their own rooms. The author not realising that was his own room shows to some extent how messy the room was as it might be that the room was so messy that even its own owner could not recognise it at first. I find the figurative language the author use very useful for writing essays and poetry.