The third stanza of ‘ Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star’ addresses how helpful the star is to travelers that might pass by. Despite being small, the light is powerful and important. It is “when” the sun has gone away and nothing else is shining that the star shows its “little light”. Next, anaphora is used when the poet repeats “When” at the beginning of lines one and two of ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star’. The poet uses a simile in lines three and four to compare the star to a “diamond”. These lines are the best known of the four stanzas and are often repeated rather than elaborated on. In the first stanza of the poem the speaker uses very simple language to address a “little star in the sky”. In stanza four the speaker refers to the stars “eye” and how it never shuts.Īnalysis of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star Stanza One Personification occurs when a poet imbues a non-human creature or object with human characteristics. This technique can be seen through the rescue of end rhymes as well as the refrain of “Twinkle, twinkle, little star”. Repetition is the use and reuse of a specific technique, word, tone, or phrase within a poem.

In the first stanza, which is the most widely know, the speaker compares the star to “a diamond in the sky”. A poet uses this kind of figurative language to say that one thing is similar to another, not like metaphor, that it “is” another. For example, “shines” and “sun” in the second stanza and “shut,” “sun,” and “sky” in stanza four.Ī simile is a comparison between two unlike things that uses the words “like” or “as”. The first alliteration, occurs when words are used in succession, or at least appear close together, and begin with the same letter. These include alliteration, repetition, simile, and personification. Poetic Techniques in Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Starĭespite its apparent simplicity, there are a few poetic techniques that Taylor made use of in the composition of ‘ Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star’. They make the lines all the more engaging for a young audience. These songs are usually read out loud and therefore the assonance, consonance, internal and end rhymes are incredibly important. The lines are all similar in length as one would expect with a simple children’s nursery rhyme and the rhyme itself falls in line with other similar songs.Ĭhildren’s poetry, such as that created by Spike Milligan, more often than not leans heavily on rhyme, sound, and rhythm in order to embellish the text. The last stanza repeats the end sounds of the first with “are” and “star” ending lines three and four. ‘ Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star’ by Jane Taylor is a five stanza poem that follows the simple rhyme scheme of AABB CCDD, and so on, changing end sounds as the stanzas progress. Structure of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star

3 Analysis of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.

2 Poetic Techniques in Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.

1 Structure of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.Johaness performed the song as we all know it, the very simple version of ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star’.

When Johannes Johansson first started playing the piano, the judges were actually quite perplexed, but not for reasons you might think. In the Swedish version of ‘Got Talent’, one contestant started performing the song on the piano but managed to shock the entire audience after just a couple of seconds. Some would even say that the song is popular in multiple solar systems! Leonard Nimoy, the actor who played the world-famous role of Mister Spock in Star Trek, adapted the song to “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Earth” in his music album Spock’s Music from Outer Space.Īs you can see, there are numerous variations of the lullaby, but we’re pretty sure that you’ve never heard it like this before. Of course, you might also think of the song if you’re trying to teach the alphabet to your kids, as the alphabet song perfectly fits in with the tune.

Who wrote twinkle twinkle little star