Online assesment 1: Messy Room

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!

I like this poem as it is quite a funny poem. The person in the poem sees a room and is disgusted a the horrible state that it is in. What he does not know is that he had been criticising his own room! When he realises it, his reaction is huge. I also like the way he describes the state of the room, such as saying that there was underwear hanging on the lamp, as well as a smelly and old sock stuck on the wall. Personally, I find this very humorous and that is why I like this poem.

In my opinion, the hyperbole in this poem is the phrase"Oh, dear" in the last sentence. I feel that it exaggerates the shock and dismay of the author when he realises it is his room. I feel that the poet chose to use this form of figurative language as in the poem, he had been criticising the state of that room and making it sound so bad. However, he has no clue that it is actually his room and I think the author wants to show the shock and dismay of the person when he realises it is his room. That is why the author chose to use this form of figurative language.