
In this case, the poem is filled with them.
Hyperbole: the use of over-the-top descriptions that are usually exaggerations meant to make the reader laugh or smile. For example, “There was an old lady who swallowed.” Refrain: a type of repetition that occurs when the poet repeats the same line or lines.
In this case, the poet depends on repetition throughout.
Repetition: occurs whenever the poet repeats the same images, ideas, structures, words, phrases, etc., in a poem. There are several literary devices present in ‘There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly.’ These include but are not limited to: The stanzas grow as the poem progresses, eventually ending with an eleven-line stanza (before the concluding two-line stanza). There are, in total, fifty-six lines in this version of the rhyme. She adds a spider to “catch the fly” and a “bird to catch the spider.” This goes on, using a repeating pattern throughout the stanzas. This means that the song builds on itself from stanza to stanza. ‘There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly is a cumulative nursery rhyme. Eventually, she dies after trying to swallow a horse. Her life gets increasingly difficult as she swallows more animals.
This is only the beginning of her problems. The poem starts with the old lady swallowing a fly and then attempting to retrieve it by also swallowing a spider. It tells the story of an old lady who swallows animals. ‘There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly’ is an amusing children’s nursery rhyme. Explore There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly