One Fish Two Fish Literary Devices

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish

Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, is the author of my favorite childhood book, Oh the Places You'll Go along with many other children's poems. Dr. Seuss is easily one of the most well-known children's authors having sold over 100 million books (Kantrowitz). From personification to imagery to rhyming, Seuss knows just what it takes to make a great poem. Dr. Seuss uses literary devices such as rhyme, repetition, onomatopoeia, tone and personification throughout his book, One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish.

Along with many other children's poets, Dr. Seuss uses rhyme in his stories. Rhyming is a good way to engage children and keep their attention as well as help them learn new vocabulary. Seuss' work, One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish Blue Fish is riddled with rhyming words such as star and car, blue and new, sad and glad, the list goes on. Not only do children find the rhymes to be fun, they present a great opportunity for children to learn to read. Teachers recommend Dr. Seuss for first time

readers because, "The repetitive rhymes and nonsense words can help youngsters understand the relationship between symbols and sounds" (Kantrowitz).
Although Seuss' word choice is limited because his primary audience is children, his rhyme variety is vast. In One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish alone, Seuss employs three different rhyme techniques. The most common rhyme he uses is the end rhyme which is exactly what it sounds like; the final syllables of the line rhyme. The words seven and eleven as seen on page fifteen are an example of end rhyme. Identical rhyme uses the same word, "identically in sounds and in sense, twice in rhyming positions" ("Glossary of"). Seuss begins this book with four identical which is the same as title, One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. Additionally, on page fifteen identical rhyme is seen again in the lines, "Say! / Look at his fingers! / One, two, three… / How many fingers / Do I see?" (Seuss). The last category of rhyme to be spotted in this book is known as internal rhyme. Here is an example found on page nine, "They run for fun" (Seuss). As seen here, an internal rhyme is when a word from inside a line that rhymes with a word at the end of the same line ("Glossary Of"). Seuss uses three distinct rhyming schemes in his book One Fish, Two Fish.
Furthermore, Seuss applies repetition throughout One Fish, Two Fish in addition to many of his other books.

Most of the time repetition is used to add emphasis, however, the kind of repetition seen in One Fish, Two Fish is mostly for drama or entertainment. Dr. Seuss writes, "One fish / Two fish / Red fish / Blue fish. / Black fish / Blue fish / Old fish / New fish" (Seuss). As you can see, fish is the repetitive word here and it appears on the end of every line. This is known as epistrophe. (Jobe and Stevens). Isocolon is another form of repetition found in this book. Isocolon can be described as, "repetition of the same grammatical structure in two or more phrases or clauses" (Jobe and Stevens). A prime example of isocolon as seen in One Fish, Two Fish is, "This one has a little star / This one has a little car" (Seuss). Almost the whole line is repeated except for the last word which makes these two lines

isocolon.
Another literary device Dr. Seuss employs in One Fish, Two Fish is personification, but Seuss puts his own twist on it. When we think of personification normally, we think of an inanimate object given a human-like quality. However, Seuss creates non-existent creatures and gives them human-like qualities. Creatures like the well-known Who from Horton Hears a Who. The personification in Dr. Seuss' books appeals to children's sense of imagination. Kids start using their imagination at the ripe age of two. Children ages two to five have huge imaginations and imaginary friends commonly appear around age three (Miller). In One Fish, Two Fish Dr. Seuss uses personification by implying that a Nook was reading and cooking, "We saw a Nook…. / On his hook he had a book. / On his book was 'How to Cook'" (Seuss). Although, as far as we know, only humans are able to read and cook. By making up creatures such as Yinks and Nooks and giving them human-like characteristics, Dr. Seuss effectively uses personification to appeal to his audience of young readers.
Moreover, onomatopoeia is an exceptionally useful literary device Seuss uses in many of his books. Onomatopoeia is defined as, "the formation of a word from a sound associated with the thing or action being named" (Meinard), in simpler terms it is a word for a sound that describes an action. For example, 'splash' describes when a heavy rock fall in the water. An instance in One Fish, Two Fish where onomatopoeia is prevalent is toward the middle of the book where is says, "Bump! Bump! Bump! / Did you ever ride a Wump?" (Seuss). In this instance, the 'bump!' is describing what it is like to ride a Wump. Another example of onomatopoeia in this story is the word 'swish'. The story states, "I wave my hand with a big swish swish" (Seuss). In this case, the word 'swish' is describing the sound Ish's hand makes when he waves it.
Continuing on, Dr. Seuss throws in a simile or two. Similes compare two unrelated objects by using like or as. Similes allow the reader to better understand an unknown object by comparing it to one that is familiar to the reader. For example, Seuss compares a sheep to a mouse, "This one is quiet as a mouse" (Seuss). By stating "This one is quiet as a mouse" (Seuss), the reader better understands just how quiet the sheep was when compared to saying "this one was quiet".
Lastly, tone is a literary device that is prevalent in all works of literature and Seuss' books are no exception. Tone is the attitude or vibe a piece of literature conveys to the reader usually through word choice. In the example of One Fish, Two Fish, the overall tone is animated and joyful. This is expressed through the characters, the experiences the characters have throughout the poem and the words Seuss' chose to use. First of all, the characters in this poem are silly and made up. Some have six feet, some have 9 fingers, and one even has gold teeth. Also, the activities each character participates in are fun. For example, at one point in the story, a boy tells us he likes to box with his pet Gox! Instead of plainly saying he's a boxer the boy points out that he practices with his pet. The kind of excitement comes from telling a story of things one can only dream about. Most importantly, Seuss is able to express his animated and joyful tone through his word choice. Phrases like, "Oh me! Oh my!" (Seuss) are not words to scream in a serious situation. Instead, they are silly and fun just as Seuss intended his book, One Fish, Two Fish to be.
In conclusion, Dr. Seuss uses many different literary devices in his book, One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. Seuss as well as other writers use literary techniques to better their work. Onomatopoeia, rhyme, and tone are just a few of those techniques that can take a poem from good to great.

Citations
"Glossary of Poetic Terms." Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation,
www.poetryfoundation.org/learn/glossary-terms/rhyme.
Jobe, Nick, and Sophia Stevens. "Repetition and Redundancy." University of Houston-Victoria,
Apr. 2009, www.uhv.edu/student-success-center/resources/q-z/repetition-and-
redundancy/.
Kantrowitz, Barbara. "A Reason for His Rhymes." Newsweek, vol. 136, no. 20, 13 Nov.
2000. EBSCOhost. web.a.ebscohost.com.libproxy.ocean.edu:2048/ehost/detail/detail?v
id=49&sid=71428d25-e6cc476abbacb842552c9c4a%40sessionmgr4008&bdata=JmxvZ2
luLmFzcCZzaXRlPWVob3N0LWxpdmUmc2NvcGU9c2l0ZQ%3d%3d#AN=3731050&
db=aph.
Meinard, Maruszka Eve Marie. "Distinguishing Onomatopoeias from Interjections." Journal of
Pragmatics: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Language Studies, vol. 76, Jan. 2015, pp.
150-168. EBSCOhost,
libproxy.ocean.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&
db=mzh&AN=2017712019&login.asp&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
Miller, Susan A, et al. "Ages & Stages: Imagine & Pretend." Scholastic,
www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/teaching-content/ages-stages-imagine-pretend/.
Seuss. One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. Beginner Books, A Division of Random House,
1988.