Poem: “The Secret of the Machines” by Rudyard Kipling

Reread lines 3 and 4: “We were cast and wrought and hammered to design, / We were cut and filed and tooled and gauged to fit.” What poetic elements are working together in these lines?

• Alliteration and simile

• Repetition and imagery

• Onomatopoeia and metaphor

• Rhyme and personification

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What is the purpose of giving the machines a first-person point of view voice in the poem?

• To make the machines sound more friendly

• To help the reader understand how machines work emotionally

• To personify the machines and make their power more relatable

• To confuse the reader about who is speaking

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Read line 8 from the poem: “We will serve you four and twenty hours a day,” What poetic element is used, and how does it support the poem’s meaning?

• Hyperbole – it shows machines are lazy and unreliable

• Repetition – it shows how machines don’t sleep

• Rhyme – it makes the line more humorous

• Literal language – it explains the invention of time

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Read Line 15 from the poem. “You shall see and hear your crackling question hurled” uses sensory language. What is the effect of this figurative language?

• It creates confusion about what machines do

• It helps the reader visualize and hear machine communication

• It shows how machines can speak like humans

• It compares machines to thunder and lightning

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Explain how figurative language and other poetic elements work together in a poem. Why does the poet repeat the phrase "We can..." in the lines of stanza 2?

• To warn the reader about how machines are replacing people

• To highlight how machines are used only for travel

• To list the ways machines entertain people

• To emphasize the wide range of tasks machines can perform

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Explain how figurative language and other poetic elements work together in a poem. Read lines 43-44: "Our touch can alter all created things, / We are everything on earth—except The Gods!" Which poetic device is used and what message does it support?

• A. Personification – machines are treated as nearly all-powerful

• B. Simile – machines are like creators

• C. Hyperbole – machines are pretending to be people

• D. Onomatopoeia – machines speak loudly

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Explain how figurative language and other poetic elements work together in a poem. What message is the poet sending by including line 40: "If you make a slip in handling us you die!"

• Machines are fun to use and safe

• Machines should always be used for building and travel

• Machines are dangerous if misused, despite their power

• Machines want to control humans

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Explain how figurative language and other poetic elements work together in a poem. Which two poetic elements work together most clearly in this poem to express the machines' capabilities and limitations?

• A. Simile and irony

• B. Personification and rhyme

• C. Metaphor and conflict

• D. Dialogue and suspense

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