This Week, On Poetry: The Gruffalo

Many types of animals live in the forest, and one of the smallest of those animals is the mouse. How in the world does an itsy-bitsy mouse survive in a world full of large creatures that want to eat it? This book tells the story of a small, brown mouse in a forest who uses his intelligent brain and clever thinking to outwit all of his predators. After his run in with the sly fox, he meets more hungry creatures in the deep, dark wood. How exactly does a teeny mouse turn out to be the smartest of them all? Find out in The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson!

The story is a bit of a comedy, but it certainly carries the message of brains before brawn with it. This may not be immediately evident at the surface level, as the mouse in the story tells exaggerated lies to the animals attempting to make a meal of him as a means of escaping their traps.

Paying closer attention to the implications of Donaldson's tale though, it becomes evident that she uses animals which are much larger and whose natural instinct is to eat a mouse as a way of sending her message. Children need to know that even though someone or something is bigger than they are, and even though they may feel anxious or afraid at first, approaching situations calmly and learning to think critically and creatively as a means of solving problems will ultimately prove to help them along their journey (and maybe even save their life) someday! Patience an understanding is another key theme in the story, as is that appearances can be exceptionally deceiving.

Fig. 1: Page 2 of  "The Gruffalo"

The Gruffalo is written in a rhyming style of poetry, with descriptive language and vocabulary, and a repetitive writing scheme that stays consistent as the book progresses. The rhyme and meter are seemingly effortless. To the right, Figure 1 is an image of one of the excerpts from the book's beginning. 

"A mouse took a stroll through the deep dark wood./

A fox saw the mouse and the mouse looked good."

This is the use of end rhymes, which persists through the storybook. One aspect of the poetic tale that does change throughout the book are the number of syllables included in each rhyme (which deals with the meter of the poem), but the writing of the story flows exceptionally well as the mouse meets each of its foes.

Fig. 2: Excerpt from "The Gruffalo"

Figure 2 is another excerpt and page from the storybook to illustrate the change in rhyming meter. The first line "His eyes are orange," has five syllables. The next line, "his tongue is black;" has only four syllables. This is followed by an eleven syllable verse, "He has purple prickles all over his back". This then transitions to another inconsistent meter, going (in number of syllables) 7-4-10. This shift in meter does not interrupt the flow of the rhyme scheme however, because these excerpts also show the consistent use of end rhymes.

They exhibit the use of descriptive language found in all poetry as well, using color descriptors ("His eyes are orange/his tongue is  

black", "a deep, dark wood"), personality descriptors ("favorite food"), textural descriptors ("purple prickles all over his back"), and atmospheric descriptors ("A mouse took a stroll", "Here, by this lake").

All of this is to say that "The Gruffalo" teaches an important lesson to children through well written poetry. It serves as a modern style tall tale in the form of a poem and would make a wonderful, whimsical addition to any classroom or home library.