This viral video poem is about the highs and lows of shooting to internet fame. It contains rhyme, alliteration and repetition.
“Viral Video“
By Kia West
I took a little video
Of my brothers riding bikes
They put it up on tiktok
And got ten thousand likes
My brothers were all famous
The top kids in the school
But me, behind the camera
Well, I’m not very cool
The teachers gave them free time
The students bought them lunch
But me, behind the camera
I’m the loser of the bunch
The likes kept getting higher
They were a viral trend
But me, behind the camera
Still would like a friend
They were invited to a talk show
And they let me tag along
But I sat behind the camera
While my brothers waffled on
The girls at school are swooning
The boys think they’re The Man
But me, behind the camera
I haven’t got one fan
I told my brothers how I feel
And they didn’t laugh at me
They took my little camera
And shot a vid or three
Now my profiles blowing up
Ten thousand likes a day!
But me, the one with fame now
Wish it would go away.
Poetic Devices:
Rhyme
Alliteration
Repetition
More about this viral video poem…
This poem is told from the point of view of a child. At the beginning of the poem, there is a hyperbolic (exaggerating) tone of immature resentment and jealousy when the narrator’s brothers shoot to fame online and they feel like they’re missing out. However, at the end of the poem, the narrator’s view has changed and they wish they were no longer famous. This cycle of jealousy and regret something children frequently experience. They are blinded by the things they want and are not able to think things through enough to see the bad side of another person’s situation.
This poem has eight verses with four lines each. It has a consistent rhyme scheme that can be described as ABCB. This means that the last words in the second and fourth lines rhyme with each other.
Another poetic device in the poem is repetition. The phrase “But me, behind the camera” appears four times. The final verse also takes this phase and changes it to “But me, the one with fame now” to show how the narrator is no longer ignored and invisible.
Alliteration is also present in this poem. Alliteration is when consonant sounds are repeated at the beginnings of words. An example from the poem is the repetition of the ‘b’ sound in verse one, line two, “Of my brothers riding bikes”.
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