Figurative Language

Simile• A comparison of two unlike things using like or as

• She is like a cow.

Metaphor• A comparison of two unlike things (explicit and implied)

• She is a cow.

Hyperbole• An over exaggerated statement (not a comparison)

• I have been waiting forever!• I could eat a horse!

Symbolism• When something represents something else

• The lightning bolt in the Lightning Thief

• The colors in the Book Thief

Personification• Giving an inanimate object human qualities

• The dog laughed.

• The waves whispered.

Identify the type of figurative language in the following poems. The type of figurative language is labeled, just find the example.

Metaphor• I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings• The free bird leaps

on the back of the windand floats downstreamtill the current endsand dips his wingsin the orange sun raysand dares to claim the sky.

But a bird that stalksdown his narrow cagecan seldom see throughhis bars of ragehis wings are clipped andhis feet are tiedso he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird singswith fearful trillof the things unknownbut longed for stilland his tune is heardon the distant hill for the caged birdsings of freedom

The free bird thinks of another breezean the trade winds soft through the sighing treesand the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright lawnand he names the sky his own.

But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreamshis shadow shouts on a nightmare screamhis wings are clipped and his feet are tiedso he opens his throat to sing

The caged bird singswith a fearful trillof things unknownbut longed for stilland his tune is heardon the distant hillfor the caged birdsings of freedom.

• Maya Angelou

Personification• Two Sunflowers

Move in the Yellow Room.• "Ah, William, we're weary of weather,"

said the sunflowers, shining with dew."Our traveling habits have tired us.Can you give us a room with a view?"

• They arranged themselves at the windowand counted the steps of the sun,and they both took root in the carpetwhere the topaz tortoises run.

William Blake(1757-1827)

Personification• The Train• I like to see it lap the miles,

And lick the valleys up,And stop to feed itself at tanks;And then, prodigious, step

• Around a pile of mountains,And, supercilious, peerIn shanties by the sides of roads;And then a quarry pare

• To fit its sides, and crawl between, Complaining all the whileIn horrid, hooting stanza;Then chase itself down hill

And neigh like Boanerges;Then, punctual as a start its own,Stop-docile and omnipotent-A stable door.

• By Emily Dickinson

Simile and Personification“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”LET us go then, you and I,When the evening is spread out against the skyLike a patient etherized upon a table;Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets,The muttering retreats 5

Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotelsAnd sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells:Streets that follow like a tedious argumentOf insidious intentTo lead you to an overwhelming question…. 10

Oh, do not ask, “What is it?”Let us go and make our visit.

In the room the women come and goTalking of Michelangelo.

The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes, 15

The yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the window-panesLicked its tongue into the corners of the evening,

20

Symbolism• The Road Not Taken• Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel bothAnd be one traveler, long I stoodAnd looked down one as far as I couldTo where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,And having perhaps the better claimBecause it was grassy and wanted wear,Though as for that the passing thereHad worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally layIn leaves no step had trodden black.Oh, I marked the first for another day!Yet knowing how way leads on to way

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sighSomewhere ages and ages hence:Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,I took the one less traveled by,And that has made all the difference.

• Robert Frost

Hyperbole

Practical ApplicationHe’s teaching her arithmetic,He said it was his mission,He kissed her once, he kissed her twice and said,“Now that’s addition.”And as he added smack by smackIn silent satisfaction,She sweetly gave the kisses back and said,“Now that’s subtraction.”

Then he kissed her, she kissed him,Without and explanation,And both together smiled and said,“That’s multiplication.”Then Dad appeared upon the scene and Made a quick decision.He kicked that kid three blocks awayAnd said, “That’s long division.”

Test yourself• Identify the type of figurative language used in the following

poems.

Joyce Kilmer. 1886–1918

119. Trees

I THINK that I shall never see

A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest

Against the sweet earth's flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day, 5

And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in summer wear

A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;

Who intimately lives with rain. 10

Poems are made by fools like me,

But only God can make a tree.

Answers• Personification• Simile

Shall I Compare Thee To A Summer's DaySonnet 18

William Shakespeare Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate.Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,And summer's lease hath all too short a date.Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,And often is his gold complexion dimmed;

And every fair from fair sometime declines,By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed.

But thy eternal summer shall not fadeNor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st;

Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade,When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st.So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

Answer• Metaphor

Wasatch High School• The Wasp

Answer• A symbol

ShouldersA man crosses the street in rain,Stepping gently, looking two times north and south,Because his son is asleep on his shoulders.

No car must splash him.No car drive too near to his shadow.

This man carries the world’s most sensitive cargoBut he’s not marked.Nowhere does his jacket say FRAGILE,HANDLE WITH CARE.

His ear fills up with breathing.He hears the hum of a boy’s dreamDeep inside him.

We’re not going to be ableTo live in this worldIf we’re not willing to do what he’s doingWith one another.

The road will only be wide.The rain will never stop falling.

-Naomi Shihab Nye

Answers• Metaphor• Symbolism

AppetiteIn a house the size of a postage stamplived a man as big as a barge.His mouth could drink the entire riverYou could say it was rather largeFor dinner he would eat a trillion beansAnd a silo full of grain,Washed it down with a tanker of milkAs if he were a drain.

Answer• Hyperbole

Assignment• Pick a popular song.• Using the music, rewrite the words to the song.• Your new lyrics should teach figurative language, meaning

they should give the definition and an example for each kind of figurative language we learned.

• Turn in your lyrics and be ready to present your new song to the class next time.

• Examples can be found at these links:• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAxi_PPpG9Y• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kDNCdb3vSE