Post on 25-Dec-2015
Figurative Language
Metaphors, Similes, Personification, Idiom,
Hyperbole, and Allusion
Metaphor
• When two seemingly unlike objects are compared to each other without using comparing words such as ‘like’, ‘as’, ‘seems’, or ‘than’.
Examples
• The bright sun is an orange that could be picked right out of the sky and eaten.
• What two objects are being compared?
• What does this metaphor mean?
Examples
• The teacher swooped in quickly and snatched the note from the student’s hand with her sharp, greedy, talons.
• What two things are being compared?
• What does this metaphor mean?
Examples
• The large, round, bowling ball of a defensive tackle sped down the alley and crashed into the quarterback.
• What objects are being compared?• What does this metaphor mean?
Now it’s your turn!
• With your partner, create two of your own original metaphors.
• Write down what objects are being compared and what your metaphor means.
• Share your metaphors with the class.
Simile
• Compares to seemingly unlike objects using comparing words such as ‘like’, ‘as’, ‘seems’, or ‘than.’
Examples
• The bright glowing sun looked as if it could be plucked right out of the sky and eaten.
• What two objects are being compared?
• What does this simile mean?
Examples
• Turning, they ran to the front of the building lined up in two long lines, and marching like little tin soldiers disappeared inside the school.
• What objects are being compared?• What does this simile mean?
Examples
• He just lay there in the sunshine, all stretched out and limber as a rag.
• What objects are being compared?• What does this simile mean?
Time Outby Jana Ghossein
Help! Oh how much my heart hurts!My mouth is as dry as a desert. My throat is sore.My voice is a goner.My heart is beating as fast as a tiger. My hand is a rattling snake. My face is a tomato. Bye bye, boring life.I cannot take it anymore.I lay my head, upon my knee.Now blow the whistle referee!
Now it’s your turn!
• With your partner, create two of your own original similes.
• Write down what objects are being compared and what your simile means.
• Share your similes with the class.
Metaphor or Simile?
• Read the following examples of metaphors or similes.
• Determine if the sentence is a metaphor or a simile.
• Explain how you know.• Be able to tell the class what objects are
being compared and what the metaphor or simile means.
Metaphor or Simile?
• By the time I had reached the river, every nerve in my body was drawn up as tight as a fiddle string.
• Like a king in his own domain, it towered far above the smaller trees.
Metaphor or Simile?
• “You had better get out of there,” I said. “If that tree takes a notion to fall, it’ll mash you flatter than a tadpoles tail.”
• “The streets were a furnace, and the sun an executioner.”
Metaphor or Simile?
• The rain fell from the sky in long, sharp needles and struck me as I ran to shelter.
• We are all ants working tirelessly, day to day for all eternity, to fulfill the whims of the queen.
Personification
• Figurative language when a non-human objects is given human characteristics or traits.
Examples
• The wind whistled a gloomy tune as it blew through darkening forest.
• Thousands of blades of grass massaged my back while I lay staring at the cloudless sky.
• What is being personified?• What does each personification mean?
Examples
• “Fear knocked on the door. Faith answered. There was no one there.”
• "Pimento eyes bulged in their olive sockets. Lying on a ring of onion, a tomato slice exposed its seedy smile . . .."
• What is being personified?
Now it’s your turn!
• With your partner, create two of your own original examples of personification.
• Write down what objects are being personified and what human qualities they are given.
• Share your personification with the class.
WindBy J. Kurnath
The wind dances in onTrotting horses’ feetIt stops in a goldenValley looking about throughFiery eyes, and then rages pastAt a mighty gallop.
Create Your OwnNature Personication Poem
• Directions:• Line 1 Title + (How it arrives or begins)
• Line 2 Tell what it does • Line 3 Tell how it does it • Line 4 Tell where it is • Line 5 Tell how it leaves
Hyperbole
• An extreme exaggeration or overstatement.
Examples
• I am so hungry I could eat a horse.• I have a million things to do.• I had to walk 15 miles to school in the snow,
uphill.• I had a ton of homework.• If I can’t buy that new game, I will die.• He is as skinny as a toothpick.• This car goes faster than the speed of light.
Appetite
• In 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.
Thanksgiving
• A mountain of baby carrots,a turkey the size of a cow.a river full of gravya dog that says meowEvery pie known to manand gallons full of ice cream.By the time my dinner is overI surely won’t be lean.