Figurative Figurative LanguageLanguage

Figuring it Out

(song)

Literally: words function exactly as definedThe car is blue.He caught the football.

Figuratively: figure out what it means

I’ve got your back.

You’re a doll. Figures of Speech

SimileSimileComparison of two things using “like” or

“as.”Examples: The metal twisted like a

ribbon. She is sweet as candy.

Using “like” or “as” doesn’t make a simile.

A comparison must be made.

Not a Simile: I like pizza.

Simile: The moon is like a pizza

Simile ExampleSimile Example

An emerald is as green as grass, A ruby red as blood;A sapphire shines as blue as

heaven; A flint lies in the mud.

A diamond is a brilliant stone, To catch the world’s desire;An opal holds a fiery spark; But a flint holds fire.

By Christina Rosetti4

Flint

MetaphorMetaphor

Two things are compared without using “like” or “as.”

Examples

All the world is a stage.

Men are dogs.

She has a stone heart.

Metaphor ExampleMetaphor Example

The Night is a big black cat The moon is her topaz eye,The stars are the mice she hunts at

night, In the field of the sultry sky.

By G. Orr Clark

6

The Night is a Big Black Cat

PersonificatioPersonificationn

Giving human traits to objects or ideas.

Examples

The sunlight danced.

Water on the lake shivers.

The streets are calling me.

Onomatopoeia

Words that represent the actual sound of something are words of onomatopoeia.

Examples

Dogs “bark,” cats “purr,” thunder “booms,” rain “drips,” and the clock “ticks.”

Appeals to the sense of sound.

Onomatopoeia ExampleOnomatopoeia Example

Scrunch, scrunch, scrunch.Crunch, crunch, crunch.Frozen snow and brittle iceMake a winter sound that’s

niceUnderneath my stamping feetAnd the cars along the street.Scrunch, scrunch, scrunch.Crunch, crunch, crunch.

by Margaret Hillert8

Listen

Personification ExamplePersonification Example

Mister Sun Wakes up at dawn,Puts his golden Slippers on,Climbs the summer Sky at noon,Trading places With the moon.

by J. Patrick Lewis9

From “Mister Sun”

HyperboleHyperbole

Exaggerating to show strong feeling or effect.

Examples:

• I will love you forever.

• My house is a million miles from here.

• She’d kill me. Yo dog is so ugly that her shadow ran away from her. Yo dog is so dirty that when she tried to take a bath,

the water jumped out and said “I’ll wait.”

UnderstatementUnderstatement

Expression with less strength than expected.

The opposite of hyperbole.

I’ll be there in one second.

This won’t hurt a bit.

AlliterationAlliterationThe repetition of the first consonant sound in words, as in the nursery rhyme “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.”

I jiggled it jaggled it jerked it.

I pushed and pulled and poked it.But –As soon as I stopped,And left it aloneThis tooth came outOn its very own!

by Lee Bennett Hopkins

This Tooth

Expressions that don’t mean what exactly what they say.

.

Its raining cats and dogs outside.

QuizQuiz

On a separate sheet of paper…

1. I will put an example of figurative language on the board.

2. You will write whether it is an simile, metaphor, personification, hyperbole, or understatement.

3. You can use your notes.

He drew a line as straight as an arrow.

Knowledge is a kingdom and all who learn are kings and queens.

Can I see you for a second?

The sun was beating down on me.

A flag wags like a fishhook there in the sky.

I'd rather take bathswith a man-eating shark,or wrestle a lionalone in the dark,eat spinach and liver,pet ten porcupines,than tackle the homework,my teacher assigns.

Ravenous and savagefrom its longpolar journey,

the North Wind

is searchingfor food—

The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.

Can I have one of your chips?

I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,Welling and swelling I bearin the tide.Leaving behind nights of terror and fearI rise

1. Simile2. Metaphor3. Understatement4. Personification5. Simile6. Hyperbole7. Personification8. Metaphor9. Understatement10. Metaphor

Tom is seven years old. He loves to pretend he is an Indian in the woods. When Tom is sneaking through the woods he knows he has to be as quiet as a mouse. Otherwise, the cowboys might hear him! Tom's sister, Jane can't pretend to be an Indian sneaking through the woods because she is loud as a train coming through the woods. Sometimes Tom will as Jane to be the "cowboy", but not very often because she is like a regular Annie Oakley with the slingshot! Tom knows this because the last time Jane got Tom with the slingshot he jumped like a scalded cat. Now, when Tom and Jane play cowboys and Indians, their mom watches them like an owl because she is afraid someone is going to get hurt! Tom doesn't mind because his mom's heart is soft as butter and she just doesn't want to see her children get hurt, even if they are as tough as nails!