Poetry Unit Figurative Language

Warm Up (Title: Week 5 warm ups)

Write a ½ page paragraph on the following topic:› What are your feelings towards

poetry and why?

Why Poetry? “There are many other things I have

found myself saying about poetry, but the chiefest of these is that it is metaphor, saying one thing and meaning another, saying one thing in terms of another, the pleasure of ulteriority.” Robert Frost, 1946

Term Definition

Example(Make up your own; you can copy the one given for reference)

Picture(Make up your own)

Figurative Language Literal language

› Words mean what they mean› “The car is blue” means the car is blue

Figurative language› When words mean something else› You have to “figure” it out› “My dad is a bear” doesn’t mean my dad is a

bear… Means my dad acts like a bear

› Usually used to emphasize something or give a clear mental picture

SIMILE Comparing two things using the words “like” or “as”

“Do you ever feel like a plastic bag drifting through the wind?”

=

METAPHOR

Comparing two things WITHOUT the words “like” or “as”

My students are zombies today. =

Personification

Giving human qualities to non-human things

“The cat’s ghastly singing awoke me.”

Hyperbole(hi-PER-bo-ly)

An exaggeration not meant to be taken literally

“I’m so hungry I could eat a horse”

Under-statement

The opposite of exaggeration (sometimes sarcastic).

It was getting a little warm in there.

Idiom A saying that doesn’t make sense literally.

It’s raining cats and dogs out there!

Pun(play on words)

When a word is used because it has 2+ meanings.

That guy must be famous; he has somany fans.

(Think corny pick up lines, jokes, memes)

AllusionWhen a famous story, person, event, thing or place is mentioned (often in a sneaky way)

Animal Farm’s flag is an allusion to the old Russian flag.

V Denotation What a word means

The word “red” is the name of this color

Connotation The emotions or ideas associated with a word.

The word “red” is associated with things like love, power, danger and anger.

Sound Devices Poetry is different from short story and

novels because it uses sound to create meaning.

Onomatopoeia

Words that sound like sounds

The word ‘Vroom” comes from the sound a car makes.

Alliteration

When several nearby words begin with the same sound.

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary…

Assonance

When several nearby words contain with the same vowel sound (a, e, i, o, u).

He saw the cost and hauled off.

Consonance

When several nearby words contain with the same consonant sound (non-vowels).

Her finger hungered for a ring.

Rhyme When the end or final sound of two words are the same

Hay, day, way, say, bay, clay, pray all rhyme.

Rhythm/Meter

When a line of poetry has a constant beat to it.

Once upon a midnight dreary,While I pondered, weak and weary = Constant beat

Wind / Blowing briskly / Leaves fall /From The Trees= NOT Constant (called Free Verse)