Module 4 Lessons: More Figures of Speech

7. More Figures of Speech

Lesson 53

More Figures of Speech

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In the previous lesson, you read Paul Simon's song lyrics entitled "I Am a Rock." You probably recognized that the second line of the chorus had something to do with the familiar expression No man is an island.

This expression comes from a sermon written almost four hundred years ago by John Donne. The fuller context for this expression is found on page 2 of Sightlines 10. The fact that the editors of Sightlines 10 placed this meditation just before Paul Simon's song lyrics acknowledges that there is a connection between the two works.

Read Donne's "Meditation xvii" on page 2 of Sightlines 10. As you read, follow the extended metaphor that Donne develops.

1. Explore the metaphors used by Donne in this poem. To what does Donne compare the individual? To what does he compare the mass of humanity?

2. According to Donne, what is it like, metaphorically speaking, when an individual dies?

3. What do you think Donne would say to someone like the speaker in Paul Simon's "I Am a Rock" who maintained that he or she is an island and alone?

Journal Entry

Reflect on Donne's meditation. To what extent do you agree or disagree with his conclusion? Are we, in other words, somehow all connected, all part of the same continent or body? Explain.

What is the purpose of Donne's message? Who would most benefit from reading or hearing these words?

Allusion

Mr. Haas: Did John Donne's meditation help you better understand or appreciate Paul Simon's "I Am a Rock"?

Chelsea: Yes, it did. At first, I believed the speaker in the song was serious and proud of his ability to be alone. Then I read the meditation and realized the speaker in the song was only kidding himself. Donne is right. No person is an island. We're all connected in some way—no matter how hurt we feel.

Mr. Haas: Do you think Simon intended a connection to Donne's meditation?

Lin: Why else would he use the word island? And the themes of the two works are related. They both deal with isolation. One writer says you're never alone or unconnected; the other says he's alone and wants no connections. Considering the song in light of the meditation, it all makes more sense.

The deliberate literary reference to island in Paul Simon's song is called an allusion.

Allusions in literature and in everyday speech are references to people, events, or things that the author assumes the audience will recognize as originally coming from the Bible, classical mythology, history, or literary texts.

Lin: Something else in Donne's meditation—for whom the bell tolls sounded really familiar. My dad told me that Ernest Hemingway wrote a novel called For Whom the Bell Tolls. It was made into a movie that I saw a long time ago, but I'd forgotten the title.

Mr. Haas: Yes, the story involves an American who risks his life to help people during the Spanish Civil War. The hero felt that he was connected to humanity. Hemingway used an allusion to Donne when he gave his work a title that came from the famous meditation.

Dominic: But when Lin saw the movie, she didn't know about Donne or even Hemingway. What good is an allusion if you don't know what it refers to?

The success of an allusion depends on the reader's or listener's understanding of the reference.

For example, if a friend told you, "I met my Waterloo on that test," would you know whether your friend had done well or not? Obviously, if you weren't aware that Waterloo refers to Napoleon's final, crushing defeat in the Battle of Waterloo, you wouldn't know that your friend had done poorly. By alluding to Waterloo, your friend would be emphasizing just how badly the test had gone.

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4. With a partner or in a group, develop a variety of strategies you could use to discover the meaning of allusions that you're not familiar with.

Now it's time to use the strategies that you and your group generated. You will research the allusions in a poem that you'll find on page 57 of Sightlines 10. The poem is called "Ambition," and it was written by Canadian poet Des Walsh.

Read the poem, and then listen as the class discusses initial reactions to it.

Dominic: What kind of a title is that for this poem? It doesn't fit at all. His only ambition is to work in a kitchen!

Lin: I think the title is ironic. It sets us up to expect great things, and then we realize that the man's ambition is not much compared to what ours might be.

Chelsea: But to him, it's a lot. Don't forget, he's poor and he's very hungry. To work in a kitchen would be like heaven for him.

Mr. Haas: Why does the speaker begin with "Once upon a time"? What do you think he wants to accomplish?

Try answering Mr. Haas' question before reading any further.

Brandon: Those words usually begin a fairy tale. Maybe this poem is a fairy tale.

Chelsea: Sometimes fairy tales teach a lesson, don't they? I think this poem says something serious about people, and it says this in a simple way so that no one misses the point.

Dominic: Well, I missed the point. I get the beginning and I get the end, but I really don't understand the middle. What's with the "golden sands" and "captivity" and "argonauts and the golden fleece"? I thought the Argonauts were a football team.

Mr. Haas: Yes, they are, and they're named after a famous story from Greek mythology. It's time to use the strategies that you generated in question 4 to discover the meaning of metaphors in this poem.

Researching Allusions

In question 4, you came up with a list of strategies you could use to research allusions. They may have included the following:

• Use context clues and then discuss your guesses with someone you think might have more awareness of the allusion.

• Consult reference works such as encyclopedias and dictionaries.

• Conduct an Internet search using words from the suspected allusion as your search parameters.

• Ask a librarian or teacher for help.

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5. Reread the poem, and list all the words or phrases that you think may be allusions.

6. Using the strategies above or other strategies that you may have generated, find out all you can about the allusions in this poem.

For each allusion, you should write one to three full sentences of explanation. Discuss your ideas with a partner or in a group. Do others agree with your interpretation of the allusions? Did they have ideas that did not occur to you?

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An allusion can be used to support an idea already introduced, or it may be used for contrast or as an ironic comment. For instance, a man could be referred to as an "Ebenezer Scrooge." If that man were indeed cold, bitter, and ungenerous, then the allusion would simply support his recognized character. If, however, he were in fact generous, open hearted, and warm, then the allusion would be ironic.

One challenge for the reader, therefore, is to decide how a poet is intending an allusion. Readers can't simply draw upon their own understanding of the allusion; they must also carefully seek out the poet's intention by examining the rest of the poem and its tone.

Hyperbole

Mr. Haas: Give me an example of a hyperbole.

Lin: Chelsea has an army of boyfriends.

Chelsea: That would be an exaggeration! I've got an example of hyperbole, too. Lin has hair that looks like an electrified mop.

Mr. Haas: That is an exaggeration, but is it hyperbole?

Brandon: Isn't that a simile? Two things are being compared—hair and a mop.

Mr. Haas: Good point. Remember that similes and metaphors draw comparisons. Referring to this class as a zoo would be an exaggeration, but it depends on a comparison for effect.

Hyperbole is a gross exaggeration of the truth. Your next assignment contains some examples. Notice that no comparisons are being made. Your job is to determine what truth is being relayed through the exaggeration.

People use hyperboles frequently in everyday conversation, usually to emphasize a point. However, you should realize that others may react with laughter and dismiss such hyperboles as gross exaggeration. It's for this reason that you should avoid hyperboles in formal writing. Hyperboles may be acceptable in everyday conversation and effective when handled appropriately in poetry, but it's not advisable to hyperbolize in essays.

Oxymoron

An oxymoron can be defined as the combination of two sharply contrasting words. For example, jumbo shrimp is an oxymoron. Oxymorons provoke the listener into attempting to make sense of the seeming contradiction. But be careful. Many people today think that an oxymoron is merely two words that contradict each other. There's more, however, in a true oxymoron. The contradiction has to make sense.

In a way, an oxymoron is like a mini-paradox. When you hear an oxymoron, you look for the truth in the contradiction.

You've probably heard and used many an oxymoron. Following are some examples. As you read the list, think of ways in which the two words are contradictory in each pair.

ï¿½ awfully good	ï¿½ front end	• silent scream
ï¿½ civil war	ï¿½ ill health	• sweet sorrow
ï¿½ constant variable	ï¿½ open secret	• rap music
ï¿½ eloquent silence	• original copies
ï¿½ exact estimate	• paid volunteer

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Brandon: Wait a minute. How can rap music be an oxymoron?

Chelsea: Think about it. If you don't like rap music and you say that rap music is an oxymoron, what point are you making?

Brandon: I get it, but I don't agree.

Lin: Oh, same difference.

Mr. Haas: That was another oxymoron.

Dominic: Maybe, but it was a pretty ugly one.

Mr. Haas: Another oxymoron—pretty ugly.

Dominic: That's right, it is. I never realized that.

Did You Know?

Did you know that the plural of oxymoron is oxymora? Did you also know that the word oxymoron is in itself an oxymoron?

Oxys is the Greek word for pointedly.

Moros is the Greek word for dull or stupid.

The word, therefore, means pointedly stupid. If something is pointedly stupid, it's not stupid! Hence the oxymoron.

Going Further

If you were amused by the oxymora in this lesson, you can find more on the Internet. A simple search will yield you many sites that feature lists of oxymora.

Locate a site that contains oxymora that are appropriate to share. Choose ten oxymora that you consider to be exceptionally clever or amusing. Copy these phrases onto a sheet of blank paper in an artistic manner.

Find or create illustrations to go with some of the oxymora. Share your findings with others.

In this lesson, you completed your study of figurative language. There are many other figurative devices that you could have looked at. These will be saved for future study. You learned that allusions can add a sense of depth and meaning to a work. You now know more about the differences among hyperboles, similes, and metaphors. You hopefully had some fun with oxymora.

Lesson Glossary

allusion: a reference to people, events, or things that an author assumes the audience will recognize as originally coming from the Bible, classical mythology, history, or literary texts
extended metaphor: a metaphor that is sustained for a number of lines
hyperbole: extreme exaggeration that contains some truth
oxymoron: a combination of two contradictory or contrasting terms in a single, meaningful phrase, for example, pretty ugly or cold fire
paradox: a self-contradictory statement that is somehow true