Page 2 Figurative Language
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Figurative Language
Figurative language includes words or phrases that express something different from literal meanings.
Figures of speech express meaning indirectly, often involving comparison, often through evoking pictures. The figurative language terms you will learn in this lesson will broaden your understanding of poetry and enable you to communicate more effectively.
The meanings of words often are different than they first appear.
Simile
Consider the following comparisons:
Simile: comparison between two objects or ideas using like or as.
Examples:
Dandelion seeds
scatter in sunshine like spinning ballerinas.
Quickdraw
Carol Ann Duffy (1955 - )
I wear the two, the mobile and the landline phones, like guns, slung from the pockets on my hips.
Metaphor
Metaphor: direct comparison between two objects or ideas.
Similar to similes, metaphors make comparisons, but they do not use like or as.
Examples:
Dandelion seeds are carried by the wind x (This is a statement and not a comparison.)
Dandelions are puffballs x (This is a description; metaphor comparisons are unique.)
Dandelion seeds scattering in the sunshine are ballerinas. v (Yes! This is a metaphor.)
Pale little dandelion in her white shroud / Her dying launches a wind loft cloud
v ( This is a metaphor because the white dandelion is compared to a white sheet of death and also a white cloud.)
Click on the link to a Ted video below to learn more about metaphors and similes.
Water Picture
by May SwensonIn the pond in the park
all things are doubled:
Long buildings hang and
wriggle gently. Chimneys
are bent legs bouncing
on clouds below. A flag
wags like a fishhook
down there in the sky.
all things are doubled:
Long buildings hang and
wriggle gently. Chimneys
are bent legs bouncing
on clouds below. A flag
wags like a fishhook
down there in the sky.
The arched stone bridge
is an eye, with underlid
in the water. In its lens
dip crinkled heads with hats
that don't fall off. Dogs go by,
barking on their backs.
A baby, taken to feed the
ducks, dangles upside-down,
a pink balloon for a buoy.
is an eye, with underlid
in the water. In its lens
dip crinkled heads with hats
that don't fall off. Dogs go by,
barking on their backs.
A baby, taken to feed the
ducks, dangles upside-down,
a pink balloon for a buoy.
Treetops deploy a haze of
cherry bloom for roots,
where birds coast belly-up
in the glass bowl of a hill;
from its bottom a bunch
of peanut-munching children
is suspended by their
sneakers, waveringly.
cherry bloom for roots,
where birds coast belly-up
in the glass bowl of a hill;
from its bottom a bunch
of peanut-munching children
is suspended by their
sneakers, waveringly.
A swan, with twin necks
forming the figure 3,
steers between two dimpled
towers doubled. Fondly
hissing, she kisses herself,
and all the scene is troubled:
water-windows splinter,
tree-limbs tangle, the bridge folds
like a fan.
forming the figure 3,
steers between two dimpled
towers doubled. Fondly
hissing, she kisses herself,
and all the scene is troubled:
water-windows splinter,
tree-limbs tangle, the bridge folds
like a fan.
Phrase
Simile/Metaphor
Explanation
The arched stone bridge is an eye, with underlid in the water.
Metaphor
The reflection of the stone bridge in the water completes an elongated round shape, like an eye.
Chimneys are bent legs bouncing on clouds below.
Metaphor
A slight disturbance in the water has caused the reflection of the chimneys to be warped or to look like 'bent legs'.
A flag wags like a fishhook down there in the sky.
Metaphor
The reflection of the flag looks like a fishhook due to its shape. A fishhook waves in the water and a flag waves in the wind.
A baby, taken to feed the ducks, dangles upside-down, a pink balloon for a buoy.
Metaphor
The pink balloon looks like a buoy in the water, supporting the baby.
The bridge folds like a fan.
Simile
Movement in the water causes the reflection of the bridge to undulate like a folding fan.
Personification
Personification: describes ideas or objects that have uniquely human features
Example:
I - Dandelion
Dandelion stirs on her slender pad,
awakens in the breeze; See her launch her white cap
and open to the window of the world.
The Paper-Boy
Walter Bauer (1904-1976)
In the first morning light
the paper-boy threw
the news of the world
Against closed doors.
The early light accompanied him
Like a silent, obedient dog
But he did not see it, he was
working
Distributing world.
Only after the last bundle
Made up of the waste of yesterday
was thrown away with a
practiced but indifferent hand,
Did he become aware of his loyal
companion.
Whistling, the boy rode his cycle
home.
The morning ran alongside,
A golden, barking dog.
In "Paper Boy", the morning light is compared to the companionship of a dog: friendly, loyal, and obedient.
As the morning brightens, the dog is compared to a golden retriever.
Consider personification: When unobserved, the dog is silent; when noticed, the morning comes alive with barking.
As the morning brightens, the dog is compared to a golden retriever.
Consider personification: When unobserved, the dog is silent; when noticed, the morning comes alive with barking.