Figurative Language
Identifying Figurative Language
1. Does the author compare two things directly using the words like or as?
John felt like a puppet, willing to do his brother’s bidding at any time.
2. Does the author compare two things indirectly?
Do the words describe something as if it were something different?
Noelle’s gaze was a blade that cut right through me.
3. Does the author describe an animal, object, or idea as if it were human?
The rusty car relaxed in the grass with its hood caught in a yawn.
Simile
A simile uses like or as to compare two things that are somehow alike.
Excerpt from Great
Expectations by Charles Dickens
Some medical beast had revived Tar-water in those days as a fine
medicine, and Mrs. Joe always kept a supply of it in the cupboard;
having a belief in its virtues correspondent to its nastiness. At the best
of times, so much of this elixir was administered to me as a choice
restorative, that I was conscious of going about, smelling like a new
fence. On this particular evening the urgency of my case demanded a
pint of this mixture, which was poured down my throat, for my greater
comfort, while Mrs. Joe held my head under her arm, as a boot would
be held in a bootjack.
Metaphor
A metaphor compares two things without using the words like or as.
Excerpt from As
You Like It by William Shakespeare
All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts.
Personification
Personification is giving non-human things human qualities.
Excerpt from “In
a Library”
by Emily Dickinson
A precious, mouldering pleasure ’t is
To meet an antique book,
In just the dress his century wore;
A privilege, I think,
His venerable hand to take,
And warming in our own,
A passage back, or two, to make
To times when he was young.
Guided Practice with Figurative Language
Read the poem excerpt below and answer the questions that follow.
Excerpt from “She
walks in beauty, like the night” by Lord Byron
She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies,
And all that's best of dark and bright
Meets in her aspect and her eyes;
Thus mellow'd to that tender light
Which Heaven to gaudy day denies.
Guided Practice with Figurative Language
1. Which of the following lines is an example of a simile?
A. She walks in beauty, like the night
B. And all that's best of dark and bright
C. Meets in her aspect and her eyes
D. Which Heaven to gaudy day denies
2. Which of the following lines is an example of personification?
A. Of cloudless climes and starry skies,
B. And all that's best of dark and bright
C. Meets in her aspect and her eyes
D. Which Heaven to gaudy day denies
Guided Practice with Figurative Language
1. Which of the following lines is an example of a simile?
A. She walks in beauty, like the night
B. And all that's best of dark and bright
C. Meets in her aspect and her eyes
D. Which Heaven to gaudy day denies
2. Which of the following lines is an example of personification?
A. Of cloudless climes and starry skies,
B. And all that's best of dark and bright
C. Meets in her aspect and her eyes
D. Which Heaven to gaudy day denies
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