A lesson in reading between the
lines…
• Metaphor is a figure of speech in which a
comparison is made between two unlike things
that actually have something in common.
• Unlike simile, you don't use "like" or "as" in the
comparison.
• Sometimes the speaker says something IS
something else.
– The clouds are marshmallows in the sky
• Sometimes the speaker IMPLIES that
something is something else
– Marshmallows float through the air
• Explicit metaphor
– explicitly stated or obvious
• Implicit metaphor
– not explicitly stated or obvious
• When something is subtly compared to another thing.
• Can slip by readers who aren’t paying CLOSE attention to
language
• For example, You want to describe a
stubborn man, unwilling to leave
– He was a mule, standing his ground.
• This is a fairly explicit metaphor
• The man is being compared to a mule.
• For example, You want to describe a stubborn
man, unwilling to leave
– the man "brayed his refusal to leave"
– the subject (the man) is never overtly identified
as a mule.
– Braying is associated with the mule, a notoriously
stubborn creature, and so the comparison
between the stubborn man and the mule is
sustained.
• I am a rainbow
– It is comparing two nouns, a person, and a
rainbow, but does not use like or as.
• I am not Anger
– it is contrasting two nouns.
My life is a dream,
like a tiger waking
up from her deep sleep.
My life is like
a dream,
it's all
up
to
me,
the trees
are
purple,
the
stars
talk
away
the night,
the
moaning moon
lights
up the sky.
By Autumn
I am Las Vegas growing by the infinite
awake morning by night,
or day.
I am Las Vegas
My hand is the sand.
By Rachel
I am a sword,
Sharper than a tongue
Nobody can defeat me,
Because I am a sword,
I can not be hurt by what people say
About me,
I will not show my anger
Against
Someone else.
By Alex
Math is the career for kids.
If you don't
know math
you won't make any money.
you won't get a job.
you won't get a house.
By Jake
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometimes too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd:
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course untrimm'd;
But they eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,
Nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st;
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
By William Shakespeare
Can you identify examples of metaphor?
Check to see if you know what Metaphor is.
Click only on the examples of metaphor.
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Crash, bang, boom! goes the car.
Over the tree over the hill.
Books are dreams
Well done! You are a star!
Swoosh! goes the flag
The pizza said, "Eat me!"
Cats camp in California.
The sand is a golden blanket
War cries.
Red crackles.
The moon is a white balloon