Metaphors
A poetic introduction
Metaphor
• Metaphors are comparisons that show how two
different things are similar in one important way
(e.g. the moon and a ball are both round).
• Writers use metaphors to help them describe
something more clearly and in a more original
way.
• Metaphors state that something is something
else.
Metaphor
• Some of these phrases are metaphors and some
are just nice descriptions. Can you spot the
difference?
The sea is …
•a lion's roar
•a shark's restaurant
•a quilt of blue
•a surfer's paradise
•a leaking ink cartridge
•the eyes of a fair haired child
•the sound of the crashing waves
•a blue lagoon
•God's tears
•a mermaid's kingdom
•a flooded land
•a fish's home
•a bowl of salty water
•liquid against a velvet sky
•a place beyond the horizon
•a shiny blue sheet hugging the shore
•blue nothingness
•a deadly suffocating machine
•water, alive
•occasionally death when oil tankers spill
•white horses riding on a blue carpet
•fun, surfing on the waves
•another world waiting to be discovered
•a giant puddle
•a blue blanket in the distance
•a background
Metaphor
The Dark is...
The Dark is...
a swallowed night
scary and unknown
a blanket of black
a place where nightmares live
a deep dark hole
a place where light can't show
a place where horror draws you in
black tights over your head
the final sleep
something black
a black cat
where nobody goes
a dark cupboard
a witch's cauldron
black as black
death
loneliness
the night sky
a question
an icy blanket of shadow covering the world
a creeping black monster
a sea of shadows seeping into every corner
a sleeping potion carried around the world
a bottle of Coke
a mysterious cave
the retreat of the sun
loneliness
an oily sea
a black cat at night
the edge of the universe
cold
black
silence
Read the above poems several times.
1) Which are your favorite images? Why?
2) Are there any lines which are not metaphors? Which ones?
Metaphor
• Each person must think of two metaphors for
the sun.
• Write them on a scrap of paper and hand
them in.
• We are going to create a class poem.
Metaphor
• Create your own metaphor poems.
• You might like to start with:
• the moon
• a snail
• a thunderstorm
Extended Metaphor
• Jot the definition below in your notes:
• An extended metaphor explains the
connections made between two different
things.
Extended Metaphor
For example, this is a poem written by parents about their teenage son:
Bat
My son is a bat.
His eyes blink when darkness comes.
His body stirs with life.
His limbs gorge with blood
as he sets out through the cave of night
his roof the stars
the moon a big white eye watching.
Attracted by the false lights
he mingles with his batty friends
weaving in and out of nightclubs
endless parties
each other’s places
till sensing the sudden ebb
of darkness
he flutters home
a cloaked Dracula
to the hollow of his room
where he will sleep all day
Extended Metaphor
• Why did the parents decide to compare the
way the son lives his life to the way a bat
lives?
Extended Metaphor
• Use the P.E.E. format to write your answer in
an analytical paragraph.
– Your point is why the author used the metaphor
of the son is a bat.
– Your evidence will include words in the poem that
helped you make your decisions.
– Your explanation should prove your point.
Extended Metaphor
Use the P.E.E. format to write
your answer in an analytical
paragraph.
– Your point is why the
author used the
metaphor of the son is a
bat.
– Your evidence will
include words in the
poem that helped you
make your decisions.
– Your explanation should
prove your point.
Bat
My son is a bat.
His eyes blink when darkness comes.
His body stirs with life.
His limbs gorge with blood
as he sets out through the cave of night
his roof the stars
the moon a big white eye watching.
Attracted by the false lights
he mingles with his batty friends
weaving in and out of nightclubs
endless parties
each other’s places
till sensing the sudden ebb
of darkness
he flutters home
a cloaked Dracula
to the hollow of his room
where he will sleep all day
Homework
• Write your own metaphor poem for a specific person in
your life. Topics could include:
 My mother is...
 My father is...
 My grandmother is...
 My sister is...
 My brother is...
 My friend is...
 My auntie is...
 My teacher is....
• Be sure to organize your ideas! Maybe your poem follows
the person throughout the day. Maybe you look at the
person in different moods (e.g. the first half when they are
angry and the second half when they are happy.) Maybe
you look at the person when they are at home and then
look at them when they are in public.