Figurative Language
Metaphors, Similes,
Personification, Idiom,
Hyperbole, and Allusion
Metaphor
• When two seemingly unlike
objects are compared to each
other without using comparing
words such as ‘like’, ‘as’,
‘seems’, or ‘than’.
Examples
• The bright sun is an orange that
could be picked right out of the
sky and eaten.
• What two objects are being
compared?
• What does this metaphor mean?
Examples
• The teacher swooped in quickly
and snatched the note from the
student’s hand with her sharp,
greedy, talons.
• What two things are being
compared?
• What does this metaphor mean?
Examples
• The large, round, bowling ball of
a defensive tackle sped down
the alley and crashed into the
quarterback.
• What objects are being
compared?
• What does this metaphor mean?
Now it’s your turn!
• With your partner, create two of
your own original metaphors.
• Write down what objects are
being compared and what your
metaphor means.
• Share your metaphors with the
class.
Simile
• Compares to seemingly unlike
objects using comparing words
such as ‘like’, ‘as’, ‘seems’, or
‘than.’
Examples
• The bright glowing sun looked
as if it could be plucked right
out of the sky and eaten.
• What two objects are being
compared?
• What does this simile mean?
Examples
• Turning, they ran to the front of
the building lined up in two long
lines, and marching like little tin
soldiers disappeared inside the
school.
• What objects are being
compared?
• What does this simile mean?
Examples
• He just lay there in the
sunshine, all stretched out and
limber as a rag.
• What objects are being
compared?
• What does this simile mean?
Time Out
by Jana Ghossein
Help! Oh how much my heart hurts!
My mouth is as dry as a desert.
My throat is sore.
My voice is a goner.
My heart is beating as fast as a tiger.
My hand is a rattling snake.
My face is a tomato.
Bye bye, boring life.
I cannot take it anymore.
I lay my head,
upon my knee.
Now blow the whistle referee!
Now it’s your turn!
• With your partner, create two of
your own original similes.
• Write down what objects are
being compared and what your
simile means.
• Share your similes with the
class.
Metaphor or Simile?
• Read the following examples of
metaphors or similes.
• Determine if the sentence is a
metaphor or a simile.
• Explain how you know.
• Be able to tell the class what
objects are being compared and
what the metaphor or simile means.
Metaphor or Simile?
• By the time I had reached the
river, every nerve in my body
was drawn up as tight as a
fiddle string.
• Like a king in his own domain, it
towered far above the smaller
trees.
Metaphor or Simile?
• “You had better get out of
there,” I said. “If that tree takes
a notion to fall, it’ll mash you
flatter than a tadpoles tail.”
• “The streets were a furnace,
and the sun an executioner.”
Metaphor or Simile?
• The rain fell from the sky in
long, sharp needles and struck
me as I ran to shelter.
• We are all ants working
tirelessly, day to day for all
eternity, to fulfill the whims of
the queen.
Personification
• Figurative language when a nonhuman objects is given human
characteristics or traits.
Examples
• The wind whistled a gloomy tune as
it blew through darkening forest.
• Thousands of blades of grass
massaged my back while I lay
staring at the cloudless sky.
• What is being personified?
• What does each personification
mean?
Examples
• “Fear knocked on the door. Faith
answered. There was no one there.”
• "Pimento eyes bulged in their olive
sockets. Lying on a ring of onion, a
tomato slice exposed its seedy smile
. . .."
• What is being personified?
Now it’s your turn!
• With your partner, create two of
your own original examples of
personification.
• Write down what objects are
being personified and what
human qualities they are given.
• Share your personification with
the class.
Wind
By J. Kurnath
The wind dances in on
Trotting horses’ feet
It stops in a golden
Valley looking about through
Fiery eyes, and then rages past
At a mighty gallop.
Create Your Own
Nature Personication Poem
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Directions:
Line 1 Title + (How it arrives or begins)
Line 2 Tell what it does
Line 3 Tell how it does it
Line 4 Tell where it is
Line 5 Tell how it leaves
Hyperbole
• An extreme exaggeration or
overstatement.
Examples
• I am so hungry I could eat a horse.
• I have a million things to do.
• I had to walk 15 miles to school in the
snow, uphill.
• I had a ton of homework.
• If I can’t buy that new game, I will die.
• He is as skinny as a toothpick.
• This car goes faster than the speed of
light.
Appetite
• In a house the size of a postage stamp
lived a man as big as a barge.
His mouth could drink the entire river
You could say it was rather large
For dinner he would eat a trillion beans
And a silo full of grain,
Washed it down with a tanker of milk
As if he were a drain.
Thanksgiving
• A mountain of baby carrots,
a turkey the size of a cow.
a river full of gravy
a dog that says meow
Every pie known to man
and gallons full of ice cream.
By the time my dinner is over
I surely won’t be lean.