Lesson 1
Love in the Eyes of Poets: Metaphors and Similes in Poetry
Love in the Eyes of Poets:
Metaphors and Similes
in Poetry
▼
I. Vocabulary & Derivatives
Fill in the blanks with the most appropriate words.
fair
___________
1. The weather is ____
f
___r and sunny today.
Why don’t we have a
picnic in the park later?
forever
___________
2. At their wedding, the groom promised that he would love his bride
f
____
___r.
surrender
___________
3. The leader of the army encouraged his soldiers to fight hard and
never ____
s
___r to the enemy.
numerous
___________
4. To become a great writer, Sammy reads ____
n
___s books and novels
and forces himself to write three pages of fiction every day.
praised
___________
5. The man was p_____ ___
ed for his bravery in saving a boy who was
drowning in the river.
concrete
___________
6. They have some vague ideas about the sales project, but they have
not yet come up with any ____
c
___e plan.
vivid
___________
7. Jessie still has a ____
v
___d image of her grandma, who died three
years ago.
ocean
___________
8. There are many fierce and horrible fish living at the bottom of the
o
____
___n.
midnight
___________
9. It was very quiet and peaceful at ____
m ___t.
After reading for a
while, Helen quickly fell asleep.
prison
10. Caught by the police, the robber was sent to _______ (prisoner).
___________
deeply
11. The audience was _______ (deep) impressed by Barry’s guitar
___________
playing.
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comparison 12. In the nursery rhyme “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star,” the writer made
___________
a _______ (compare) of the stars to diamonds.
▼
II. Multiple Choice
. Choose the best answer to each question.
A
1. It was Eric _______ bought this present for you.
_____
(A) that
(B) what
(C) how
(D) which
C
2. If I _______ you, I would not buy a house in such a noisy area.
_____
(A) am
(B) was
(C) were
(D) be
D
3. If you had a magic wand like Harry Potter’s, what _______ you like to do
_____
with it?
(A) will
(B) can
(C) may
(D) would
D
4. Jerry enjoys his time late at night when he can _______ a lot of work without
_____
disturbance（打擾）.
(A) figure out
(B) put on
(C) turn out
B
5. I have been thinking about the project for several days.
_____
(D) get through
Have you _______
any good ideas?
(A) taken up
(B) come up with
(C) gotten rid of
(D) looked up
▼
III. Cloze Test
Choose the best answer for each blank.
Similes and metaphors can be commonly seen in poetry and many other forms of
writing.
Writers use them to make their works more interesting to read.
simile comes from the Latin word similis.
It
1.
comparison of two different things by using “like” or “as.”
The word
likeness or similarity.
It is a
In the world-famous poem by
Robert Burns “My Love Is Like a Red, Red Rose,” the author compares his love
2.
a beautiful rose.
3.
The second type of comparison is called metaphor.
It is a
comparison between two different things which doesn’t use words such as “like” or “as.”
2
Lesson 1
Love in the Eyes of Poets: Metaphors and Similes in Poetry
The following famous quote from one of Shakespeare’s plays is a good example: “All the
world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.” In this quote, Shakespeare
4.
comparisons between life and drama and between people and
5.
. Using these
forms of comparison, writers turn their vivid imagination into words for us to read and enjoy.
A
1. (A) means
_____
(B) that means
(C) meaning
(D) meant
C
2. (A) at
_____
(B) by
(C) to
(D) for
B
3. (A) close
_____
(B) direct
(C) unknown
(D) quick
A
4. (A) draws
_____
(B) draw
(C) takes
(D) took
D
5. (A) writers
_____
(B) dancers
(C) storytellers
(D) actors
▼
IV. Matching
Complete the sentences below by matching the words in the left column with
those in the right column.
B
1. My love is as
_____
(A) like a beautiful rose.
A
2. The girl’s lovely face is
_____
(B) sweet as honey.
E
3. It is Owen
_____
(C) we will have a garden party.
D
4. If I could speak several foreign
_____
(D) I would travel around the world.
languages,
(E) that is going to perform in the
C
5. If the weather is fine this weekend,
_____
party tonight.
▼
V. Translation
Translate the following Chinese sentences into English.
1. 如果你可以猜透人的心思，你會想要做什麼事？
If you ________
could
read people’s minds, what ________
would you do with the information?
2. 如果我有像 Doraemon（哆啦 A 夢）的朋友，我會要求他幫助有需要的人。
If I ________
had
a friend like Doraemon, I ________
would ________
ask
him to help people
in need.
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3. 想要去看電影的是 John 而不是 Mary。
It
is
not Mary ________
but
John ________
that
wants to see the movie.
________
________
4. John 想看的電影是 Harry Potter（哈利波特）。
It is the Harry Potter film that John wants to see.
5. 如果我中兩百萬樂透 (lottery) ，我將幫助那些過悲慘生活 (live in misery) 的人。
If I won two million dollars in the lottery, I would help those who live in misery.
▼
VI. Reading Comprehension
Read the following article and choose the best answer to each question.
To make poems fun to read, poets often use various metaphors or similes in their
works. With these literary devices, poets create vivid pictures in readers’ mind and
help make what they want to express more concrete and lively.
By drawing
comparisons between two different things, sometimes our imagination will be actively
awakened, and perhaps we will be able to see the world in a way different from what we
used to see. The following are two poems. The first one is written with a simile that
compares the rain to a mouse. In the second one, the wind is compared to a person who
destroys things, and this kind of comparison that makes something human-like is called
personification. Now read them closely and try to answer the following questions.
Rain Poem
The rain was like a little mouse,
Quiet, small, and gray,
It pattered all around the house
And then it went away.
It did not come, I understand,
Indoors at all, until,
It found an open window and
Left tracks across the sill.
－Elizabeth Coatsworth (1893-1986)
The Wind
The wind stood up and gave a shout.
He whistled on his fingers and
Kicked the withered leaves about
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Lesson 1
Love in the Eyes of Poets: Metaphors and Similes in Poetry
And thumped the branches with his hand
And said that he’d kill and kill,
And so he will and so he will.
－James Stephens (1882-1950)
A
1. What is the best title for this passage?
_____
(A) Metaphors and Similes in Poems
(B) How to Read a Poem to Children
(C) Creativity and Poetry
(D) A Short Introduction to Metaphor in Poetry
D
2. According to the passage, which of the following is NOT the reason why poets
_____
use metaphors and similes in poems?
(A) To make poems vivid and interesting to read.
(B) To awaken readers’ imagination.
(C) To make poems full of fun.
(D) To make poems difficult to understand.
B
3. In the “Rain Poem,” the poet compared rain to _______.
_____
(A) a cat
(B) a mouse
(C) a dog
(D) a peacock
A
4. In which way is the rain similar to a mouse in the eyes of the poet Elizabeth
_____
Coatsworth?
(A) A mouse comes into the house secretly like the rain.
(B) A mouse jumps up and down like the rain.
(C) A mouse moves as fast as the rain.
(D) A mouse makes a lot of noise like the rain.
C
5. In the second poem, the wind is described as someone who _______.
_____
(A) is nice and gentle
(B) is fond of dancing
(C) is brutal and cruel
(D) enjoys singing a song
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