Participating in the Poem
Vaughn / 2011
Charting Imagery
Directions: Review the definition of imagery and the examples below. With a partner, complete
the chart with images you might use to describe each of the listed experiences.
Imagery:
Example: the following images might be used to describe a stroll on a summer night:
Sight: a full moon, partially obscured by a band of clouds
Sound: the chirp of a cricket
Taste: sipping lemonade as I walk
Touch: fresh rain on the grass soaking through my tennis shoes
Smell: clean smell of pine trees mixed with the sweetness of roses
Sense
Sight
Sound
Taste
Touch
Smell
Visiting an Amusement
Park or Circus
Witnessing a Robbery or
Traffic Accident
Playing Basketball or
Tennis
Capturing Images in Poems
Directions: Read each of these three poems carefully. Consider the title, read each several times,
notice punctuation and sentences/phrases, note repetition and contrast, and identify the speaker and
his or her purpose. Make notes in the margin. The identify the images in each poem (remember the
5 senses), and explain how they contribute to the effect of the poem on the reader. Be prepared to
discuss your ideas in class.
Sunday Afternoon
After the First Communion
and the banquet of mangoes and
bridal cake, the young daughters
of the coffee merchant lay down
for a long siesta, and their white dresses
lay beside them in quietness
and the white veils floated
in their dreams as the flies buzzed.
But as the afternoon
burned to a close they rose
and ran about the neighborhood
among the halfbuilt villas
alive, alive, kicking a basketball, wearing
other new dresses, of bloodred velvet.
-Denise Levertov
College Formal: Renaissance Casino
Golden girl
in a golden gown
in a melody night
in Harlem town
lad tall and brown
tall and wise
college boy smart
eyes in eyes
the music wraps
them both around
in mellow magic
of dancing sound
till they’re the heart
of the whole big town
gold and brown
-Langston Hughes
Harlem Sweeties
Have you dug the spill
Of Sugar Hill?
Cast your gims
On this sepia thrill:
Brown sugar lassie,
Caramel treat,
Honey-gold baby
Sweet enough to eat,
Peach-skinned girlie,
Coffee and cream,
Chocolate darling
Out of a dream.
Walnut tinted
Or cocoa brown,
Pomegranate lipped
Pride of the town.
Rich cream colored
To plum-tinted black,
Feminine sweetness
In Harlem’s no lack.
Glow of the quince
To blush of the rose.
Persimmon bronze
To cinnamon toes.
Blackberry cordial
Virginia Dare wine—
All those sweet colors
Flavor Harlem of mine!
Walnut or cocoa,
Let me repeat:
Caramel, brown sugar,
A chocolate treat.
Molasses taffy,
Coffee and cream,
Licorice, clove, cinnamon
To a honey-brown dream.
Ginger, wine-gold,
Persimmon, blackberry,
All through the spectrum
Harlem girls vary—
So if you want to know beauty’s
Rainbow-sweet thrill,
Stroll down luscious,
Delicious, fine Sugar Hill.
-Langston Hughes
Figurative Language: Metaphor
Directions: Figurative language is a way of saying one thing but meaning something else. To
understand it, we cannot take it literally. We have to interpret the figurative language.
Metaphor:
Using the examples on the chart below as models, select two metaphors, and note some meanings
they convey.
Metaphor
Life is just a bowl of cherries.
Meaning
Life is sweet, enjoyable, pleasant, and abundant. It does
not entail great effort or pain. It is best shared with others.
It involves knowing how to detect and handle difficulties.
The assistant left the meeting with pie The man’s ideas or actions drew incredible ridicule from
on his face.
others. He found himself a minority of one, with no chance
for success. Despite his efforts, he ended up looking
foolish.
Shakespeare once wrote: “All the world’s a stage and all the men and women merely players.”
Expand this metaphor by composing some of your own comparisons of elements of the theater to
aspects of life.
Theatrical Element
Some actors get star billing.
Parallel in Real Life
Some people take dominant roles.
Stagehands provide props and change scenery.
Some people provide others with necessities of
life.
Now, write a paragraph expanding another metaphor. Try to make as many logical and creative
relationships as possible. Begin with one of the following metaphors, or create one of your own.
 Life is a football game.
 My little brother is a grasshopper.
 High school is a jungle.
 Life is a carnival.
 Getting into college is a marathon.
 Shopping is a battle.
Metaphors in a Poem
A Noiseless Patient Spider
A noiseless patient spider,
I marked where on a little promontory it stood isolated,
Marked how to explore the vacant vast surrounding,
It launched forth filament, filament, filament, out of itself,
Ever unreeling them, ever tirelessly speeding them.
And you O my soul where you stand,
Surrounded, detached, in measureless oceans of space.
Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing, seeking the spheres to connect them,
Till the bridge you will need be formed, till the ductile anchor hold,
Till the gossamer thread you fling catch somewhere, O my soul.
-Walt Whitman
1. The title uses the adjectives noiseless and patient to describe the spider. What adjectives would
you have used?
2. Describe the scene depicted through the images in the first stanza.
3. How does the second stanza differ from the first in subject matter?
4. What relationships do you see between the two stanzas?
5. Who is the speaker? What is the poem’s purpose?
6. What is the underlying metaphor? What multiple meanings are compacted within the
metaphor?
7. Can you identify with the speaker in this poem? Why or why not?
Extra credit: Find and bring in a metaphor from a current advertisement or current event newspaper
article – and share it with the class to reinforce the concept.
Simile
Simile:
Blackberry Sweet
Black girl black girl
lips as curved as cherries
full as grape bunches
sweet as blackberries
Black girl black girl
when you walk you are
magic as a rising bird
or a falling star
Black girl black girl
what’s your spell to make
the heart in my breast
jump stop shake
-Dudley Randall
1. Who is the speaker in this poem?
2. The poem uses simile very obviously in the first two verses. Highlight or circle all the similes.
You should find five. Which one do you find most effective or appealing? Explain your
answer.
3. The final verse contains an indirect metaphor. What is it? What two things are being compared?
4. In what way is the title of the poem a metaphor?
A Water Experience
My Sealed Aquarium
Seatbelted for the worst,
I slither into traffic like a trout,
Downstream, down
sluicing ramps, down
capillary boulevards, down
freeways, Mississippis,
I ogle from my sealed
aquarium and swim with schools
in the current.
Fish-eyed
in glass, I minnow sideways
to the blink of go and stop.
I race the passing gills.
I trail the leadering fins.
-Samuel Hazo
1.
2.
3.
4.
Who is the speaker in this poem? What seems to be the poem’s purpose?
Identify the simile in the poem. What two unlike things are being compared?
How does the rest of the poem continue the simile?
Describe the overall effect of this poem’s figurative language. Did you enjoy it? Why or why
not?
A Modern Tournament
Central Park Tourney
Cars
In the Park
With long spear lights
Ride at each other
Like armored knights;
Rush,
Miss the mark,
Pierce the dark,
Dash by!
Another two
Try.
Staged
In the Park
From dusk
To dawn
The tourney goes on:
Rush,
Miss the mark,
Pierce the dark,
Dash by!
Another two
Try.
-Mildred Weston
1.
2.
3.
4.
What simile dominates this poem? What two unlike things are being compared?
What play on words do you observe in this poem?
Notice the form of the poem. What is suggested by repeating the last six lines in each verse?
Do you think the poem is describing cars aiming at each other on purpose, or simply the traffic
pattern in the park at night? Give evidence from the poem in support of your anwer.
Similes in Poetry
Constantly Risking Absurdity
Constantly Risking Absurdity
and death
whenever he performs
above the heads
of his audience
the poet like an acrobat
climbs on rime
to a high wire of his own making
and balancing on eyebeams
above a sea of faces
paces his way
to the other side of the day
performing entrechats
and slight-of-foot tricks
and other high theatrics
and all without mistaking
any thing
for what it may not be
for he’s the super realist
who must perforce perceive
taut truth
before taking of each stance or step
in his supposed advance
toward that still higher perch
where beauty stands and waits
with gravity
to start her death-defying leap
And he
a little charleychaplin man
who may or may not catch
her fair eternal form
spreadeagled in the empty air
of existence
-Lawrence Ferlinghetti
1. Pinpoint the simile that serves as the basis for this entire poem. What two unlike things are
compared?
2. How does the rest of the poem expand the comparison?
3. What unusual perspective on the role of a poet does this poem offer?
4. What other circus performers might Ferlinghetti have used to parallel poets? Why did he
choose the high wire performer instead?
5. Describe your response to the poem.