Elements of Poetry:
Figurative Language
8th Grade English/Language Arts – Poetry Unit– Ms. Blume
We are beginning our study
of poetry in 8th grade, but
remember that figurative
language is also used in
other types of writing and
speaking as well, such as
narrative and expository.
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A little poem to begin…..
by
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Introduction to Poetry
by Billy Collins
I ask them to take a poem
and hold it up to the light
like a color slide
or press an ear against its hive.
I say drop a mouse into a poem
and watch him probe his way out,
or walk inside the poem's room
and feel the walls for a light switch.
I want them to waterski
across the surface of a poem
waving at the author's name on the shore.
But all they want to do
is tie the poem to a chair with rope
and torture a confession out of it.
They begin beating it with a hose
to find out what it really means.
But, what
does it
really
mean…??
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Whew!....
We should all feel relieved.
nuance (noun): a subtle quality, distinction, or
variation in meaning or feeling
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Get ready to take Cornell Notes.
Your Name
Title is POETRY: FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE
Today’s Date
Blume ELA8
Period
Write words to be defined
and types of figurative
language here.
Write definitions,
explanations, and
some examples here.
For these notes, you do not
need to use a summary space,
as you see here.
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First, let’s understand
the difference between…
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Begin taking notes. 
Literal Language
Literal means “exact” or “not exaggerated”.
Literal language is language that means
exactly what is said. Most of the time, we use
literal language.
Basketball practice begins at 3:30 PM.
They decided to go to the movies Saturday night.
The newspaper was delivered daily.
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Figurative Language
The opposite of literal language is figurative language.
Figurative language is language that means more than
what it says on the surface. It usually gives us a feeling
about its subject.
For example, one poet writes about “the song of the
truck”. She does not mean that a truck can actually sing!
Rather, she is speaking figuratively. She is referring to
road noises as music. By using the word “song”, and
suggesting music, she brings joyful feelings to mind.
Poets use figurative language almost as frequently as
literal language. When you read poetry, you must be
conscious of the difference. Otherwise, a poem may
make not sense at all!
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Figurative Language is…
Figurative language is not intended to be
interpreted in a literal sense. Using figurative
language gives us new ways of looking at the
world, by appealing to our imagination.
It often makes a comparison between different
things. Figurative language can compare things
that are different in enough ways so that their
similarities, when pointed out, are interesting,
unique and/or surprising.
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Types of Figurative Language
These are many special ways of putting words and
phrases together to give strong, sharp, clear
impressions. By creating lively, rich word pictures,
readers can see the images and understand the
feelings being written about. Using a variety of
“figures of speech”, a writer can express themselves
in the most colorful, imaginative, descriptive ways
possible. Here are a few…
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Metaphor
Describes a person, place, thing, feeling, idea, or
action by comparing it to something else –
without using like or as.
Ricardo is a walking encyclopedia.
Teddy is a pig.
This room is an oven! or This room is a refrigerator!
Her eyes were sparkling sapphires.
marshmallow clouds… hands of iron… icy stare…
angelic smile… inky blackness
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Metaphor example…
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"Language is a road map of a culture.
It tells you where its people come
from and where they are going."
(Rita Mae Brown)
Metaphors aren't merely the candy
sprinkles on the doughnut of language.
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Simile
Describes a person, place, thing, feeling, idea,or
action by comparing it with something else – and
USES like or as.
The sun is like a yellow ball of fire in the sky.
Her eyes were like sparkling sapphires.
“… its fleece was white as snow”.
Fell as softly as feathers…. throbbed like beating
drums… closed like a steel trap… arrived as silently
as drifting snow… felt free as a butterfly…
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Simile example…
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Take a
moment to
write these
down,
filling in
words to
make your
own similes.
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Hyperbole
Big exaggeration; often with humor.
Mile high ice-cream cones.
I’m so hungry I could eat a horse.
Yikes!!
My backpack weighs a ton!
I’ve told you a thousand times….!
I’m dead tired…
The cafeteria food is definitely left over from the
dinosaur age.
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Personification
Giving human qualities to something that is NOT human.
Mother Earth… Father Time… Jack Frost…
The dawn spread her fingertips of rose…
The sun looked over the mountain’s rim…
The chocolate bar was calling his name!
“… the wind swept by counting its money and
throwing it away,
In a wind-gaunt orchard where the limbs forked out
and listened or never listened at all…:
--- from “Wind Song” by Carl Sandburg
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Personification examples…
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Personification examples…
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Personification example…
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Personification
example…
Author Unknown
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Personification example…
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Onomatopoeia
Words that sound like their meaning --the “sound” they describe.
buzz… hiss… roar… meow… woof… rumble…
howl… snap… zip… zap… blip… whack …
crack… crash… flutter… flap… squeak… whirr..
pow… plop… crunch… splash… jingle… rattle…
clickety-clack… bam!
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Onomatopoeia example…
The rusty spigot
sputters,
utters
a splutter,
spatters a smattering of drops,
gashes wider;
slash
splatters
scatters
spurts
finally stops sputtering
and plash!
gushes rushes splashes
clear water dashes.
The
Rusty
Spigot
by Eve
Merriam
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Onomatopoeia example…
and Personification too.
Cynthia in the Snow
by Gwendolyn Brooks
It SUSHES.
It hushes
The loudness in the road.
It flitter-twitters,
And laughs away from me.
It laughs a lovely whiteness,
And whitely whirs away,
To be,
Some otherwhere,
Still white as milk or shirts.
So beautiful it hurts.
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Imagery
Pictures that poets create with words that appeal to
our five senses (sight, hearing, touch, smell, taste),
as well as our feelings.
cozy blanket
glowing sunset
tangy lemon
angelic voices
scented garden
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Imagery continued…
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Imagery continued…
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Symbolism
Something concrete (= actual; real) that stands for
something abstract (= a quality or idea that doesn’t refer to an
actual person or thing).
A symbol can be a person, place, thing, or action.
It can stand for an idea, belief, feeling, or attitude.
A symbol keeps its own meaning while also standing
for something else.
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•
By using symbolism an author can express the theme(s)
of a story on a physical level. A simple example might be
when a storm happens at a critical point, when there is
conflict or high emotions. The storm might symbolize
these conflicts or emotions. Similarly a transition from
day to night, or spring to winter, could symbolize a move
from goodness to evil, or hope to despair. A river in a
scene could represent the flow of life, from birth to death.
Flowers can symbolize youth or beauty.
• Not everything in a story is necessarily symbolic. A
garden landscape is just a garden ... until it is contrasted
with a bustling city, at which point the garden could
symbolize tranquility, peace, or escape.
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Let's look at some actual examples of symbolism used in literature and
other media, with which you might be familiar.
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In the novel Animal Farm, the entire story is a symbol for the evils of communism,
with the main animal characters representing key figures in the Russian revolution. The
novel can be read entirely as a children's story, but when you realize what the various
elements and characters in the story symbolize, the novel takes on a whole new
meaning. That's why this particular work has become such a classic. This kind of story
is called an allegory.
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In The Lord of the Flies, Ralph with his conch shell represents order and democracy,
while Jack symbolizes savagery and anarchy. The island itself symbolizes the world in
which we live, and the actions of the characters are symbolic of the way different
people conduct their lives. The beast represents the darker side of human nature.
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The movie series Star Wars has been described as symbolic of faith and religion in our
world overcoming evil.
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The song I Hope You Dance by Lee Ann Womack is full of symbolism. The song isn't
really about dancing at all ... dancing is a symbol for getting the most out of life. When
she sings '"I hope you never fear those mountains in the distance", the mountains
symbolize our fears about the future, or obstacles in life we must overcome.
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The play MacBeth by William Shakespeare uses blood, both real and imagined, as a
symbol of guilt, both of MacBeth and Lady MacBeth. Another symbol used in the play
is a raven, which usually represents ill fortune (think of Poe’s The Raven too!).
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The Harry Potter books by J. K. Rowling could be seen as containing a lot of
symbolism, although there are as many interpretations as there are creatures in the
books! (The author isn't saying). One clear example is a commonly used one; the use of
a snake to represent evil. It is no coincidence that the symbol of Slytherin House is a 40
serpent.
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Idiom
An expression that means something different
from what it says. Idioms are culturally based.
The British and the Americans speak the same
language but may not understand each other’s
idioms.
The use of idioms is widespread in writing and
speaking, and to truly understand Standard
American English, it helps to know many
idioms.
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