Personification, Similes,

and MetaphorsPoetic Devices: Figurative Language

WHAT POETIC DEVICE IS USED?Listen and Analyze

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2AshX3tfHU

Simile

• Definition: A comparison of two

unlike things using like or as

• Example: His feet were as big as

boats.

Can you find any similes

in this next poem?

Lenka, “Everything At Once”

As sly as a fox, as strong as an ox

As fast as a hare, as brave as a bear

As free as a bird, as neat as a word

As quiet as a mouse, as big as a house

As mean as a wolf, as sharp as a tooth

As deep as a bite, as dark as the night

As sweet as a song, as right as a wrong

As long as a road, as ugly as a toad

As pretty as a picture hanging from a fixture

Strong like a family, strong as I wanna be

Bright as day, as light as play

As hard as nails, as grand as a whale

What purpose

does simile serve

in this song?

WHY USE SIMILE?Purpose and Impact

help someone understand a concept

create a better idea about the nature of something

give information about unknown objects

add emotion and imagery

WHAT POETIC DEVICE IS USED?Look and Analyze

Metaphor

• Definition: comparing

two unlike things by

stating that one is the

other

• Example: Her hair, the

silk of sun rays, fell down

her back gently.

How does the

speaker feel

towards the girl?

Can you find any

metaphors in this next

poem?

Broomsby Dorothy Aldis

On stormy days

When the wind is high,

Tall trees are brooms

Sweeping the sky.

They swish their branches

In buckets of rain

And swash and sweep it

Blue again.

What is being compared

to what? What is the poet

expressing by using this

metaphor?

WHY USE METAPHOR?Purpose and Impact

help someone understand a concept

create a better idea about the nature of something

give information about unknown objects

add emotion and imagery

WHAT POETIC DEVICE IS USED?Watch and Analyze

Personification

• Definition: Giving human qualities to objects, animals, or ideas

• Example: The orange candy winked at me, beckoning me to match it with it’s three sisters. “Candy Crush, stop stealing my life!” I screamed at the screen.

Can you find

personification

in this next poem?

Autumn brushes her hair slowly

Letting the glorious colors

flow gently to the earth below.

Showing off vibrant colors

in contrast to summer's green dress.

Out doing the starkness,

of winter's white coat.

Autumn compares the mutable

shades of spring to her fall

Giving a sigh, end of another season.

She packs her brush

as frost touches her tips.

What is the

purpose of

personification

in this poem.

WHY USE PERSONIFICATION?Purpose and Impact

connects readers with the object that is personified

make descriptions of non-human entities more vivid

help readers understand, sympathize with, or react

emotionally to non-human characters

Personification, Simile, or Metaphor?

1. The baby was like an octopus, grabbing at all the cans on the grocery store shelves and kicking wildly from the cart seat.

2. Loveliest of trees, the cherry now is hung with bloom along the bough, and stands about the woodland ride wearing white for Eastertide.

3. As the teacher entered the room, she muttered under her breath, "This class is like a three-ring circus.” The students stumbled between the desks, laughing lazily.

4. Boom. Boom. The giant’s steps were thunder as he ran toward Jack. Boom. Boom.

5. As I crawled through the field, the shadows trembled in the moonlight.

6. The pillow was as a cloud when I put my head upon it after a long day. I floated away to dreamland.

Now you try:1. I feel like a limp dishrag.

2. Those girls are two peas in a pod.

3. The fluorescent light was the sun during our test.

4. It was the early afternoon of a sunshiny day with little winds

playing hide-and-seek in it.

5. The bar of soap was a slippery eel during the dog’s bath.

6. Ted was as nervous as a cat with a long tail in a room full of

rocking chairs.

Color PracticeWriting Figurative Language

Color Practice

• Each of you is going to get a card with three different

paint samples.

• On your card, write a metaphor, simile, and use of

personification for each color.