Figuratively Speaking
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate... Shakespeare
Helen, thy beauty is to me
Like those Nicean barks of yore ... Poe
Like a skein of loose silk blown against a wall
She walks by the railing of a path in Kensington Gardens... Ezra Pound
Metaphors:
Yes! in the sea of life enisled, ...
We mortal millions live alone... Arnold
A Sonnet is a moment's monument ... D. G. Rossetti
I taste a liquor never brewed ...
Inebriate of Air -- am I -- ... Dickinson
I shall never get you put together entirely
Pieced, glued, and properly jointed... Plath
Prayer, the Church's banquet, Angels' age,
God's breath in man returning to his birth ... Herbert
Personification
The wind howled at the windows.
When Stan plopped down, the chair groaned.
The ladybug is an incredulous insect... Twain
Synechdoche:
Give us this day our daily bread. Matthew 6
I should have been a pair of ragged claws
Scuttling across the floors of silent seas.
T. S. Eliot, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"
The U.S. won three gold medals.
(The members of the U.S. boxing team won three gold medals.)
All hands on deck!
Metonymy:
He is a man of the cloth.
The pen is mightier than the sword.
By the sweat of thy brow thou shalt eat thy bread.
"A Noiseless Patient Spider" by Walt Whitman
extended metaphor: spider is a "seeker" or "lost soul"
"A Prompt Executive Jay" by Emily Dickinson
"Ode to the West Wind" by Percy Bysshe Shelley
"She Walks in Beauty" by George Gordon
"I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" by William Wordsworth
"When Serpents Battle for the Right to Squirm" by e.e. cummings
"Winter Ocean" by Updike
PRACTICE WORKSHEET IDEAS:
Sample Worksheet: Simile and Metaphor by Seamus Cooney
Similes Galore!
Figurative Language Review Chart
Assignment 4: Image and Metaphor - An Appeal to Our Senses
Personification Lesson Plans and Resources
Internet Simile/Metaphor Interactive Activity
"Frame" for making unique similes
ON-Line Course: Understanding Figures of Speech
Samples of Synechdoche/Metonymy and others
Sample Lesson Plan: Simile/Metaphor
Books on Figures of Speech through Amazon.com
Thinking Publications' Comprehensive Language Program excellent resource for ESL teachers or for teachers who work with language impaired learners.
Yes, the Bible is more than good literature, because it is the inspired Word of God, penned by human hands, but not crafted or created by man. However, Bible stories, poems, songs, and proverbs can provide excellent inspiration and resources for a language
The copyright of the article Figuratively Speaking in Teaching Language Arts is owned by Kelley M. Rubben. Permission to republish Figuratively Speaking in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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