Metaphors, Similes, Personification, Idiom, Hyperbole, and Allusion Figurative Language Metaphors, Similes, Personification, Idiom, Hyperbole, and Allusion

Metaphor When two seemingly unlike objects are compared to each other without using comparing words such as ‘like’, ‘as’, ‘seems’, or ‘than’.

Examples The bright sun is an orange that could be picked right out of the sky and eaten. What two objects are being compared? What does this metaphor mean?

Examples The teacher swooped in quickly and snatched the note from the student’s hand with her sharp, greedy, talons. What two things are being compared? What does this metaphor mean?

Examples The large, round, bowling ball of a defensive tackle sped down the alley and crashed into the quarterback. What objects are being compared? What does this metaphor mean?

Now it’s your turn! With your partner, create two of your own original metaphors. Write down what objects are being compared and what your metaphor means. Share your metaphors with the class.

Simile Compares to seemingly unlike objects using comparing words such as ‘like’, ‘as’, ‘seems’, or ‘than.’

Examples The bright glowing sun looked as if it could be plucked right out of the sky and eaten. What two objects are being compared? What does this simile mean?

Examples Turning, they ran to the front of the building lined up in two long lines, and marching like little tin soldiers disappeared inside the school. What objects are being compared? What does this simile mean?

Examples He just lay there in the sunshine, all stretched out and limber as a rag. What objects are being compared? What does this simile mean?

Time Out by Jana Ghossein Help! Oh how much my heart hurts! My mouth is as dry as a desert.  My throat is sore. My voice is a goner. My heart is beating as fast as a tiger.  My hand is a rattling snake.  My face is a tomato.  Bye bye, boring life. I cannot take it anymore. I lay my head,  upon my knee. Now blow the whistle referee! 

Now it’s your turn! With your partner, create two of your own original similes. Write down what objects are being compared and what your simile means. Share your similes with the class.

Metaphor or Simile? Read the following examples of metaphors or similes. Determine if the sentence is a metaphor or a simile. Explain how you know. Be able to tell the class what objects are being compared and what the metaphor or simile means.

Metaphor or Simile? By the time I had reached the river, every nerve in my body was drawn up as tight as a fiddle string. Like a king in his own domain, it towered far above the smaller trees.

Metaphor or Simile? “You had better get out of there,” I said. “If that tree takes a notion to fall, it’ll mash you flatter than a tadpoles tail.” “The streets were a furnace, and the sun an executioner.”

Metaphor or Simile? The rain fell from the sky in long, sharp needles and struck me as I ran to shelter. We are all ants working tirelessly, day to day for all eternity, to fulfill the whims of the queen.

Personification Figurative language when a non-human objects is given human characteristics or traits.

Examples The wind whistled a gloomy tune as it blew through darkening forest. Thousands of blades of grass massaged my back while I lay staring at the cloudless sky. What is being personified? What does each personification mean?

Examples “Fear knocked on the door. Faith answered. There was no one there.” "Pimento eyes bulged in their olive sockets. Lying on a ring of onion, a tomato slice exposed its seedy smile . . .." What is being personified?

Now it’s your turn! With your partner, create two of your own original examples of personification. Write down what objects are being personified and what human qualities they are given. Share your personification with the class.

Wind By J. Kurnath The wind dances in on Trotting horses’ feet It stops in a golden Valley looking about through Fiery eyes, and then rages past At a mighty gallop.

Create Your Own Nature Personication Poem Directions: Line 1   Title + (How it arrives or begins)  Line 2   Tell what it does  Line 3   Tell how it does it  Line 4   Tell where it is  Line 5 Tell how it leaves 

Hyperbole An extreme exaggeration or overstatement.

Examples I am so hungry I could eat a horse. I have a million things to do. I had to walk 15 miles to school in the snow, uphill. I had a ton of homework. If I can’t buy that new game, I will die. He is as skinny as a toothpick. This car goes faster than the speed of light.

Appetite In a house the size of a postage stamp lived a man as big as a barge. His mouth could drink the entire river You could say it was rather large For dinner he would eat a trillion beans And a silo full of grain, Washed it down with a tanker of milk As if he were a drain.

Thanksgiving A mountain of baby carrots, a turkey the size of a cow. a river full of gravy a dog that says meow Every pie known to man and gallons full of ice cream. By the time my dinner is over I surely won’t be lean.