Lenore Pfaff 8 th Grade English Madill Middle School Using Nature to Help Students Identify and Use Figurative Language

Objectives:  Identify examples of figurative language including personification, onomatopoeia, alliteration, hyperbole, and imagery; aid in determining when to use in writing.  Recognize and identify elements in nature that can be related to one’s life and used as a foundation in writing.  Write poetry using two examples of figurative language.

What is Imagery? Imagery represents objects, actions, or ideas. Imagery helps you and others see what you are saying. Imagery can be demonstrated in many forms, such as metaphors and similes. He flew like a dove. I am a rock, I am an island; I’ve built walls, deep and mighty, That none may penetrate.

Why is Imagery Important? Is a rock a rock? Is this a rock or a face? What do you think? Ordinary things or objects mean different things to different people. What do you see when you look at a tree? Do you see its leaves? Do you see its past? What does it mean?

What is Personification? Personification is a description of an object as being a person or an animal. The wise bison acknowledged the boy’s presence by nodding at him silently. Slanting on the horizon, the all-knowing rocks hinted at the past as well as the future.

What is Onomatopoeia? Onomatopoeia is a word that imitates or suggests the sound that it describes. Splash, jumping in water Ribbit, what a frog says

What is Alliteration? Alliteration is repeating the same consonant sound at the beginning of two or more words in succession. Trees tower over toppling terrain.

What is Hyperbole? Hyperboles are figures of speech that are exaggerated to create emphasis or effect. The queen bee is ten thousand times bigger than the worker bee.

What now? How do we make a poem? Take what you see around you and relate the words. The poems should describe, they should not rhyme, and they should use at least two of the figurative language devices that we have learned. Let’s look at two different poems, both of which use figurative language, but are very different:

Two examples from poets who put it together a long time ago! Nothing Gold Can Stay Weird Bird Nature’s first green is gold Birds are flyin’ south for winter. Her hardest hue to hold Here’s the Weird-Bird headin’ north, Her early leaf’s a flower, Wings a-flappin’, beak a-chatterin’, But only so an hour. Cold head bobbin’ back ‘n’ forth Then leaf subsides to leaf. He says, “It’s not that I like ice So Eden sank to grief, Or freezin’ winds and snowy ground. So dawn goes down to day. It’s just sometimes it’s kind of nice Nothing gold can stay. To be the only bird in town.” - Robert Frost - Shel Silverstein

Dissecting poetry to find its real meaning! Is Robert Frost really talking about gold? Did Eden really sink in grief? NO! Eden is a metaphor for spring, and the poem is about the wonders and changes in the season. Notice the alliteration? The imagery? Could you see the bird in Shel Silverstein’s poem? Did you find the use of onomatopoeia in “Wings a flappin’, beak a chatterin’?” Figurative language helps you not only see the bird but hear it, too.

Imagery lets you see things as you want them to be seen! A tree may be a tree, or a tree may represent something else. A rock can symbolize strength, or firmness, or even history.

Where to go for more help and inspiration? Basic poetry rules: Poetry writing that utilizes the senses: exercises/poetry-writing-exercises-senses exercises/poetry-writing-exercises-senses Using nature in poetry: poetry.suite101.com/article.cfm/using_nature_in_poetry poetry.suite101.com/article.cfm/using_nature_in_poetry

Enjoy the beauty around you and write about it!