Journal #3 Figurative & Literal Language

Literal language Language that means exactly what it says. For Example: This yellow slide is about literal language.

figurative language Language that means something other than what it says. Examples: Metaphor Simile Personification For if dreams die Life is a broken-winged bird That cannot fly. I lost my freedom for free room and board like a monkey in a zoo

Unpacking figurative language What is the author really telling us? The children pressed to each other like so many roses, so many weeds, intermixed, peering out for a look at the hidden sun.

Journal #3 – Figurative & literal language 1.Define figurative and literal language in your own words 2.Choose a passage (5+ sentences) that contains figurative and literal language 3.Copy out a sentence that is figurative and a sentence which is literal.

4.Label your figurative language (metaphor, simile, etc…)

5.Unpack the figurative language. Write a paragraph explaining what the author is telling you through this figurative language. In this paragraph, the author characterizes Margot by showing the effect life on Venus has had on her. The simile, she “looked as if she had been lost in the rain…” shows that she is depressed because the comparison shows all her colour being washed away. “The rain washed out the blue from her eyes and the red from her mouth and the yellow from her hair.” Here we see all that is vibrant about her being taken away from the rain. In the metaphor “she was an old photograph dusted from an album,” we see that not only is she pale, but she does not belong. She is from another time or, as we know, another place. Because of this, when she speaks she is not heard, she is not relevant, her voice is “a ghost.” Through this figurative language the author characterizes Margot as a sad little girl who doesn’t belong.