1. Review
What do you call words that are different but that have similar meanings?
Synonyms
Where can you find synonyms?
In a thesaurus
Why do we need to think about using synonyms to replace common words in our writing?
To make our writing more interesting.

2. In Today’s Lesson
We are going to learn a new literary device that also makes writing more interesting.

3. The Mirror What am I? By Sylvia Plath
I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions. Whatever I see I swallow immediately Just as it is, unmisted by love or dislike. I am not cruel, only truthful--
The eye of a little god, four-cornered. Most of the time I meditate on the opposite wall. It is pink, with speckles. I have looked at it so long I think it is a part of my heart. But it flickers. Faces and darkness separate us over and over. Now I am a lake. A woman bends over me, Searching my reaches for what she really is. Then she turns to those liars, the candles or the moon. I see her back, and reflect it faithfully. She rewards me with tears and an agitation of hands. I am important to her. She comes and goes. Each morning it is her face that replaces the darkness. In me she has drowned a young girl, and in me an old woman Rises toward her day after day, like a terrible fish.
By Sylvia Plath

4. What do we call this sort of literary device?
I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions. Whatever I see I swallow immediately Just as it is, unmisted by love or dislike. I am not cruel, only truthful--
Can a mirror be cruel? ….Truthful?
Can a mirror have preconceptions?
Can a mirror swallow?
What do we call this sort of literary device?

5. Giving human characteristics to nonhuman things, or abstractions
PERSONIFICATION
Giving human characteristics to nonhuman things, or abstractions
The sun peeked around the cloud.
Personifying Verb
Thing

6. The stars danced playfully in the moonlit sky.

7. The kettle on the stove screeched when the water boiled.

8. On a dark and stormy night, the wind howled through my window.

9. The dark shadows in the alley way told me to turn around and run!

10. Today, we are going to read a selection from The Bunnicula
Count Dracula

11. admonition Radiator Digress Reverie Glistening
The teacher gave the students a strong admonition to study for their exam.
Radiator
The noisy radiator quickly heated the room.
Digress
Whatever the topic, I usually digress to talk about my favorite new video game.
Reverie
I enjoyed a peaceful reverie, daydreaming in the afternoon for over an hour.
Glistening
The dew on the spider web glistened in the dawn, sparkling as the rays of the morning sun touched it.
A daydream
To leave the main subject temporarily when talking.
A strong warning
shine with a sparkling light.
A heat exchanger – used to heat a room

16. What Literary Device is used in the text below?
My food loves to prance, to jump, to dance; I wait for the time, I wait for the chance! As mommy goes in and out of the room; tables and chairs become their ballroom! I flick my fingers; swing my wrist. Beans and turkey are doing the twist! Peas, plumbs, apples or mangos; on to the walls, they're doing the tango!

17. Giving human characteristics to nonhuman things, or abstractions
PERSONIFICATION
Giving human characteristics to nonhuman things, or abstractions
The sun peeked around the cloud.
Personifying Verb
Thing

18. Your turn
Write 3 sentences with personification in them inspired by these pictures.

19. Watch Click, Clack, Moo Cows That Type
Guiding Notes pp 14-15
Write a diary entry about an important event in a pets life using personification. You may base it upon this story or your own idea.