1. Figurative Language To understand poetry:
try to understand the literal meaning of the poem.
(what is it saying.)
interpret the figurative language to determine what special meaning the words may take on.
(what does it mean.)
The literal meaning of a sentence conveys the exact meaning of the words used. (The fire is hot.)
Figurative language departs from the actual, or literal meaning of words to create an effect. (That music is hot!)
Knowing types of figurative language will help interpret poetry.

2. 1. simile Compare two things – use the word “like” or “as”
My fist is like a rock.
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
Like a raisin in the sun?
I cried like a two-year-old

3. 2. metaphor Compare two things – saying one thing “is” another.
My fist is a rock.
The Olympic mountains are a wall protecting us from storms.
Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard
Are sweeter, therefore, ye soft pipes, play on;
I was knee-high…
And the harp with a woman's head   Leaned against her shoulder.
Her thin fingers, moving
In the thin, tall strings,
Were weav- weav- weaving,
Wonderful things.

4. 3. personification
Giving human or living qualities to a non-human or non-living thing.
Notice that personification occurs with the use of a subject and verb in the line.
She sang as she worked,
And the harp-strings spoke.
The mountain stood firm.
The curtains danced in the wind.
My mind begins to peek and peer.
…Makes your mother’s blood crawl,
A wind with a wolf’s head, howled about our door.

5. 4. analogy
This is an extended metaphor. It doesn’t make an explicit comparison. It suggests the comparison.
(metaphor) The fog is a cat sitting, looking over the city.
(analogy) The fog comes on little cat.
(analogy) A boat with a furled sail at rest in a harbor. In truth, it pictures not my destination, but my life.

6. 5. metonymy Substitution of one word for another, which is suggests.
We enjoyed the good table of our hostess, who fed us well. (food)
Paid tribute to the crown. (king)
The white house said today: (president)

7. 6. Synecdoche
Using a word that is a part of a thing, but represents the whole thing.
All hands on deck. (meaning workers.)
That dude is wearing cool threads. (meaning clothes.)
Check out my wheels. (meaning the car.)
Boys in the hood.

8. 7. apostrophe Direct address to a non-living thing.
“O Springtime, thou art lovely.”
(screaming at the car when it won’t start) “I hate you. I hate you. I hate you.”

9. 8. hyperbole Exaggeration I’ve got a ton of homework tonight.
It’s going to take me a year to get it done.