Poetry Basics Simile Definition A direct comparison between

Poetry Basics

Simile � � Definition A direct comparison between two dissimilar NOUNS using the words like, as, or resembles. What to look for ◦ ◦ � TWO very different NOUNS The words like, as, or resembles How it works ◦ By comparing ONE NOUN with a totally different NOUN, an idea is implied about the first noun. The implication is that the first noun possesses some of the characteristics of the second noun. NOUN 1 = NOUN 2 � What it is NOT ◦ � It is not simply a description of a noun. There must be two nouns named in the sentence. Examples ◦ ◦ ◦ 1. Life is like a box of chocolates. 2. My brother eats like a vacuum cleaner. 3. Through the hazy smoke, the sun shined like a bronze medallion.

Definition Metaphor ◦ A direct comparison between two dissimilar NOUNS using a “be” verb. � What to look for ◦ TWO very different NOUNS ◦ The “be” verbs: am, is, are, was, were, will be, etc. � How it works ◦ By comparing ONE NOUN with a totally different NOUN, an idea is implied about the first noun. The implication is that the first noun possesses some of the characteristics of the second noun. NOUN 1 = NOUN 2 � What it is NOT ◦ It is not simply a description of a noun. There must be two nouns named in the Sentence. � Examples ◦ 1. To me, math is Mt. Everest. ◦ 2. The lion is king of the grasslands. ◦ 3. Since my lawnmower is broken, my lawn is a jungle.

PERSONIFICATION � Definition ◦ The description of a non-human NOUN by using human characteristics. Personification can be a simile or a direct metaphor only if the first noun is nonhuman and the second noun is human. � What to look for ◦ Something not human being given a personality, human-like actions, or human-like behaviors. � How it works ◦ By comparing a non-human NOUN to a human, personification implies an idea about the non-human noun. � What it is NOT ◦ Personification NEVER describes a person. If the NOUN that is being described is a person, you do not have personification. � Examples ◦ 1. The mountain waited for us in the distance, mocking us, beckoning us to attempt the climb. ◦ 2. Empty for years, the house sat lonely at the end of the road, slumped over in defeat.

� Definition IMAGERY ◦ Vivid descriptions which stimulate one of the five senses: sight, hearing, sensation, taste, or smell. � What to look for ◦ ADJECTIVES which are vivid; similes or metaphors which use sensory descriptions. � How it works ◦ By describing a NOUN with vivid language that stimulates a sense, the reader can “picture” the idea more effectively. � What it is NOT ◦ A judgment or identification: saying “I see a dog” is not imagery; saying “that smells horrible” is not imagery. Imagery must include figurative language OR vivid and well articulated description. Imagery is not simply a statement of a sensory VERB or the identification of a NOUN. � Examples ◦ 1. The scent of pine trees and campfire smoke hung around us for days after we returned home. ◦ 2. Across the sky the sunset painted vivid and luminescent oranges and purples which chased the sun away. ◦ 3. After I crashed my skateboard, my skin burned from the sun-heated and gritty pavement.

Award Winning Student Similes and Metaphors � � His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking alliances like underpants in a dryer without Cling Free. He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like a guy who went blind because he looked at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking at high schools about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it. � She had a deep, throaty, genuine laugh, like that sound a dog makes just before it throws up. � Her vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever. � He was as tall as a six-foot, three-inch tree. � The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn't. � � From the attic came an unearthly howl. The whole scene had an eerie, surreal quality, like when you're on vacation in another city and Jeopardy comes on at 7: 00 p. m. instead of 7: 30. The hailstones leaped from the pavement, just like maggots when you fry them in hot grease.

� Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed lovers raced across the grassy field toward each other like two freight trains, one having left Cleveland at 6: 36 p. m. traveling at 55 mph, the other from Topeka at 4: 19 p. m. at a speed of 35 mph. � John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had also never met. � He fell for her like his heart was a mob informant, and she was the East River. � Even in his last years, Granddad had a mind like a steel trap, only one that had been left out so long, it had rusted shut. � The plan was simple, like my brother-in-law George. But unlike George, this plan just might work. � The young fighter had a hungry look, the kind you get from not eating for a while. � � He was as lame as a duck. Not the metaphorical lame duck, either, but a real duck that was actually lame, maybe from stepping on a land mine or something. The ballerina rose gracefully en pointe and extended one slender leg behind her, like a dog at a fire hydrant. It was an American tradition, like fathers chasing kids around with power tools. He was deeply in love. When she spoke, he thought he heard bells, as if she were a garbage truck backing up

Contest Scoring

Class Grade � Class Grade will be based on the following factors: �Poem is MEMORIZED with no mistakes �Student puts effort into expressing the meaning of the poem through the class performance �Student shows their understanding of the poem through the class performance �Student is in class on the day of the POL competition. If you have an unexcused absence on this day, you will not be allowed to make up this grade!