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STUDENT ACTIVITY
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE
Figurative language is often the language of poets. It goes beyond a dictionary definition of words and lets
us capture the scene, the emotion, the movement and the connecting ideas in a few words. Writers watch
for figures of speech to use; readers watch for figures of speech to enjoy and to find deeper meaning.
Read the examples below and create three original examples for each figure of speech.
Simile A comparison between two different things using like or as.
The Cyclopss eye looked like a huge red lantern, coming closer.
His ships swooped down on the white city like wolves on a sheepfold.
Her dress was as blue as the summer sky.
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Metaphor An implied comparison between different things that does not use like or as.
wolfing your lunch monkeying around Moms a bear today
barking orders a freeway of ants carpet of grass
Often metaphors use these words: is, are, was, were.
The road was a ribbon of moonlight.
His ships were the hawks of the sea.
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Extended Metaphor A metaphor that is continued through several sentences or even paragraphs.
Ronald Reagan compared the government of the United States to a ship of state throughout his speech in an
extended metaphor.
Lois Lowry used an extended metaphor in her Newbery Acceptance Speech comparing the creation of The
Giver to a river of ideas flowing together.
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Personification A form of metaphor in which a lifeless object, an animal, or an idea is made to act like
a person.
The winds cheered, jeered, laughed, growing, and leaping in freedom.
The new days light stands tiptoe on the misty mountaintop.
Love smiled warmly and filled his heart with her soft voice.
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Hyperbole Exaggeration for effect. Not meant to be taken literally.
My dad had a cow when he saw my report card.
Hes as strong as an ox.
I could eat a horse.
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Allusion A reference to a well-known person, place, thing or event.
Harriet Tubman was called the Moses of her time.
To act or not to act, that was Marias dilemma.
The final game was Johns Waterloo.
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Onomatopoeia The use of words whose sound makes you think of its meaning.
Bees buzzed around the roses all afternoon.
How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle, in the icy air of night.
The oars smacked the water as the oarsman gasped for breath.
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