Figurative Language Sample

Sketch

By Carl Sandburg

The shadows of the ships

Rock on the crest
In the low blue lustre
Of the tardy and the soft inrolling tide.

A long brown bar at the dip of the sky

Puts an arm of sand in the span of salt.

The lucid and endless wrinkles

Draw in, lapse and withdraw.
Wavelets crumble and white spent bubbles
Wash on the floor of the beach.

Rocking on the crest

In the low blue lustre
Are the shadows of the ships.

Review Questions
Directions: Respond to these questions to the best of your ability. Answer the questions
completely. If you need more space, use the back or a separate sheet.
1. Identify an example of personification: explain what is being personified how.
The tide is described as being "tardy"
The sand is described as haing an "arm"
Some students might believe that the wrinkles are an example of personification. They are not
necessarily wrong.

2. Identify an example of hyperbole: explain how it is exaggerated.

The waves, implicitly compared to "wrinkles," are described as endless. This is an

exaggeration.

3. Identify an example of metaphor: explain which two things are being compared.

The ocean is implicitly compared to a "span of salt."

The waves are compared to wrinkles.
The waves are compared to something that crumbles.

4. Find two separate examples of alliteration. List the alliterative words.

Shadows, ships
Low, lustre
Brown, bar
Sand, span, salt
Wrinkles, withdraw, wavelets, white, wash

5. Where is repetition used in this poem? Why do you think that it is used this way?

These lines are repeated in a slightly varyied order:

The shadows of the ships
Rock on the crest
In the low blue lustre

It may represent the reoccuring sounds of the tide, or a reflection in the water.

6. What action is described in the third stanza of the poem?

This stanza describes the tide rolling in and out.

7. How is imagery used in this poem? What is described?

Visual imagery is used throughout the poem. The speaker describes boats, tides, and a sand
bar.

8. What is the mood of this poem? How does it make you feel?
Possible answers include calm, peaceful, tranquil

Figurative Language Poem 2

I Sing the Battle

By Harry Kemp

I SING the song of the great clean guns that belch forth death
at will.
"Ah, but the wailing mothers, the lifeless forms and still!"

I sing the song of the billowing flags, the bugles that cry
before.
"Ah, but the skeletons flapping rags, the lips that speak no
more!"

I sing the clash of bayonets, of sabres that flash and cleave.

"And wilt thou sing the maimed ones, too, that go with
pinnedup sleeve?"

I sing acclaimed generals that bring the victory home.

"Ah, but the broken bodies that drip like honey-comb!"

I sing of hosts triumphant, long ranks of marching men.

"And wilt thou sing the shadowy hosts that never march
again?"

Review Questions
Directions: Respond to these questions to the best of your ability. Answer the questions
completely. If you need more space, use the back or a separate sheet.

1. Identify two examples of personification: explain what is being personified how.

Guns are given the ability to belch.

Bugles are given the ability to cry.

2. Identify an example of simile: explain which two things are being compared.

Broken bodies are compared to honey-comb using the word "like"

3. Identify an example of metaphor: explain which two things are being compared.

The guns are described as belching death. In this case bullets are compared to death without
using the word "like" or "as."

4. Find an example of alliteration. List the alliterative words.

sing song
great guns
broken bodies
marching men
sing shadowy (not really alliterative but I'd give students credit for the response)

5. Why is every other line contained in quotation marks? What is the effect of this
technique?

Every other line is in quotation marks because there are two speakers in the poem. The two
voices are having a dialogue. The first voice boasts of the grandeur and glory of war. The
second voice counters each boast made by the first voice with the opposing horrors of war.
6. In the third stanza of the poem, the speaker references "pinnedup sleeves": why would
someone pin their sleeves? To what is the speaker referring and how do you know? Use
evidence from the text.

Someone might pin-up their sleeve if they lost an arm. The speaker is referring to soliders
who have lost limbs. I know this because of the word "maimed" and the references to
bayonents and sabres in the preceeding line.

7. What is the mood of this poem? How does it make you feel and why does it make you
feel this way?

This poem seems to express two moods. The first voice speaks highly of war, thus creating a
glorious mood. The second voice reveals the terrors of war, which creates a somber or grim
mood. Since the second voice gets the last word, and counters every point made by the first
voice, the overall mood of the poem would be somber, grim, horrifying, or pacifying.

8. What is the thematic message of this poem? In other words, what lesson is the author
attempting to express with this poem? Explain your answer.

Figurative Language Poem 3

From The Grave

By Robert Blair

Dull Grave!thou spoil'st the dance of youthful

blood,
Strik'st out the dimple from the cheek of mirth,
And every smirking feature from the face;
Branding our laughter with the name of madness.
Where are the jesters now? the men of health
Complexionally pleasant? Where the droll,
Whose every look and gesture was a joke
To clapping theatres and shouting crowds,
And made even thick-lipp'd musing Melancholy
To gather up her face into a smile
Before she was aware? Ah! sullen now,
And dumb as the green turf that covers them.

Review Questions
Directions: Respond to these questions to the best of your ability. Answer the questions
completely. If you need more space, use the back or a separate sheet.

1. Identify two examples of personification: explain what is being personified & how in
each example.

The Grave is give the human quality of being dull.

Mirth is given a cheek with a dimple.
Melancholy is given a musing face and thick lips, or perhaps that is the name of a girl..

2. Identify an example of hyperbole: explain how it is exaggerated.

The jeters or the droll are given the description of "Whose every look and gesture was a
joke." This is an exaggeration.

3. Identify an example of metaphor: explain which two things are being compared.

Life is compared to a "dance of youthful blood" implicitly.

The process of calling something "mad" is compared to "branding."
It is arguable that society is being compared to clapping theatres and shouting crowds.

4. Identify and example of simile: explain which two things are being compared.

The deceased girl's / Melancholy's dumbness is compared to the green grass covering her
using the word "as."

5. What is the tone of this poem? How does the speaker feel about the subject(s) of the
poem? Use evidence from the text to explain your answer.

The tone is biting, wry, and pessimistic..

On one hand the speaker is insulting the grave by calling it dull and treating it as a party-
pooper.
On the other hand the speaker is belitting the efforts of humans in the face of death, almost
tauntingly asking "Where are the jesters now?"

6. In line four of the poem, the speaker says that "[the Dull Grave brands] our laughter with
the name of madness." What does the speaker mean by this line? Explain your answer.

One interpretation of this line is that it is crazy to laugh since death is imminent. In other
words, since we are going to wind up in a grave (a dull one too) and there is no running or
hiding from this fate, one could brand each laugh we share as mad or crazy. Isn't that
pessimistic?

7. What is the thematic message of the poem? In other words, what lesson is the author
attempting to express with this poem?

One thematic message expressed by this poem is that a dull grave awaits us all and that there
will be no laughter or mirth there. The a grey cloud of death hangs over every party you
attend.

Figurative Language Poem 5

Sleep
By Annie Matheson

SOFT silence of the summer night!

Alive with wistful murmurings,
Enfold me in thy quiet might:
Shake o'er my head thy slumb'rous wings,
So cool and light:
Let me forget all earthly things
In sleep to-night!

Tired roses, passionately sweet, The air is like a mother's hand

Are leaning on their cool green leaves,
The mignonette1 about my feet
A maze of tangled fragrance weaves,
Where dewdrops meet:
Kind sleep the weary world bereaves
Of noise and heat.
Laid softly on a throbbing brow,
And o'er the darksome, dewy land
The peace of heaven is stealing now,
While, hand in hand,
Young angels tell the flowers how
Their lives are planned.

White lilies, pure as falling snow,
And redolent2 of tenderness,
Are gently swaying to and fro,
Lulled by the breath of evening less
Than by the low
Music of sleepy winds, that bless
The buds that grow.
From yon deep sky the quiet stars
Look down with steadfast eloquence,
And God the prison-door unbars
That held the mute world's inmost sense
From all the wars
Of day's loud hurry and turbulence;
And nothing now the silence mars
Of love intense.

1. A plant with spikes of small fragrant flowers

2. Strongly reminiscent or suggestive of something
Review Questions
Directions: Respond to these questions to the best of your ability. Answer the questions
completely. If you need more space, use the back or a separate sheet.

1. Identify three examples of personification: explain each example.

There's a lot of personification in this poem, so I'm not going to explain each example.
silence of the summer night! / Alive with wistful murmurings
Enfold me in thy quiet might:
Tired roses
Kind sleep
the weary world bereaves
Lulled by the breath of evening
The peace of heaven is stealing now
the quiet stars / Look down with steadfast eloquence,
held the mute world's inmost sense

2. Identify two examples of simile: explain which two things are being compared in each
simile.

White lilies, pure as falling snow: The purity of lilies is compare to falling snow using the
word "as."
The air is like a mother's hand / Laid softly on a throbbing brow: air is compared to a
mother's hand using "like."

3. Identify two examples of metaphor: explain which two things are being compared.
Shake o'er my head thy slumb'rous wings: Nightfall is compared to something that flies.
Lulled by the breath of evening: The night air is compared to breath without using the word
"like" or "as."
the low / Music of sleepy winds: winds is compared to music without using "like" or "as."
the prison-door unbars: implicitly compares waking consciousness to a closed prison-door.

4. What is the mood of this poem? How does this poem make you feel? Refer to text in
your response.
The mood of this poem is calm, peaceful, relaxed, etc. Students may cite any number of lines
to demonstrate.

5. What is the subject of this poem? What is it about? Explain your response.

This poem describes how summer night descends over the land.

6. What is the tone of this poem? How does the speaker treat the subject of the poem?
Refer to text.

The speaker is reverent of the beauty of nature and speaks wonderously of the natural world.
Figurative Language Poem 6
from X
By Emily Dickinson

A precious, mouldering1 pleasure 't is

To meet an antique book,
In just the dress his century wore;
A privilege, I think,

His venerable hand to take,

And warming in our own, XXI
A passage back, or two, to make By Emily Dickinson
To times when he was young.
He ate and drank the precious words,
His quaint opinions to inspect, His spirit grew robust;
His knowledge to unfold He knew no more that he was poor,
On what concerns our mutual mind, Nor that his frame was dust.
The literature of old; He danced along the dingy days,
And this bequest3 of wings
His presence is enchantment, Was but a book. What liberty
You beg him not to go; A loosened spirit brings!
Old volumes shake their vellum2 heads
And tantalize, just so. 1. Slowly decay or disintegrate
2. Fine parchment made from calf skin.
Review Questions 3. Pass something on to someone else
Directions: Respond to these questions to the best of your ability. Answer the questions
completely. If you need more space, use the back or a separate sheet.

1. Identify two examples of personification: explain what is being personified in each

example.
The following examples are ways in which the book in X to which the speaker refers is
personified:
To meet an antique book, In just the dress his century wore;
His venerable hand to take,
To times when he was young.
His quaint opinions to inspect,
His knowledge to unfold
Old volumes shake their vellum heads

2. Identify three examples of metaphor: explain which two things are being compared in
each example.

He ate and drank the precious words: words are implicitly compared to food and drink.
Nor that his frame was dust: his mortal body is implictly compared to dust.
And this bequest of wings: the freedom of his spirit is compared to wings

Students may also cite the following, and I would give them credit:
His presence is enchantment,
A precious, mouldering pleasure 't is / To meet an antique book,

3. Find two examples of alliteration. List the alliterative words.

mutual mind,
knew no
danced along the dingy days,
bequest of wings / Was but a book
liberty / A loosened

4. What tone does the speaker use in these poems? How does the speaker feel about the
subjects of these poems? Use evidence from the text to explain your answer.

The tone is wonderous, reverent, venerating, respectful...

The speaker holds books in high regard.
There are many examples of this tone. Here are some word choices that demonstrate this
tone:
pleasure, privilege, venerable, warming, tantalize, precious, liberty...
5. What does the speaker mean by the following lines from XXI, "He knew no more that he
was poor, /
Nor that his frame was dust." Why is the man unaware that he is poor? What is meant by
"dust frame"?

The man is not poor because he is rich in knowledge and culture.

Since the man is mortal and will surely die, his frame, or body, is little more than dust. In
other words, this line expresses the temporal state of all living creatures, but the joy of
reading has caused the man to disregard this ever present fact.

6. Compare and contrast these two poems. How are they similar and different?

Both of these poems are about books. One focuses on the books themselves; the other
describes the benefits of reading. One uses lots of personification; the other uses a lot of
metaphor.

Figurative Language Poem 7

A Lady
By Amy Lowell

You are beautiful and faded

Like an old opera tune
Played upon a harpsichord;
Or like the sun-flooded silks
Of an eighteenth-century boudoir1.
In your eyes
Smoulder the fallen roses of outlived minutes,
And the perfume of your soul
Is vague and suffusing2,
With the pungence of sealed spice-jars.
Your half-tones delight me,
And I grow mad with gazing
At your blent colors.

My vigor3 is a new-minted penny,

Which I cast at your feet.
Gather it up from the dust,
That its sparkle may amuse you.

Review Questions

1. A woman's bedroom or private room

2. Gradually spread through or over
3. Physical strength and good health.

Directions: Respond to these questions to the best of your ability. Answer the questions
completely. If you need more space, use the back or a separate sheet.

1. Identify two examples of simile: explain which two things are being compared in each
simile.
You are beautiful and faded
Like an old opera tune
Played upon a harpsichord;

Or like the sun-flooded silks

Of an eighteenth-century boudoir.
In these two similes, the lady is compared to an old opera tune played on a harpsichord and
the lady is also compared to sun-flooded silks or an eighteenth century boudoir.
2. Identify two examples of metaphor: explain which two things are being compared in each
metaphor.

In your eyes / Smoulder the fallen roses of outlived minutes: in this example, time passed is
compared to fallen roses.
My vigor is a new-minted penny: compares the speaker's vigor to a penny.
And the perfume of your soul / Is vague and suffusing / With the pungence of sealed spice-
jars: students may interpret the perfume of the soul line to be a metaphor. I believe that it is
an example of personification, but I would give them credit for it. In both cases, when she
compares it to the pungence of sealed spice-jars, that is a metaphor.

3. Identify one example of personification: explain what is being personified and how.

the perfume of your soul Is vague and suffusing: the soul is being personified, as it cannot
wear perfume.
Students may also interpret the phrase "outlived minutes" to be an example of
personification.

4. Identify one example of hyperbole: explain what is being exaggerated.

And I grow mad with gazing / at your blent colors::the speaker is exaggerating the effect of
gazing at the lady. The speaker is not literally going mad.

5. What is the subject of this poem? What is this poem about? Explain your response.
This poem is about a vigorous young woman staring at an old lady. The speaker is quite
intrigued by the appearance of the old lady, and she hope that the old woman is amused by
her as well.

6. What is the tone of this poem? How does the speaker treat the subject of the poem?
Refer to text.
The speaker is intrigued by the old woman and does not hesitate to compliment her. She is
mainly respectful, but perhaps a bit untactfully honest. This is shown in lines like: "You are
beautiful and faded." It is nice to call her beautiful, but I don't think anyone would like to be
called faded, even if it is an acurate statement.
7. What is the mood of this poem? How does this poem make you feel? Refer to text in
your response.
The mood of the poem is still and calm. It feels as though I am waiting. Like the speaker, the
old woman and I are all waiting around at a retirement home or something. Phrases like this:
"And I grow mad with gazing," make me feel like we have all been waiting around for a
while.

Figurative Language Poem 8

The Black Land
By Joseph Warren Beach

I will plough the land,

Turning up the black soil.
I will ride upon this heaving surface
As a boat rides upon the water.
Even as a boat
Cleaving the water with an eager keel,
I have run a furrow1
Straight across the ridges.

I will sow down this field,

Scattering gems. I sing as I go
With both hands will I scatter Scattering emeralds.
Quivering emeralds out of a bottomless pouch. The wind sings upon my lips,
And pearls stream off my neck and
As I tread the loam2 forehead.
My feet sink deep. I am bathed in a sweat of pearls.
The black earth embraces my ankles
And clings to my bent knees. Eyes straight forward
Rest on a brightening ultimate slope.

1. A long narrow trench made in the ground by a

plow,
2. Soil with equal amounts of sand, silt, and clay.

Review Questions
Directions: Respond to these questions to the best of your ability. Answer the questions
completely. If you need more space, use the back or a separate sheet.

1. Identify one example of simile: explain which two things are being compared.
I will ride upon this heaving surface / As a boat rides upon the water.
Even as a boat / Cleaving the water with an eager keel,

Here are two examples of simile in this poem. The speaker is comparing his plowing to the
motion of a boat riding (first example) and cleaving (second example) across the surface of
the water. The speaker uses the word "as" to make the comparison; therefore, it is a simile.

There are several other uses of the word "as," but they are not comparisons and, thus, not
similes.

2. Identify two examples of metaphor: explain which two things are being compared in each
metaphor.
Scattering gems: the speaker compares seeds to gems without using the word "like" or "as."
With both hands will I scatter Quivering emeralds: the speaker implicitly compares seeds to
emeralds.
And pearls stream off my neck and forehead: the speaker implicitly compares sweat to pearls.
I am bathed in a sweat of pearls: the speaker compares sweat to pearls without using "like"
or "as."

3. Identify two examples of personification: explain what is being personified and how.
Cleaving the water with an eager keel: the keel is given the human trait of eagerness.
The black earth embraces my ankles: the earth is given the ability to embrace.
The wind sings upon my lips: the wind is given the ability to sing.

4. Identify one example of hyperbole: explain what is being exaggerated.

Quivering emeralds out of a bottomless pouch: the pouch cannot actually be bottomless.
Some students might interpret "ultimate slope" as hyperbole, and I would give them credit for
this response.
5. What is the subject of this poem? What is this poem about? Explain your response.
This poem is about a farmer ploughing a field, scattering seeds, and sweating.

6. What is the tone of this poem? How does the speaker treat the subject of the poem?
Refer to text.
The tone that the speaker uses is proud, strong, determined: statements like "I will..." express
the speakers determination.

7. What is the mood of this poem? How does this poem make you feel? Refer to text in
your response.
This poem might make readers feels happy, because the farmer is singing, or admiring,
because the farmer is free.

Figurative Language Poem 9

Operating Room
By John Reed

Sunlight floods the shiny many-windowed place,

Coldly glinting on flawless steel under glass,
And blaring imperially on the spattered gules1
Where kneeling men grunt as they swab the floor.

Startled eyes of nurses swish by noiselessly,

Orderlies2 with cropped heads swagger like
murderers;
And three surgeons, robed and masked
mysteriously,
Lounge gossiping of guts, and wish it were lunch- 1. The color red
2. An hospital attendant responsible for the
time. nonmedical care of patients, order, and
cleanliness
Beyond the porcelain door, screaming mounts 3. A gradual increase in loudness or intensity
crescendo3
Case 4001 coming out of the ether,
Born again half a man, to spend his life in bed.

Review Questions
Directions: Respond to these questions to the best of your ability. Answer the questions
completely. If you need more space, use the back or a separate sheet.

1. Identify one example of simile: explain which two things are being compared.
Orderlies with cropped heads swagger like murderers: this compares the swagger of the
orderlies to that of murders using the word "like."
2. Identify one example of metaphor: explain which two things are being compared.
Case 4001 coming out of the ether, / Born again half a man: The patient's awakening is
compared to a rebirth without using the word "like" or "as" to make the comparison.
3. Case 4001 has likely come to what realization? Support your answer with textual
evidence.

Case 4001 is a patient who is awakening from an ether induced sleep. He is beginning to
realize that he may never walk again as stated in this line: "Born again half a man, to spend
his life in bed."

4. Identify one example of hyperbole: explain what is being exaggerated.

to spend his life in bed: this line is an exaggeration because even if the man is paralyzed for
life, he doesn't have to stay in his bed.

5. What is the subject of this poem? What is this poem about? Explain your response.
This poem is about an operating room in a hospital. Sunlight is pouring into the room, staff is
walking by, surgeons are talking about their work, and a man awakens to realize that he will
never walk again.

6. What is the tone of this poem? How does the speaker treat the subject of the poem?
Refer to text.
The speaker's tone is clinical, serious, somber. The speaker treats the grim subject of this
poem with an objective and clinical callousness. The man in the poem who will never walk
again is not referred to by his name, or even referenced as a man, but rather referred to by a
case number.

7. What is the mood of this poem? How does this poem make you feel? Refer to text in
your response.
The mood in this poem is sad, grim, chilling, and depressing. This is because a man in the
poem will never walk again.

8. What does this line "Lounge gossiping of guts, and wish it were lunch-time" reveal about
the surgeons? Explain your answer.

This reveals a couple things: the surgeons are still people living life around these serious
clinical matters. They still need to joke to process death and other heavy mental matters, and
they still need to eat, just like everyone else. Another interpretation is that they have grown
calloused to human tragedy, having to face so much of it on a daily basis.
Figurative Language Poem 4
The Dawn's Awake

By Otto Leland Bohanan

The Dawn's awake!

A flash of smoldering flame and fire
Ignites the East. Then, higher, higher,
O'er all the sky so gray, forlorn1,
The torch of gold is borne.

The Dawn's awake!

The dawn of a thousand dreams and thrills.
And music singing in the hills
A paean2 of eternal spring
Voices the new awakening.

The Dawn's awake!

Whispers of pent-up harmonies,
With the mingled fragrance of the trees;
Faint snatches of half-forgotten song-- 1. Pitifully sad and abandoned or lonely:
Fathers! torn and numb,-- 2. A song of praise or triumph.
The boon of light we craved, awaited long,
Has come, has come!

Review Questions
Directions: Respond to these questions to the best of your ability. Answer the questions
completely. If you need more space, use the back or a separate sheet.

1. Identify two examples of personification: explain what is being personified & how in
each example.

The Dawn is awake: dawn is given the human trait of waking.

Music singing in the hills: music is given the ability of singing.
Voices the new awakening: the Paean is given a voice.
The torch of gold is borne: a torches (or suns) are not really born persay.

2. Identify an example of hyperbole: explain how it is exaggerated.

The dawn of a thousand dreams and thrills: it could be interpreted that this is an
exaggeration.
A paeanof eternal spring: Spring is not eternal. Even the sun will extinguish at some time.
This line is an exaggeration.

3. Identify an example of metaphor: explain which two things are being compared.

The torch of gold is borne: this compares the sun to a torch of gold without using the word
"like" or "as."
The Dawn may have a greater value. See the answer to question 6.
4. Find three examples of imagery in the poem that access three different senses. Explain
which senses are called on by the speaker for each example.

There are many examples of visual and audio imagery throughout the poem.
With the mingled fragrance of the trees: this uses olfactory imagery or imagery of the nose.
Fathers! torn and numb: this line accesses the sense of touch.

5. Contrast the tone of this line "Fathers! torn and numb,--" with the tone of the rest of the
poem. How is this line different and why do you think that it is?

With the exception of this line and the one about the grey skies, the tone in most of the poem
is overwhelmingly bright and positive. The reason that this line is there might be to remind
readers of the hardships that African Americans had experienced in the past. Or to remind us
that not everyone will be able to fully enjoy the nice day, as many will be tearing their bodies
in labor and such.

6. This poem was written by an African American poet during the Harlem Renaissance.
Knowing this, how might one interpret the "Dawn" beyond its literal meaning? What might
the "Dawn" represent?
The Dawn may represent the bright awakening of African American culture in America after
much cultural repression. Some students may interpret it as representing the freedom of the
African Americans after hundreds of years of slavery, and I would accept such an
interpretation.