Exercise #2: Simile and Metaphor
A poem
that uses simile:
"Harlem" by Langston Hughes (100)
Poems
that use an extended metaphor:
"Mother
to Son" by Langston
Hughes (100) in The Hudson Book of Poetry
"Metaphors"
by Sylvia Plath
(126) in The Hudson Book of Poetry
The simile exercise:
Draw three columns on a
piece of paper. In class we will
do this on the board. In the first
column list all the emotions and feelings you can think of (nouns); in the
second column list forces of nature, natural geological/geographic features,
vegetables, fruit, flowers, animals, and other creatures; in the third column,
list verbs. Use your list to come
up with similes about the emotion.
Example: Love is like a rogue wave that ambushes you. Then
pick one you like and extend the metaphor. Love ambushes you like a rogue wave while you aren't
paying attention, gazing absent-mindedly at the shore. etc. Then break the lines in
different ways. Try making the
poem very skinny. Try reading the
poem out loud and breaking the lines where you want the reader to pause. Type out your favorite simile poem and
bring it to class.
The metaphor exercise:
Again, draw three columns on
a piece of paper. In the first
column, list concrete adjectives (colors, smells, words that evoke a specific
image or sensation). In the second
column, list forces of nature, flora and fauna of land and ocean, foods,
geographic features, things in the sky and galaxy, and some man-made things
such as walls, bowls, tools, and utensils.
The subject for this
exercise is "life" or "I"
(yourself). Write some
metaphors using your list.
Example: I am a river
following the same path until a sudden rainstorm overflows my banks. Then
extend the metaphor and see how far you can take it. Experiment with the line breaks. Try making your poem skinny. Then try breaking lines where you might pause a tiny bit
when you read it out loud. Type
out your favorite poem and bring it to class.