WRITING PROMPT

• Who Knows What it Will Be... Let's Ask the Serendipitous Simile Generator!

ANNOUNCEMENTS!

• For Workshop Day on Thursday… You must bring four typewritten copies of your piece. Being prepared & participating in workshop day is a grade!

• On Monday of next week, your revised piece is due. This will be graded as a final draft grade. You need to hand in your drafts as well as your final piece. The final piece will be graded for the amount of revision you’ve done as well as the actual content. The piece should show some evidence of concrete images, sensory details and metaphors/ similes. (Meaning, the things we’ve studied in class.)

METAPHORS & SIMILE

FIGURES OF SPEECH

WHAT ARE SIMILES AND METAPHORS?

• A '''simile''' is a technique that uses words such as "like" or "as" to compare two ideas. Even though similes and metaphors are both forms of comparison, similes allow the two ideas to remain distinct in spite of their similarities, whereas metaphors seek to equate two ideas despite their differences. For instance, a simile that compares a person with a bullet would go as follows: "John was a record-setting runner and as fast as a speeding bullet." A metaphor might read something like, "John was a record-setting runner. That speeding bullet could zip past you without you even knowing he was there."

• Similes & metaphors have been widely used in literature for their expressiveness as a figure of speech:

• Simile: Curley was flopping like a fish on a line.• Metaphor: Life is a dance you learn as you go.

LET’S LOOK AT SOME EXAMPLES IN POETRY…

Nature's first green is Nature's first green is gold, gold, Her hardest hue to hold. Her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf's a flower;Her early leaf's a flower;But only so an hour. But only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf. Then leaf subsides to leaf. So Eden sank to grief, So Eden sank to grief, So dawn goes down to So dawn goes down to day. day. Nothing gold can stay.Nothing gold can stay. -- Robert Frost

SO, WHAT IS THE CENTRAL METAPHOR IN THIS FAMOUS

FROST POEM?• Pair Share for one minute

• Lets discuss…

LETS SEE ANOTHER EXAMPLE

• The clip you are about to see is from the movie Four Weddings & A Funeral. The poem is called “Funeral Blues” and it’s by W.H. Auden.

• In the film, the man reading the poem has lost his best friend… Listen for a series of metaphors in the middle of the poem.

Funeral BluesStop all the clocks, cut off the telephone, Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone, Silence the pianos and with muffled drum Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead Scribbling on the sky the message He is Dead. Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves, Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

He was my North, my South, my East and West, My working week and my Sunday rest, My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song; I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now; put out every one, Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun, Pour away the ocean and sweep up the woods; For nothing now can ever come to any good.

W.H. Auden

WHAT ARE THE METAPHORS IN THAT POEM?

• What is the author trying to say?

• Pair share

• Lets discuss…

“LEAVE IT ALL UP TO ME” BY MAJOR JACKSON

HOW DO WE APPLY THIS TO OUR WRITING?

• In our own writing, we can use metaphors and similes to bring our writing to life.

• However, it’s not enough to just use any old metaphor like the tired and cliché “cold as ice,” “quick like a bunny” or “love is a river,” etc… We need fresh and new metaphors.

• But how do we do this?

LETS ASK MY FRIEND RIDER STRONG…

BUT FIRST, SOME BACKGROUND

• The music you are hearing is by the band Fleetwood Mac. This will make sense in a minute…

BROOKE BY RIDER STRONGShe is Fleetwood Mac for me,On the verge of Adult Contemporary,An unremarkable, but solid catalogue,Almost Easy ListeningBut no one can denyThe greatness.An artist I would never take a stand on,Never burn onto a mixOr list on Myspace.

And yet,I own Rumours, just like everybody does,I know the words by heart,The playcount on my iTunes does,In fact,Exceed 15 for almostEvery song.

She is not the risk I took at Tower,Not the Nick Drake song I found on Napster.Not the live, alternate version of "Mr. Jones,"Or the Sir Mixalot album I wince to think I loved.

Not an ironic big band phase or clever Waits lyric,She is not a Van Morrison built-into-my-soul song,Or a Robert Johnson classic.

She is not the grunge I never really got,Or the hip-hop that passed me by post-"Tennessee."

She is not the boy band craze I chuckled at,Or a sweet Michael Jackson syrup,Not the Goo Goo Dolls I hate to love,Not the punk I love to hate.

She is nothing but the twinkle chimes andPluck-skim guitarsOf "Everywhere,"That perfect song.That --Driving to the mall in 1988,Gray back seat of my mom's CorollaThe radio at 93 KREO --Hit me for the first time andSounded so right, I knew I had heard it before.A preconscious perfection.At 8 years old, already sure ofA pervasive love that overrides the taste of reason,And denies the reasons of taste.

SO, WHAT IS THIS POEM ABOUT?

• What two things are being compared?

• Is this a metaphor you’ve heard before?

• So, what can we borrow from Rider?

NOW IT’S YOUR TURN…

• Compare a person you know to a song or a band… Extend the metaphor and explain why that person is like that song or band.

• Use Rider’s poem about his ex-girlfriend as inspiration. Can you come up with something as fresh and innovative?