Blogger #8, Michelle Fang, Period 9, 11/17/20, Cycle C
Today’s Lesson:
Aim: How are metaphors used by writers to send meaning to readers?
Do Now: Complete the following:
Love is ___________.
For the Do Now, students were instructed to fill in the blank in the sentence with words or phrases they could use to describe love. The students came up with a variety of answers. Some students focused on the definition of love, saying that “Love is something you feel towards people you care about,” while others focused on different aspects of love, saying that “Love is hope,” “Love is sacrifice,” and “Love is patience.”
We then continued onto the next part of the lesson in which we were taught what a metaphor was and a type of metaphor called an extended metaphor.
Metaphor: The distinct comparison where one thing or idea substitutes for another. It’s a figure of speech that develops a comparison which is different from a simile.
Note: It often uses the form of the verb, “To Be.” (is, am, are, was, were, will be, being, been, could, should, would, has, have, having, had, may, might, must)
Metaphors do not use the words “like” or “as” to develop a comparison. A metaphor makes an implicit or hidden comparison not an explicit one.
Miss Peterson went on to explain how metaphors use forms of the verb “to be” in a comparison. The word “be” is used to talk about a state of being or the condition something is in. Metaphors will often use one of the forms of the verb “to be,” so a good way to identify metaphors is to look for one of the forms of the verb “to be,” which are listed above, in the sentence.
Memorizing the forms of the verb “to be” can be very difficult. One way to remember these words is creating a mnemonic device, for example the mnemonic device “Roy G Biv” which is used to remember colors of the rainbow. Other ways to remember the words are creating a chart, picture, or song. Miss Peterson then shared with us a song she made to help her remember the forms of the verb “to be.”
This image was included to show some examples of metaphors and their use of the verb “to be.”:
In the image, the metaphors “Life is a journey,” “Less is more,” “More is up,” and “Love is a jewel” all include the word “is,” which is a form of the verb “to be.” Miss Peterson then brought up the phrase “All men are dogs,” which she emphasized was just brought up for teaching purposes. This phrase says that men are dogs, indicating that there is no question about what men are. In comparison, if we said “He was like a dog,” it would convey that the person was similar to a dog, not is a dog. The second phrase is a simile.
A video was then provided to further our understanding of metaphors:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
The video shows us examples of metaphors and their definition of a metaphor, which helps us gain a better understanding of what a metaphor is. The video explains that metaphors are used to express strong feelings or images to the reader. This helps the reader understand and connect with the different feelings and experiences being mentioned.
An extended metaphor is developed over several lines or throughout a poem.
This image provides us with an example of an extended metaphor:
This poem compares life to an hourglass. The sand in an hourglass is very limited, just like the time we have in our lives. During our lives, we must try to discover our meaning in life before the time eventually runs out. The poem also mentions that the exact time in which the sand will run out is unknown to us. This can be related to how our lives can end at any time and we won’t be able to anticipate the exact time our lives will end. Death will often come as a surprise, so we must live our lives to the fullest before that happens.
We then read the article, “Poetry for Everyday Life” by David Brooks.
Link to article: http://www.nytimes.com/pages/
This article discusses the use of metaphors in everyday life. The article provides examples of metaphors used to describe things like ideas, relationships, arguments, and money. For example, health metaphors are often used to describe relationships and liquid metaphors are often used to describe money. Many people use metaphors to convey abstract ideas in a way that helps them better understand these ideas. Metaphors also help people gain a better understanding of new ideas or experiences by comparing them to familiar objects or concepts. Metaphors convey the complexity of the world through the different perspectives people have on it. The different comparisons people have show the experiences they have had and how those experiences affected their feelings and opinions of the world.
Class Discussion:
After the article, we read and discussed about the extended metaphor being used in Emily Dickinson’s “Hope is the Thing with Feathers,” which was accompanied by this image:
Miss Peterson read the poem to us, demonstrating the use and placement of punctuation in poems and how important they are. Punctuation can change the tone and message of the poem, putting emphasis on certain parts of the poem to help convey the meaning of the poem.
The extended metaphor in the poem compares hope to birds and their feathers. Birds are often related to freedom and possibilities. This poem conveys the message that although there may be hardships in life, there are ways we can overcome them and soar over them. Another message is that there’s no downside to maintaining hope and staying optimistic. This is expressed in the last stanza where it explains how hope can be found anywhere without sacrificing anything for it.
Team Group Work:
Next, we were put into breakout rooms to read and discuss with our groups about the metaphors and message of the poem “Mother to Son,” by Langston Hughes.
The extended metaphor used in the poem compares the narrator’s life to types of stairs. The crystal stairs are representative of an easy life without hardships. The narrator then states that her life “had tacks in it, And splinters, And boards torn up.” The tacks and splinters represent the many challenges the narrator has had to face in life, indicating that throughout her life, she has had to face many hardships. Life is not always easy, but that’s the way life is and it is important that we persevere through any and all obstacles we may face.
The mother’s message to her son is to never give up and to overcome the hardships he may experience in life. The mother tells her son that although her life had been hard, she’s still climbing up the stairs of her life. She wants her son to know that since she can overcome her challenges, so can he and that if he perseveres, he will also succeed.
The final poem we looked at was Tupac Shakur’s “The Rose That Grew from Concrete.”
This poem utilizes an extended metaphor to compare a rose that has grown from a crack in the concrete to a person who has overcome adversity. The rose represents a person who overcame others expectations and opinions of them to follow their dream. Nature’s law represents society’s expectations of people and who they should become. The concrete represents the obstacles and restraints society has on people. The rose was able to overcome the obstacles of the concrete and break through it to follow its dreams and thrive.
To finish the lesson, we compared the poems, “Mother to Son,” by Langston Hughes and “The Rose That Grew from Concrete.” by Tupac Shakur, and their use of extended metaphors to express a common theme or message.
The poems used extended metaphors to express the theme that it’s possible to overcome adversity and persevere through life to follow your dreams. The first poem used an extended metaphor to compare life and its difficulties to stairs. No matter what obstacles we find in our way, we should overcome them and continue climbing. The second poem used an extended metaphor to compare a rose that has grown from a crack in the concrete to a person who has overcome adversity and the expectations of society to follow their dream. The rose was able to overcome the expectations and restraints of society to break through the concrete and follow its dreams and thrive. One student brought up the differences between the two poems, saying that the second poem expresses the idea that anyone can rise from any situation in life and that there is no perfect path to success. We must work with what we have and overcome challenges to become successful. Meanwhile, the first poem glorifies the path of the crystal stairs, comparing the crystal stairs to an easy and clear life without hardships.
Reflection:
Today we learned about metaphors and the usage of metaphors in poetry and everyday life. Metaphors compare things using forms of the verb “to be.” They are often used in poems to express feelings and images to the reader. Metaphors are also used often in our daily lives, to help us convey and understand complex ideas and new concepts. Extended metaphors are metaphors that are developed over multiple lines or sentences. The examples given in the lesson really helped me understand metaphors and how they can be used in a variety of ways to express themes and messages in poems. Learning about metaphors can help me when analyzing poems and their meanings. I can also incorporate metaphors into my writing to better convey feelings and messages. Metaphors can enhance my writing, making it more interesting and complex. Metaphors can also be used in my everyday speech. By using metaphors to describe ideas in my life, I can explain them to others and help them understand these ideas. Metaphors are very important aspects of speech and writing and incorporating them into my speech and writing will help me convey feelings and ideas to others.
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