Blogger #8, Sophia Chan, Period 5, 11/16/2020, Day B
Aim: How are metaphors used by writers to send meaning to readers?
Do Now:
Complete the following: Love is a _______________________.
In the beginning of class, students were instructed to fill in the blank in the Do Now with words or phrases they could use to describe love. The students came up with a variety of answers. Most focused on the different aspects of love and made up unique metaphors for what they perceived love to be. Some examples are “Love is blind”, “Love is patience.” and “Love is sacrifice”.
After the Do Now, we were taught the definition of metaphor 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 Guida 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. Although metaphor often uses the simple verb forms of “to be”, all forms of “to be” can be featured in a metaphor. Since metaphors will often use one of the forms of the verb “to be,” 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.
This following image was included to show some examples of metaphors and their use of the verb “to be”:
In the image, all the metaphors stated include the word “is”, which is a form of the verb “to be”. Miss Guida brought up that if the word “is” in the example “Life is a journey” was changed into “is like”, the poetic device used would be a simile instead.
Then, a video was then provided to further our understanding of
metaphors:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4gMKZKU3lE&ab_channel=TheRedRoomCompany
The video shows us some examples of metaphors, which helped us gain a better understanding of the definition of a metaphor. The video explains that metaphors are used to express strong feelings or images to the reader. Metaphors are also used to express things that are very abstract by comparing them to familiar objects. 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 in the hourglass will run out is unknown to us. This can be related to how our lives can end at any moment and we won’t be able to anticipate the exact time our lives end. Death often comes as a surprise, so we must live our lives to the fullest before that happens.
We then did some spirit reading on the article, “Poetry for Everyday Life” by David Brooks.
Link: http://www.nytimes.com/pages/opinion/index.html
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, war metaphors are often used to describe arguments and liquid metaphors are often used to describe money. The article also mentioned how metaphors are used to convey abstract and spiritual ideas in a way that people can have a better understanding of these ideas. Metaphors also help people gain a better insight of unfamiliar ideas or experiences by comparing them to objects or concepts we are familiar with.
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:
The extended metaphor in the poem compares hope to birds and their feathers. This poem brings up the message that although there may be hardships in life, hope will always be there for you. There are always ways we can overcome them and soar over them. Another message is that there’s no downside to maintaining hope. This is expressed in the last stanza where it explains how hope can be found in the strangest places, indicating that hope is anywhere.
Team Group Work:
Next, we were tasked to read the poem “Mother to Son,” written by Langston Hughes and discuss with our groups about the metaphors and the message of it.
The poem used extended metaphor to compare life to types of stairs. The crystal stairs mentioned in the beginning represent an easy and smooth life without hardships. The speaker then explains that the “stairs” she is walking “had tacks in it, And splinters, And boards torn up”. The tacks and splinters represent the many challenges and hardships the speaker had to face in life, indicating that throughout her life, she faced many hardships. Life is not always easy, but that’s the way life is and it is important that we overcome all obstacles we may face with determination and perseverance.
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. The only thing that is needed to overcome challenges is determination.
The final poem we looked at was “The Rose That Grewfrom Concrete” written by Tupac Shakur.
This poem utilizes an extended metaphor to compare a rose to a person who has overcome adversity and chases his/her dreams. The rose represents a person who overcame others expectations and opinions of them to follow their dream. On the other hand, 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 flourish.
At the end of the lesson, we compared the poems, “Mother to Son” and “The Rose That Grew from Concrete”. We also compared their use of extended metaphors to express a common theme or message.
Both 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 with bravery 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 others’ judgements and the expectations of society to achieve their dream. The rose was able to overcome the restraints of society and break through the concrete.
Reflection:
In today’s lesson, I learnt about metaphors and the usage of metaphors in poetry and in my 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 understand complex ideas and new concepts, especially those that are very abstract to us. Extended metaphors are metaphors that are developed over multiple lines. I think the examples given in the lesson 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. It can also help me understand and analyze meanings and theme expressed in the lyrics of songs, as i found that metaphors are often featured in songs too.
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