Aim: How are metaphors used by writers to send meaning to readers?
The Do Now of today:
Fill in the blank
Love is…________
The Do Now was very simple in terms of understanding what it is asking. It could be asking what love is, or love represents. However, there are a variety of answers and some can be complicated as well. As simple as it could be, love is a feeling. But, it is not just a simple feeling or thought and there can be deep meaning when it comes to love. In some cases, love can be trust, or interest in something or someone. During class discussion, my class had a lot of answers. One said how love is family, and another said love is everywhere, and love could be a battle as well. Though it may be hard to explain why, I understood why they said what they said.
After the do now discussion, we began the lesson and went to the next few slides.
Metaphor - the distinct comparison where one thing or idea substitutes for another
A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares, which is similar to a simile but is different in another way. Unlike simile, in a metaphor, the word “like” or “as” is not used to develop comparisons and metaphors use words such as “is”. It develops and evokes a stronger image of the comparison.
A metaphor is more of a hidden comparison where it is not clearly explained, while a simile is explicit and it is very clear what the comparison is trying to imply.
A video is then presented to explain more what a metaphor is and a poem is shown to give examples. In the video, the narrator of the poem used metaphors and personification while describing and speaking about the planets and stars. The poem was short and after the poem, the narrator gave explanations of what metaphors are and gave examples of it while showing how it is different from similes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4gMKZKU3lE
Based on the lesson, extended metaphor is something that is developed over several lines or throughout a poem. In other words, throughout the poem, a subject is continuously being developed, such as being mentioned or explained. An image was given to show an example of extended metaphor. Based on the image and sentences, life is being compared to an hourglass. The person writing this continues to move on and explain while the topic remains the same all the time, which is an extended metaphor.
The class proceeds to the next few slides and a poem is presented which talks about metaphors. It is an example of an extended metaphor because throughout the poem, metaphors are being explained and developed as we learn more such as about what metaphors are and why they are important. Many types of metaphors were mentioned and at what scenario is best to use them. For example, we use war metaphors in an argument and money metaphors when talking about time. I see why war metaphors are used in an argument because an argument is like a battle, and money metaphors are used when talking about time because time could be essential, which some say “time is money”.
Another poem is presented for class discussion after the previous poem. The poem was a bit hard to understand, but it can be told that the poem is focusing on something about hope. Feathers are used as an extended metaphor as the author compares and expresses the connection between feathers from birds with hope. The question asked is asking how the author used extended metaphors to express a theme or message. There is a deep connection and it was mentioned in class discussion how feathers from birds represents freedom and hope from how birds fly with their feather covered wings.
After the discussion, we then split up into groups to read and annotate another poem followed by another. The first poem was easy to understand as I can tell that the mother is talking to her son about life. After reading, I infer that the mother was using staircases as a comparison to life because of the way she says that she climbs up the stairs.
The first question asked for examples of extended metaphors used in the poem, followed by the second question asking what was the message of the mother to her son. My group came up with the answers that the poem uses “stairs” to compare with life. You ascend up the stairs and no matter what problem there could be, don’t turn back. We believe that the message of the mother to the son is that do not give up on anything during your life. Just like how you never climb down the stairs after climbing up just because the stairs are going dark, don’t give up in life just because there are obstacles in your path.
The second poem is also very similar to the first poem, but with some differences. Different metaphors are being used and there can be different meanings trying to be expressed.
The questions for the second poem also asks about the metaphors used, and what the rose and concrete represents. It is easy to answer for the first question since it was easy to understand that the poem was using rose and concrete to compare with life. The rose is representing a person, while the concrete is representing life. The person slowly grows, develops, and further continues and moves on in his/her life and grows out of the concrete, which is hard and solid.
Lastly, we proceeded to the second last slide of the lesson, which is actually more like the last slide of the lesson. It was a class discussion about the previous questions me and my group went over and answered based on the two poems. My classmates had similar answers and also talked about how life is being compared with a staircase. It is also mentioned that the life of the mother is not a crystal stair. Crystal stairs are being used because crystal stairs are clean and shiny. By using that, we can tell that the mother is trying to imply that her life was never easy, yet she never gives up. The first and the second poem was similar because of how both are trying to compare with life, except that they use different words and choices to do so.
Reflection
Today’s lesson gave me a better understanding and confidence in the knowledge for poems. I already knew what metaphors and extended metaphors are, but today’s lesson gave me much more understanding and the questions from the poems we read allowed me to be aware of how my understanding is. The video given in class was simple and short, but is a good guide wherever I need to go back and review or check about metaphors. It is very easy and clear to me that metaphors and similes are different. Metaphors give a stronger image and thought than simile, and do not clearly show the comparison with words such as “like” or “as”. For example, the metaphor “he is beast” has a stronger thought than the simile “he is like a beast”, despite the fact that both are comparing the “he” with a beast. The poems were a good example as well as a good practice for me to test my knowledge whether or not I can understand and define what extended metaphors are and why and how they are being utilized. Although metaphors and extended metaphors were the only two topics we learned, discussed, and focused on, it will be useful for the upcoming lessons and assignments. These knowledge including extended metaphors will be very important especially poetry because this figure of speech will be very common yet helpful in the poems that we will read and write about. It will definitely improve my writing skills in poetry as well as reading for better understanding in the future.
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