Aim: How are metaphors used by writers to send meaning to readers?
Do now: Love is…
Love is many things. I personally felt that love is the warm, tingly feeling you get from someone who's special to you. Whether you would be talking to them or doing any other activities with them, you would get that feeling. It’s really a special feeling.
As I read through the slides, I began to develop a deeper understanding of what metaphors and learned about extended metaphors.
Recap:
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.
Extended metaphor-A metaphor that is developed in great detail over several lines of the poem
I dwelled deeper into metaphors as I read a section of “Poetry for everyday life” by David brooks. The passage talked about how we use metaphors in everyday life without even realizing. To have a normal conversation, we would commonly use metaphors to give the person we are speaking to a bigger picture on what we are talking about. An example of what I am talking about is the fact that we use health metaphors to describe relationships, when talking about time we use money metaphors and when talking about money we use liquid metaphors. Metaphors are at the root of every conversation and make up the way we think.
Class discussion:
During this part of the slides, I read a poem about hope called “Hope is the Thing with Feathers” By Emily Dickinson.
“Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune – without the words,
And never stops at all,
“And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.
“I’ve heard it in the chilliest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.”
The question that was discussed was “How does the author utilize the extended metaphor to express a theme or message to the reader?”
My reply to this was, the author utilizes the bird to represent hope and how hope is present wherever you may be. You can hear the sound of the bird (hope) even in the places you would’ve thought were completely abandoned, as the poem says “I’ve heard it in the chilliest land, And on the strangest sea;”.
Teamwork:
I proceeded to read a famous poem that I recognized from middle school by Langston Hues, “Mother to Son”
Well, son, I'll tell you:
Life for me ain't been no crystal stair.
It's had tacks in it,
And splinters,
And boards torn up,
And places with no carpet on the floor—
Bare.
But all the time
I'se been aclimbin' on,
And reachin' landin's,
And turnin' corners,
And sometimes goin' in the dark
Where there ain't been no light.
So, boy, don't you turn back.
Don't you set down on the steps.
'Cause you finds it's kinder hard.
Don't you fall now—
For I'se still goin', honey,
I'se still climbin',
And life for me ain't been no crystal stair.
The two questions that followed this poem were; “What extended metaphor is used in the poem?” and “Look specifically at the final stanza: what is the mother’s message to her son?”. After some thought, I replied with, the extended metaphor was her life and crystal stairs. By using the words “tacks” and “splinters” we can tell that her life wasn’t easy and had to overcome several obstacles. For the second question I had said, the mother was trying to tell her son that her life wasn’t exactly “crystal stairs” but much rather the opposite. On top of that, she wants him to preserve through the hardships like she had.
The second poem in the “Teamwork” category was a poem written by Tupac Shakur, “The Rose That Grew from Concrete”.
Did you hear about the rose that grew
from a crack in the concrete?
Proving nature's law is wrong it
learned to walk without having feet.
Funny it seems, but by keeping its dreams,
it learned to breathe fresh air.
Long live the rose that grew from concrete
when no one else ever cared.
The questions that followed were; “How does this poem utilize an extended metaphor?” and “What does the rose represent? What about the concrete?”. Given some thought I replied, the poem utilizes the extended metaphor of the rose growing from the concrete to show that anything is possible even when the whole world doesn’t think that you’ll pull through and everyone’s doubting you. For the second part I answered, the rose represents a person while the concrete represents problems in life. No one believes that the person, or rose, can preserve and pull through the concrete, problems and obstacles.
At the end of it all, there would be one final question which addresses both poems, “Compare the two poems”. It was an easy and straightforward question which takes some time to think about all the little details and aspects of which both poems include. My answer to this question would be; in both poems, they used extended metaphors to show people going through problems in their lives but at the end, they would preserve. In Langston Hughes, “Mother to Son”, he utilized the crystal stairs, or a perfect life, to show that the mother had not gotten to where she was today by walking up crystal stairs, but rather the opposite. In Tupac Shakurs, “The Rose That Grew from Concrete”, he compares the rose that came from the concrete to a person who’s overcome their obstacles and bloomed like the rose.
Reflection:
Overall, this lesson got me thinking, especially after reading the short passage from “Poetry for everyday life”. I haven’t realized it but, we include metaphors and figurative language in everyday conversations without stopping to think “hey that was a clever metaphor”. Instead we go on about the conversation with the image from the metaphor implanted in our heads. Metaphors are in every aspect in life but it just so happens that we only really take time to analyze and break it down when it comes to poetry. Obviously from this lesson I can tell that poetry isn’t the only place that we can find metaphors in. Metaphors are so ingrained into our society and conversations that we completely see through it and become unfazed when it is brought up. This lesson was useful in the fact I can include metaphors into my poems and realize that metaphors aren’t as intimidating as they seem.
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