Aim: How are metaphors used by writers to send meaning to readers?
For our do-now, we had to answer the prompt, ‘love is…’ I wrote that love is thinking of somebody even when you’re apart. When it was time to share out answers, Ms Peterson called on Vallerie, whose response was ‘love is effortless.’ Vallerie was prompted to call on another person in turn and called on Ayah, who had written “love is life.” Fiona and Vanessa were the last two girls selected to share their answers, which were ‘love is family’ and ‘love is an expression’ respectively. Ms Peterson then wanted to hear some responses from the boys and asked Mikita what he had written. He said that love was an uphill battle. She then called on Will, who said that love is a bond between two creatures.
After we had completed our do-now question and shared out our answers, we started to go over metaphors, which are figures of speech that often use variations of the word ‘to be.’ Metaphors do not use ‘like’ or ‘as’ like similes do, thus making them implicit comparisons. This means that the comparison is hidden and not explained outright. Explicit comparisons, on the other hand, would be clearly explained and precise, with no hidden meaning. Ms Peterson showed us a way to remember the versions of the phrase ‘to be’ commonly used in metaphors by singing them to the tune of a song.
When we had finished with that, we had to do some spirit reading for the next slides. Fiona spirit read the next slide about extended metaphors, which were defined as metaphors that are developed over a few lines or throughout the whole poem. An example poem was provided for us:
Ms Peterson pointed out the forms of the phrase ‘to be’ within that poem and explained what the formula for writing an extended metaphor poem was. The metaphor was developed throughout the course of the poem by not asking questions and making implicit statements and comparisons that alluded to a deeper meaning than what was being directly stated. To help us further differentiate between the two, she gave two more common examples: All men are dogs, and all women are witches. She explained how those metaphors didn’t question the statement, but rather made a singular straightforward comparison to develop a point. If the metaphor had started listing the ways all women were witches and all men were dogs, then it would have become extended.
Next, we did some more spirit reading and annotated as we read along. Vanessa, Jerry, Justin, and Terrence were a few of the people who volunteered for reading. After completing that task, Ms Peterson read out an Emily Dickinson poem entitled “Hope is the Thing with Feathers.”
“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.”
We then had to answer the following question:
How does the author utilize the extended metaphor to express a theme or message to the reader?
Ayah raised her hand and said that the author utilizes the extended metaphor by utilizing many words and phrases with connotations that made us have feelings of hope. I wrote something in connection, saying that the author kept expanding on the initial metaphor and adding more layers to the feeling of hope she was trying to describe.
We then started on Team Group Work. We had to collaboratively read and annotate the poems “Mother and Son” by Langston Hughs and “The Rose That Grew from Concrete” by Tupac Shakur, and answer comprehension questions about the contents of the poems and the metaphors used.
When we completed the collaborative work, we reentered the main session and began to share our answers. The first question for the poem ‘Mother to Son’ asked how the extended metaphor was used in the poem, and the response to that was that the extended metaphor used was comparing life to a crystal staircase. The next question was a subset of that question, and asked what Hughes was expressing through the use of the metaphor. The response provided was that the tacks and splinters described in the poem represented adversity and difficulty that the mother had to overcome. Ayah responded to the final question, which asked what the mother’s message to her son in the final stanza was, and said that the mother’s message to her son was to never give up and to keep on going in spite of those hardships.
Then we switched over to the second part to review the questions assigned for ‘The Rose that Grew from Concrete.’ The questions for that poem asked how the poem utilized an extended metaphor and what the rose and concrete represented. Asdaq answered that the rose represented the person while the concrete represented an impoverished town, and the whole poem was describing aspirations and overcoming hardship in order to blossom.
Lastly, we had to individually reflect on and compare the two poems and the common theme of the extended metaphors used in each. I wrote that the extended metaphors both commonly compare a person that faces adversity and hardship and must keep persevering despite all the odds. The extended metaphor in the first poem is the crystal stair, which represents the course of life, and the imperfections are the challenges and obstacles we face as we journey through life. The extended metaphor in the second poem is the rose, which represents a person who has to weather through challenges in order to become something and reach their goals, while the concrete represents everything that could be holding them back.
Reflection:
Today I learned about extended metaphors and how they differ from regular metaphora. In addition to this, I also learned how to identify an extended metaphor and determine the deeper meaning of implicit comparisons through in-depth reading and annotation. I think we learned this so we could apply this knowledge to an assignment or project in the future, since we are currently working through a poetry unit. Learning how to identify an extended metaphor poem and learning ‘the formula’ to write one seems like the kind of knowledge we would have to file away for future reference or use. Aside from that, I would use this knowledge about extended metaphor poems and metaphors in general to help me better understand any that I might encounter, since they have the tendency to be somewhat complicated because they’re so detailed and layered. Overall, I think I have a good understanding of what we learned in this lesson and I know where I would apply this knowledge, as well as where it could come in use.
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