Metaphorically Speaking

Matt Leggat

7^thGrade

Competency Goal 6:� The learner will apply conventions of application��

�� of grammar and language usage.

�

��

6.01: Model an understanding of conventional written and spoken

�� expression by:

��

� experimenting with figurative language and speech patterns.�

� using a variety of sentences correctly,

punctuating them properly, and avoiding fragments and run-ons.

Materials Needed:

Dictionary

Pen and paper

Copy of poem

Imagination

Classroom poster explaining metaphors

Time Required:� 40 min.

�� What is a metaphor?� Why do you use metaphors?� How do you use a metaphor?� What styles of writing lend themselves to the use of metaphors especially well? �Can someone give us an example of a metaphor?� What kind of writing would work well with a metaphor?�

At this point the teacher refers the class to poster hanging on the wall that gives examples of metaphors.� The teacher explains the poster and gives more examples of metaphors.�

The teacher then asks for other examples of metaphors from the class.� These examples are discussed and analyzed (20 min).

�One of my favorite poems is �Song of Myself,� by Walt Whitman.� Whitman�s writing is packed full of colorful and inviting metaphors.� Here are a few stanzas from �Song of Myself� that illustrate his use of metaphors.�

Lesson:� After the poem has been read ask students to underline and then explain, to the class, the metaphors they find (10 min).� Once the class has discussed the use of metaphors, have them all write a two to three sentence paragraph using two different metaphors.� Have the students choose the subjects themselves (10 min).

From: LEAVES OF GRASS: Song Of Myself

By: Walt Whitman

26. A child said, What is the grass ?� fetching it to me�

�� with full hands;�

�� How could I answer the child ? I do not know what�

�� it is, any more than he.�

�

�� 27. I guess it must be the flag of my disposition, out of�

�� hopeful green stuff woven.�

��

�� 28. Or I guess it is the handkerchief of the Lord,�

�� A scented gift and remembrancer, designedly dropped,�

�� Bearing the owner's name someway in the corners,�

�� that we may see and remark, and say Whose ?�

��

�� 29. Or I guess the grass is itself a child, the produced�

�� babe of the vegetation.�

��

�� 30. Or I guess it is a uniform hieroglyphic,�

�� And it means, Sprouting alike in broad zones and�

�� narrow zones,�

�� Growing among black folks as among white,�

�� Kanuck, Tuckahoe, Congressman, Cuff, I give them�

�� the same, I receive them the same.�

��

�� 31. And now it seems to me the beautiful uncut hair of�

�� graves.�

��

�� 32. Tenderly will I use you, curling grass,�

�� It may be you transpire from the breasts of young�

�� men,�

�� It may be if I had known them I would have loved�

�� them,�

�� It may be you are from old people, and from women,�

�� and from offspring taken soon out of their�

�� mothers' laps,�

�� And here you are the mothers' laps.�

��

�� 33. This grass is very dark to be from the white heads of�

�� old mothers,�

�� Darker than the colorless beards of old men,�

�� Dark to come from under the faint red roofs of�

�� mouths.�

��

�� 34. O I perceive after all so many uttering tongues !�

�� And I perceive they do not come from the roofs of�

�� mouths for nothing.�

��

�� 35. I wish I could translate the hints about the dead�

�� young men and women,�

�� And the hints about old men and mothers, and the�

�� offspring taken soon out of their laps.�

��

�� 36. What do you think has become of the young and�

�� old men ?�

�� And what do you think has become of the women�

�� and children ?�

��

�� 37. They are alive and well somewhere,�

�� The smallest sprout shows there is really no death,�

�� And if ever there was, it led forward life, and does�

�� not wait at the end to arrest it,�

�� And ceased the moment life appeared.�

��

�� 38. All goes onward and outward�nothing collapses,�

�� And to die is different from what any one supposed,�

�� and luckier.�