Aim: How are metaphors used by writers to send meaning to readers?
The first thing my class did was answer the Do Now which is under this brief introduction. After discussing and completing the Do Now, we had a discussion about metaphors and extended metaphors. We discussed that a metaphor is a comparison when 1 idea substitutes for another which proves that something is something else. My class also discussed that an extended metaphor is a metaphor except that it is discussed and referred to throughout the poem.
The Do Now was to answer what you thought love is. I put that love is a forever feeling that connects you. Others also put that love is a lock that binds, love is a leap of faith or risk, and that love could be both a poison and medication in which it may heal or pain someone.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4gMKZKU3lE
During our metaphor discussion we watched the video above. The video explained what we talked about in our own discussion. It talked about how metaphors describe something as something else, uses the word “is” instead of “like” or “as”, and that it also shows and exerts profound images or feelings.
We also talked about extended metaphor using this example that uses the metaphor of life is an hour glass which shows that life is timed and is not endless. It continues to use this metaphor throughout the whole poem talking about how you never know when life will end just like how you will never know when the sand will run out and you can’t be ready for when it does end. This is an example of extended metaphor because as we discussed in our class discussion, extended metaphor is a metaphor that is referred to throughout the whole poem which is shown here.
My class then did spirit reading with “Poetry for Everyday Life” and annotated accordingly. This text explained how we use different types of metaphors for different situations. For example relationships where you would use health metaphors to show if the relationship is going well or not. If the relationship was healthy or sick, healthy meaning good, sick meaning bad.
My class then had a class discussion about the poem Hope is the Thing with Feathers. We discussed that this poem uses an extended metaphor and begins the poem with the idea of hope being a thing with being a thing with feathers meaning hope is like a bird. The author used birds that were singing in a storm to hope in a hard time.
We then went into breakout rooms and read and answered questions about two poems within our groups.
After discussing with our groups and answering questions, we came together as a class and talked about the two questions. We discussed that the metaphor throughout the story is that life is very difficult and the splinters were used to represent the difficulties and bumps someone will go through throughout their life. The crystal stair is a metaphor for life being perfect and in this case life has not been perfect for the mother. As a class we discussed that the final stanza was used to show that the mother is trying to teach and persevere even through adversity which is shown with the mother showing resilience in line 19.
Also in groups we read and discussed another poem. After discussing in our breakout rooms we then answered the questions as a class. We discussed that the author, Tupac Shakur, used juxtaposition to show the rough concrete yet a beautiful rose. This means that there is a strong contrast between something so ugly with something so beautiful. We also discussed that the rose was meant to represent something that wasn’t supposed to happen yet still occurred. As a class we came up with many different representations, a rose being a person that's born into a difficult situation and the concrete being the difficult situation and we also said that the rose represented something that was going to win no matter what and will beat the odds. In this case the rose was not meant to grow in concrete but it did. At the end we came up with the idea that the theme of the story is that nothing is impossible and anything can be achieved no matter the circumstances.
Then finally as a class we compared the two poems. We defined the theme of “Mother to Son” as life being difficult and not perfect and defined the theme of “The Rose that Grew from Concrete” as a rose that is stuck in concrete that has dreams to grow out. After figuring out the metaphors in these two poems we realized that these two poems have a common theme of anything is possible as long as you persevere.
Reflection
I learned that an extended metaphor is a metaphor that is referred to throughout a poem and that a metaphor describes something as something else using the word “is”. I also learned that there are different types of metaphors for different types of situations or text. I think that this is important because it teaches me how to compare 2 things by not directly stating what it is. For example, I can describe a relationship without actually saying it is either bad or good and I can state that the relationship is either healthy or sick, each correlating to good and bad respectively. I believe that this is important because when writing poems, using metaphors will allow me to show a theme inside a story without directly showing the reader. This allows the reader to deeply understand the central idea. I also think that using an extended metaphor allows me as an author to continue to represent a central theme throughout the whole poem.
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