Aim: How are Metaphors used by writers to send meaning to readers?
Do Now: Complete the following: Love is…
I wrote that love is a combination of patience, care and synergy.
I then called on Tiffany, who had her hand raised. She states that love is the connection people have between each other. More interactions such as these then took place, and one of our classmates stated that she thinks love is what hopeless romantics use to describe chemicals inside our brain. This is a hard truth, but I think that in the world of poetry at least, love could be way more than just chemicals.
The next slide was about metaphors, but what exactly is a metaphor?
Here’s the definition for it:
Ah! Metaphor is a comparison where one thing could symbolize other things, or even an idea. Ms. Peterson discussed that a metaphor often uses “to be,” which describes the state of something. For example, if you asked “how are you?” then the “are” would describe the state of condition. If someone replied “I am doing great!” then the “am” would emphasize the state of doing great. Ms.Peterson then sang a song that had helped her memorize all of these “verbs like be.” It was a great song, ask anyone who’s heard it. After that, we commenced to watch a video that helps to better understand metaphors, since this figurative device shouldn’t just be categorized as “the comparison that doesn’t use like or as.” It’s way more than that, you’ll see.
Red Room Poetry Object Poetic Device #3: Metaphor [2:14]
In the video, it was stated that metaphors say something is something else, unlike a simile that compares using like or as. Metaphors are expressive and could generate strong images, feelings, and memories to the reader’s mind. Oftentimes, this device creates images that don’t exist, but could help with immense visualization. The example mentioned in the video was “the stars are a sea.” So what does this metaphor bring about? Well, let’s see, the stars aren’t a literal sea, but they have some similarities. The stars are vast, and they move as though dancing in waves like the ones you see on the ocean. Metaphors show the reader new and original ways of seeing something familiar; it’s a technique used by poets to create rich associations and emotional connections between different objects and experiences.
We then moved on to another slide that shows extended metaphors. What are these? Extended metaphors are basically metaphors developed over several lines or throughout a poem-basically elaborated ones. Examples of these include Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken,” Langston Hughes’ “Mother to Son,” or the one below, which is basically comparing an hourglass to life.
The meaning here is quite deep, and it creates a slightly sad tone. Everyone’s time is limited, just as the sand would eventually run out. Thus, you have to figure out your path before it does. When it does run out, would you feel as though you did nothing whilst it was pouring? Or would you feel as if you’ve done enough to make yourself feel accomplished right before you leave?
Next, we annotated “Poetry For Everyday Life,” by David Brooks. Brooks shared his opinions and observations about other poets’ poems. For example, he noticed that in one of the sentences in the British press before the last national election, there were four metaphors in one sentence. The sentence was “Britain’s recovery from the worst recession in decades is gaining traction, but confused economic data and the high risk of hung Parliament could yet snuff out its momentum.” Did you see them all? Well, here’s the answer key: Economies don’t really gain traction, like a tractor. Momentum doesn’t literally get snuffed out, like a cigarette. Economic data doesn’t get confused, and high risk doesn’t exactly snuff out momentum. Brooks had also summarized that most of us aren’t good at thinking about abstractions or spiritual states, so we rely on metaphors to express our thoughts as precisely as we could.
Next slide!
We read “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.”
Ms.Peterson then proceeded to read the poem. After that, she asked everyone what they noticed about her reading. What did we notice? We noticed that she stopped after every punctuation (comma, dash, semicolon, etc). What was the point in that? Well, Ms.Peterson explained that when we read quickly without pausing, our brain is just processing a bunch of words, and most of the time, it wouldn’t make much sense to us. However, if we would just pause after every line, we could analyze the whole thing much better. Sometimes, the punctuations were included on purpose, kind of like the poet’s way of saying “stop, take a breath, then keep reading.”
“Hope is the thing with feathers.” Right away, we could easily recognize that hope is being compared with something that has feathers...a bird! In the poem, hope is said to have “kept so many warm.” That basically meant that many rely on hope for comfort, especially in stressful situations. Hope has never stopped singing those sweet tunes that don’t even have lyrics, and has never asked a crumb of anyone (personification). “I’ve heard it in the chilliest land” basically meant that hope exists even in the most dreadful of situations - theme: never lose hope.
Next, we practiced team group work with the poem “Mother to Son,” by Langston Hughes.
The poem is basically a mother reflecting on her life, then describing it to her son with a metaphorical twist using stairs as a symbol. Her life was described as a staircase that had tacks and splinters in it, and boards torn up, with some places missing carpets. These obstacles are discouraging, but she keeps climbing on these stairs, sometimes even going in places that don't have light. The crystal stairs mentioned in the poem are used as juxtaposition to the staircase that symbolizes her life. Juxtaposition is basically two objects/ideas put next to each other that really emphasize each other’s difference. Here, the crystal stairs and the half-broken staircase were juxtaposed, and it serves to emphasize how the mother didn’t have an easy nor luxurious life. The theme is that she hopes her son could persevere no matter what obstacles he comes across later in life. She states, “Cause you finds it’s kinder hard. Don’t you fall now-- for I’se still going, honey, and life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.” In short, it’s “perseverance despite adversity.”
The last, but not least, poem we read was “The Rose That Grew From Concrete,” by Tupac Shakur.
“The Rose That Grew from Concrete” By Tupac Shakur
[1] 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.
[5] 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.
That was a wholesome poem! A rose had grown from a crack in a concrete road. A statement as simple as that could be broken down into immense descriptions that emphasized the perseverance that had at last brought reward: the rose took the opportunity and grew, which then allowed for it to seek fresh air and sunlight.
A question we then had to answer was: How does this poem utilize an extended metaphor? The class then discussed and agreed that the rose was compared to a person using both metaphor and personification. The rose had “learned to walk,” “kept its dream,” and “learned to breathe fresh air.”
Another question was: What does the rose represent? What about the concrete? Well, the rose represents hope and individuality. The concrete represents a hopeless Situation. The concrete is like a barrier that stops one from growing, but the rose took the opportunity from the crack and advanced above the baseline.
Today’s slides and discussions were interesting (when were they not?) and I’ve learned a lot from them. I learned more about extended metaphors, and also changed my definition of metaphors into something that’s more than just “the one that doesn’t use like or as.” Hmmmmm, let’s see, a metaphor is a figurative language that incorporates immense descriptions and imagery to generate/relate to familiar and oftentimes imaginary scenery to build connections between different objects and ideas. How does that sound? Maybe you can come up with a better definition? Why did I learn about extended metaphors? Well, after learning it, I can identify and understand it more easily when I come across one when reading more poems. For many students, poems are “difficult and hard-to-understand” literary pieces in ELA. Well, it would really help if you understood what you read on important tests, such as the PSAT and SAT, wouldn’t it? Or, in general, just being able to understand what you read would allow you to enjoy and perhaps relax to a creative piece of writing. You can switch yourself to be in the poets’ shoes, and see from their perspective what their opinions are, and what ideas their mind has to offer. I will use what I learned today when I create poems of my own. That day wouldn’t be far, because I have an assignment coming up where I need to create a poem using extended metaphors.
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