I need literature/poetry suggestions that illustrate similie and metaphor

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

for a 7th grader please. Thanks :001_smile:

Edited January 24, 2011 by wy_kid_wrangler04
corrected spelling

[8filltheheart]

My all time favorite that is simply fun but non-stop examples is McBroom's Wonderful One Acre Farm. It is below a 7th grade reading level, is definitely not serious, but engages the imagination. http://www.amazon.com/McBrooms-Wonderful-One-Acre-Farm-Three/dp/0688155952

 

A serious book that utilizes them continusoulsy is Red Badge of Courage.

 

If I wanted to impact my student about how they help create visions in the reader, either would work.

[Carol in Cal.]

The best metaphor I know is in a great poem: "The Chambered Nautilus". It begins, "This is the ship of pearl," which refers to the nautilus shell. The poem is a wonderful, inspiring one to study at that age anyway, and it's the main reason that my DD can keep similes and metaphors straight.

 

There are lots of metaphors in Shakespeare as well. "It is the east, and Juliet is the sun!" is a classic one.

 

Similes are a dime a dozen, but metaphors are hard to find in modern literature.

[swimmermom3]

Longfellow's "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere" is wonderful for studying many stylistic devices. I find Dana Gioa's essays to be helpful for my own background and understanding. Paul Laurence Dunbar's "Sympathy" is also a possibility:

 

I KNOW what the caged bird feels, alas!

When the sun is bright on the upland slopes;

When the wind stirs soft through the springing grass,

And the river flows like a stream of glass;

When the first bird sings and the first bud opes,

And the faint perfume from its chalice steals--

I know what the caged bird feels!

 

I know why the caged bird beats his wing

Till its blood is red on the cruel bars;

For he must fly back to his perch and cling

When he fain would be on the bough a-swing;

And a pain still throbs in the old, old scars

And they pulse again with a keener sting--

I know why he beats his wing!

 

I know why the caged bird sings, ah me,

When his wing is bruised and his bosom sore,--

When he beats his bars and he would be free;

 

It is not a carol of joy or glee,

But a prayer that he sends from his heart's deep core,

But a plea, that upward to Heaven he flings--

I know why the caged bird sings!

 

There are many wonderful metaphors in Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream Speech."

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

Thank you very much ladies! :001_smile:

[Mommybostic]

How about Robert Frost? "Birches," or "After Apple Picking" are two good ones. (To me, anyway!)

[NanceXToo]

A good poem for reinforcing similies is "The War God's Horse Song" which I used when I did a poetry workshop using the book "Teaching Poetry Yes You Can!" by Jacqueline Sweeney (which is for grades 4-8).

 

I am the Turquoise Woman's son

 

On top of Belted Mountain beautiful horses

slim like a weasel

 

My horse has a hoof like striped agate

his fetlock is like fine eagle plume

his legs are like quick lightening

 

My horse's body is like an eagle-feathered arrow

 

My horse has a tail like a trailing black cloud.

 

I put flexible goods on my horse's back

 

The Holy Wind blows through his mane

his mane is made of rainbows

 

My horse's ears are made of round corn

 

My horse's eyes are made of stars

 

My horse's head is made of mixed waters

(from the holy waters)

(he never knows thirst)

 

My horse's teeth are made of white shell

 

The long rainbow is in his mouth for a bridle

 

with it I guide him

 

When my horse neighs

different-colored horses follow

 

I am wealthy from my horse

 

Before me peaceful

Behind me peaceful

Under me peaceful

Over me peaceful

Around me peaceful

Peaceful voice when he neighs

I am everlasting and peaceful

I stand for my horse

 

-Navajo; adapted from Dane and Mary Robers Coolidge