Defined simply as

“teaching,” something

that is didactic is intended to

teach, especially

dealing with ethnic or

moral lessons

Farenheit 451 is a didactic tale that warns against the notion of ignorance is bliss and the dehumanization of our society.

Gandhi's didactic speeches taught and inspired India’s population to be more tolerant of one another.

She was a didactic person and could teach anyone about anything.

A more pleasant way

to convey a possibly

unpleasant, offensive, or

politically incorrect message.

It disguises a harsh truth

with a delicate veneer.

Earthly remains vs. corpse Having to let someone go vs. having to

fire someone full figured vs. fat

A drawn out and continuing metaphor that

is found frequently

throughout a work.

In poetry, an extended

metaphor will usually be

based on one common

metaphor with other related

metaphors applied to it.

Sometimes flowing lightly and gently/Moving along with ease/My life is like a river/Sometimes rough and rapid/Longing for some release/Trying to calm the storm/Waiting for the sun to shine overhead/Looking for the rainbow in the sky/My life is like a river (“Extended Metaphor Poem”)

"Hope is the thing with feathersThat perches in the soul,And sings the tune--without the words,And never stops at all” –Emily Dickinson (Nordquist)

"I graduated from the University of Life. All right? I received a degree from the School of Hard Knocks. And our colors were black and blue, baby. I had office hours with the Dean of Bloody Noses. All right? I borrowed my class notes from Professor Knuckle Sandwich and his Teaching Assistant, Ms. Fat Lip Thon Nyun. That’s the kind of school I went to for real, okay?“ –Will Ferrell (Nordquist)

Speech or writing in which the

words usually play off the imagination and are not

meant to be taken literally.

May include comparisons,

imagery, irony,

paradox, etc.

Paradox: “a familiar strangeness” (Hurston 48)

Similie: Her eyes shone like stars Personification: the river wandered

through the forest

A way of saying

something in a manner not

to be taken literally using

figurative lagnuage.

all the world’s a stage it’s raining cats and dogs there were butterflies in her stomach

"Extended Metaphor Poem." English Adventures With Mrs. Schulze. Web. 30 Sept. 2011. <http://www.pschulze.com/kh2003/extended_metaphor_poem.htm>.

Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God. New York: Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2006. Print.

Nordquist, Richard. "Extended Metaphor - Definition and Examples of Extended Metaphor - Glossary of Rhetorical Terms." Grammar and Composition - Homepage of About Grammar and Composition. Web. 30 Sept. 2011. <http://grammar.about.com/od/e/g/extmetterm.htm>.