by Linda Rief

How Does Poetry Make You See?Poets make imaginative comparisons that can help you see things in a diff erent way. Th ey create imagery that not only paints pictures in your mind but appeals to your other senses as well. Th ey convey ideas and emotions with the fewest and best words. Poetry comes alive through the power of strong imagery.

Figurative LanguagePoets have a special talent for making imagina-tive comparisons, often describing one thing in terms of something else, usually something very diff erent. These comparisons are called fi gures of speech, or fi gurative language. Three of the most common fi gures of speech are metaphor, simile, and personifi cation.

Metaphor A metaphor directly compares two unlike things. If you said “My baby sister is a real doll,” you would be comparing your sister’s appearance and personality to the cuteness of a doll. If you said “My brother is a rat,” you’d be com-paring him to the nastiest little creature you can think of. Poets use unexpected and original com-parisons to create metaphors such as this one:

Th e sea is a hungry dog,Giant and gray.

from “The Sea” by James Reeves

Often, a poet will see how thoroughly he or she can develop a metaphor. A single comparison that is explored in great depth and detail, sometimes through the entire length of a poem, is called an extended metaphor.

Simile Let’s return to the sister and brother comparisons. If you said “My sister is like a doll” or, with a change of heart, exclaimed “My brother’s as good as gold!” you would be using similes. A simile is a comparison between unlike things that uses specifi c words of comparison, such as like or as. Here’s a poem that begins with a simile:

He’s whiteAs spilled milk,My cat who sleepsWith his bellyTurned towardTh e summer sky.

from “Ode to Mi Gato” by Gary Soto

Imagine milk spilled on a table. The poet com-pares the color of his cat to that of the spilled milk to help you picture the cat in your mind.

Personifi cation A common type of fi gurative language is personifi cation—speaking of some-thing that is not human as if it had human abili-ties, emotions, and reactions. When you personifysomething, you give it human qualities or feelings: “The sky wept bitterly all day.” Isn’t that a much more imaginative description than a statement of fact, such as “Yesterday it rained for hours”?

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What human ability is the locomotive in this example given?

And every locomotive comes a-roaring bySays, “Th ere lies a steel-driving man, Lord,

Lord!Th ere lies a steel-driving man.”

from “John Henry”

As you read and analyze poems, use a chart like this one to help you identify diff erent fi gures of speech:

Figure of Speech Defi nition

Metaphor Makes a direct comparison by saying one

object is the other

Simile Compares, using like, as, and other

comparison words

Personifi cation Gives nonhuman things human qualities

ImageryPoets often use descriptive language to create imagery that appeals to our senses. Imagery is also referred to as sensory details, because the images that are created in our minds often appeal to more than just our sense of sight—they can also appeal to our senses of hearing, touch, taste, and smell. Notice how this image from a poem appeals to sight, smell, taste, and touch, all at the same time:

Yellow mustard and onionsAnd french fries piled on top allRolled up in a piece of waxPaper for us to hold hotIn our hands

from “Good Hot Dogs,”by Sandra Cisneros

Structure and Word ChoiceNothing is left to chance in a poem. Everything from rhyme scheme to punctuation is a poet’s deliberate decision. Poets can even choose to use diff erent forms of poetry. Some forms, such as haiku and sonnets, have a set structure and strict rules of form; other forms, such as the ode, off er a poet more freedom. In free verse, a poet can create his or her own structure to help convey meaning. In all cases, it is word choice that gives a poet the biggest range of expression: choosing just the right words is what poetry is all about.

ToneAll of a poet’s choices aff ect not only the meaning of a poem but also its tone, the feeling expressed by the speaker (the person talking in the poem). Tone is the speaker’s attitude toward his or her subject: playful or serious, joyous or sad, mournful or humorous. Figurative language, imagery, word choice, and even structure help to create tone.

Your Turn Analyze Images of Poetry1. Create a metaphor, a simile, and an example

of personifi cation to describe what fi re is like.

2. Re-read the lines from “Good Hot Dogs” on the left. What kind of tone would you expect this poem to have? Explain why you think so.

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Literary Skills Understand fi gurative language in poetry; understand the use of imagery in poetry; understand word choice in poetry; understand tone.

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Literary Focus 647