Poetry:Figurative Language

Kristi FischerFlandreau Middle School

Types of Figurative Language

often used in Poetry:• Simile• Metaphor• Personification• Alliteration• Onomatopoeia

Simile

• An implied comparison usually using “like” or “as”

Simile

• Life is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you’re going to get.

Simile

• He ran down the field like a freight train.

Simile

• She was as quiet as a mouse.

Metaphor• The process of

describing one thing as if it were another.

• Does not use “like”

or “as”

Metaphor

• Our project is almost finished. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Metaphor

• He had butterflies in his stomach.

Metaphor

• He carried the weight of the world on his shoulders.

Personification•A figure of speech in which a thing, quality, or idea is represented as a person.

Personification

• The sun peeked over the mountain tops.

Personification

• One lonely slice of pizza remained.

Personification

• After a long day of work, the swimming pool was calling my name.

Alliteration

• The repetition of the same sound at the beginning of two or more closely associated words.

Alliteration

• Like loads of laundry lying on the lovely linoleum.

Alliteration

• Sally sells seashells by the seashore.

Alliteration

• Those creepy crawly critters caused a cramp in my cranium.

Onomatopoeia

• A word that imitates the sound it represents.

Onomatopoeia

• The water gurgled as it flowed down the drain.

Onomatopoeia

• The storm clouds rumbled across the sky.

Onomatopoeia

• It seemed everyone was sniffling during the cold and flu season.

Types of Figurative Language

• Simile• Metaphor• Personification• Alliteration• Onomatopoeia