Name That Figurative Language
This figurative language is the repetition of vowel / consonant sounds or phrases.
Alliteration
"I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings" by
Maya Angelou
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;
"Lift Every Voice & Sing" by James Weldon Johnson
Who was the first poet we learned about in class?
What goes up but never comes down?
Your age
This figurative language gives human qualities to objects or animals.
Personification
This poet was born in Missouri and became one of the earliest innovators of jazz poetry. This poet dropped out of high school and became known as a great poet in Harlem.
Langston Hughes
I have a head and tail but no body. What am I?
A coin
Laws of Life Essay
What can someone catch but not throw?
A cold
Brain Teaser: If a chicken says, “All Chickens are liars” is the chicken telling the truth?
A chicken cannot talk.
This poet studied at Howard University. This poet wrote many children books and received the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize.
Lucille Clifton
Just once before I die
I want to climb up on a
tenement sky
to dream my lungs out till
I cry
then scatter my ashes thru
the...
"A Lower Eastside Poem" by Miguel Pinero
I turn polar bears white and I will make you cry. I make guys have to pee and girls comb their hair. I make celebrities look stupid and normal people look like celebrities. I turn your pancakes brown, and I make your champagne bubble. If you squeeze me, I’ll pop. If you’ll look at me, you’ll pop. Can you guess the riddle?
No
An electric train is moving north at 100mph and a wind is blowing to the east at 10mph. Which way does the smoke blow?
There is no smoke with an electric train.
This is a type of figurative language that compares two things over the span of multiple stanzas of poetry.
Extended Metaphor
This poet grew up in "economically secure" surroundings. When Black civil rights leadership split, this poet sided with Booker T. Washington.
James Weldon Johnson
Think that head blanket
bought from macy's on a lincoln sale
will make the residents of forest hills
lay out a black carpet to their blond streets
because you have some blond horse hair on?
"Black Woman With The Blonde Wig On" by Miguel Pinero
What novel will we read in this class?
"Their Eyes Were Watching God" by Zora Neale Hurston
How can someone go 60 days without sleep?
They sleep at night.
This figurative language is a delusion of a real sensation.
Illusion
The word has seven letters. It preceded the universe, it is greater than the universe, is more evil than the devil, poor people have it, rich people need it and if you eat it, you will die. What is it?
Nothing
In Harlem:
Where did they get
Them two fine cars?
Insurance man, he did not pay—
His insurance lapsed the other day—
Yet they got a satin box
for his head to lay.
"Night Funeral in Harlem" by Langston Hughes
What assignment did we complete Friday?
Nothing, we were out of school.
Every single person at a restaurant got sick, except for two people who were completely fine. How is that possible?
The two people were a couple, not single.