Module 3: How do I love thee?

Existing Patterns in Figurative Language:

When we talk about patterns in language, the examples really become endless. We develop patterns in everything from the way we structure our sentences (subject – predicate word order) to where we place accents, stresses and even voice inflections. Figurative language also consists of endless patterns. More specifically, examples of figurative language are recognized because of their identifiable patterns. Alliteration is formed with patterns of repetitious consonant sounds and similarly, assonance is formed with patterns of repetitious vowel sounds:

           

            Alliteration—While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping

(The Raven, Edgar Allan Poe)

            Assonance—Upon the west beach sits the West Beast.

          Each beach beast thinks he's the best beast.

(Oh Say Can You Say? – West Beast East Beast, Dr. Suess)

Likewise, the pattern of attributing human characteristics to inanimate objects has become known as personification and the pattern of making comparisons connected with the words like or as has been labeled as similes:

            Personification—                    Trees

 I THINK that I shall never see

A poem lovely as a tree.        

 

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest 

Against the sweet earth's flowing breast;     

 

A tree that looks at God all day,                 

And lifts her leafy arms to pray;        

 

A tree that may in summer wear      

A nest of robins in her hair;   

 

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;    

Who intimately lives with rain.           

 

Poems are made by fools like me,    

But only God can make a tree.

                                                                 --Joyce Kilmer

                Simile—     My love is like a red red rose 

                                    That’s newly sprung in June;

                                    My love is like the melodie

                                    That’s sweetly play’d in tune.

(“My Love is Like a Red Red Rose “, Robert Burns)

The patterns found in figurative language produce images within the students’ minds and engages them with the text, whether poetry or prose. For example, saying “The sun rose over the mountain like a blazing ball of fire,” is much more effective imagery than simply stating “The sun came up.” Students are able to see the connection between the sun and the blazing ball of fire and they are not only visually stimulated, but they can more clearly see how figurative language enhances the way they talk and write. The type of pattern connections used in similes and metaphors help students identify and associate meaning to concepts they may otherwise not understand through simply using basic, common wording. For example, people who have never experienced a migraine may not associate any type of meaning or connection to this word outside of its literal definition. But if we use figurative language to compare a migraine to something more familiar, a sensory connection can be made. (i.e. The grinding pain of the migraine made my head feel as though nails were being hammered in one by one.)

Forming New Patterns Using Figurative Language:

One way for students to better understand how figurative language enhances their perception of a given topic is for them to use a pattern of figurative language examples to form a poem centered on a topic of their choice. For example, instead of using the simple word rain, students will use figurative language to develop the word “rain” in such a way that enhances imagery and understanding of the characteristics of rain:

Example:

1   Rain

2   Drip, Drop

3   Like a symphony of hands clapping

4   Singing with the wind

5   Splish, splash

6   Puddle

This example was created using the following figurative language pattern:

1   topic

2   two onomatopoeias describing line 1

3   simile or metaphor

4   personification

5   two onomatopoeias describing line 6

6   related word or topic

With this example, students will not only become familiar with different types of figurative language, but they will also see the effect figurative language has on connecting their senses to the words they speak. In other words, making language and ideas stick rather than become lost in a sea of forgotten thoughts. Once students become familiar with how the above example of a figurative language poem works, they can begin to brainstorm other pattern combinations for their own poems using as many different examples of figurative languages as possible and then seeing how complex they can make them. The possibilities are endless.