Figurative Language - River Dell Middle School



Part Two: The Sieve and the SandFigurative LanguageOne of the most captivating aspects of good literature is the use of figurative language, or ideas communicated beyond their literal meaning to create an image in the reader’s or audience’s mind. There are several types of figurative language, also called figures of speech. For this exercise, you will use the following figures of speech:metaphor- a comparison, based upon similarity or resemblance, of two or more objects: “The pillow was a cloud.” Metaphors can also be more complex: “His recliner was his throne and his remote, his scepter; with these he ruled his kingdom.”simile- a comparison made between two unlike objects, using the words “like” or “as” in the comparison: “The pillow was like a marshmallow.”personification- giving human qualities or characteristics to non-human objects: “The wind sang its sad song.”Directions: Read each quote from Part Two. Look at the underlined figure of speech in the sentence, then decide what type of figure of speech is being used. Finally, analyze the comparison being made, the object being personified, or the image being created by explaining the meaning of the figure of speech and explain why you think Bradbury chose this description (CONSIDER: What effect is he trying to have on the reader or, what message does he want the reader to understand? What mood or tone is created by the figurative language?). An example has been done for you.Ex. “‘Each page becomes a black butterfly. Beautiful, eh? Light the third page from the second and so on, chain smoking, chapter by chapter” …There sat Beatty, perspiring gently, the floor littered with swarms of black moths that had died in a single storm.”Figure of Speech:metaphor Analysis:Bradbury compares the burnt pages of the book to a swarm of black moths, as the pages lie there, “dead” from the fire. Moths are white but would turn black if burned. This relates to earlier parts of the novel where books are described as birds- representing freedom. Burning pages is equal to killing freedom. “She was beginning to shriek now, sitting there like a wax doll melting in its own heat.”Figure of Speech:Analysis: “There were people on the suction train but he held the book in his hands and the silly thought came to him, if you read fast and read all, maybe some of the sand will stay in the sieve.”Figure of Speech: Analysis: “The train radio vomited upon Montag, in retaliation, a great tonload of music made of tin, copper, silver, chromium, and brass.”Figure of Speech: Analysis: “The night I kicked the pill bottle in the dark, like kicking a buried mine.”Figure of Speech: Analysis: “[Christ is] a regular peppermint stick now, all sugar-crystal and saccharine when he isn’t making veiled references to certain commercial products that every worshipper absolutely needs.”Figure of Speech: Analysis: “And the faster he poured [the sand], the faster it sifted through with a hot whispering.” Figure of Speech: Analysis: “‘Don’t ask for guarantees. And don’t look to be saved in any one thing, person, machine, or library. Do your own bit of saving, and if you drown, at least die knowing you were headed for shore.’”Figure of Speech: Analysis: “The magic is only in what books say, how they stitched the patches of the universe into one garment for us.”Figure of Speech:Analysis: “‘Denham’s Denham’s Denham’s,’ the train hissed like a snake.”Figure of Speech: Analysis: “Montag, go home. Go to bed. Why waste your final hours racing about your cage denying you’re a squirrel?”Figure of Speech: Analysis: 11. Find your own example of figurative language from the novel. Write out the quote, identify the type of figure of speech in the quote, and write an analysis of the meaning of the figurative language and Bradbury’s purpose for using it in the passage.Quote:Figure of Speech: Analysis: ................
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