Poetry: Figures of Speech

Objectives

• Students will use the Internet to find out about four poetic figures of speech: alliteration, metaphor, onomatopoeia, and simile.
• Students will read four poems and try to identify as many figures of speech as they can.
• Students will share their lists with classmates to find out which figures of speech they might have missed.

Description

This Web site was designed by a teacher/librarian in Tuscon, Arizona. The site contains a list of several poetic figures of speech, defined and with examples, and links to four well• known poems that contain them.

Suggested Activities

• Have students come together to compose a collective class poem using alliteration, metaphor, onomatopoeia, and simile.

Level Activities

• Have students connect to http://www.poets.org/page.php/prmID/58 and click on Langston Hughes, listed under Most Popular Poets on Poets.org, to read about the poet's life. Students should read three or four of the poems linked on the right menu bar and:

   pick their favorite poem, practice reading it aloud, and perform it for the class as well as they can.

search for poetic figures of speech and try to figure out which ones Hughes tends to use the most.

draw or paint, depending on what materials are available, a visual representation of their favorite poem.