Extended Metaphor Poem
Similes, Metaphors, and Poetry, Oh My!!!
A simile is a comparison of two, usually unlike objects, using like or as:
He was as nervous as a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.
Willow and Ginkgo
Eve Merriam
The willow is like an etching,
Fine-lined against the sky.
The ginkgo is like a crude sketch,
Hardly worthy to be signed.
The willow’s music is like a soprano,
Delicate and thin.
The ginkgo’s tune is like a chorus
With everyone joining in.
A metaphor states that something is something or someone else. It is a comparison, but it does not use like or as.
Life is a mountain
with switchbacks and rock sli
and few straight paths to the top.
Bat
My son is a bat.
His eyes blink when darkness comes.
His body stirs with life.
His limbs gorge with blood
as he sets out through the cave of night
his roof the stars
the moon a big white eye watching.
Attracted by the false lights
he mingles with his batty friends
weaving in and out of nightclubs
endless parties
each other’s places
till sensing the sudden ebb
of darkness
he flutters home
a cloaked Dracula
to the hollow of his room
where he will sleep all day
Write an Extended Metaphor Poem
In his novel A River Runs Through It, Norman Maclean uses rivers as a metaphor for life. Write an extended metaphor poem based on the metaphor "Life is a River"
In the chart below list attributes of rivers in the left column and attributes of life in the right column. Choose those that are similar and shape your poem. Use specific images and examples.
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Life |
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