Lesson 4 - Figurative Language

Figurative language is used when a writer describes something using comparisons that go beyond literal meaning. The words mean more than what they say on the surface. This gives the writing a fresh look at a common subject. Figurative language is not meant to be interpreted in a word by word sense. The objects that are being compared are different in enough ways so that their similarities, when pointed out, are interesting, unique and/or surprising. Figurative language is used in poetry and fiction, as well as in everyday speech. Below are three types of figurative language:

Activity 1

Determine which type of figurative language is used for each item below.

1. Page 3 - He seemed more a machine than a man, an extension of the plane. ...the pilot seemed the same way. Part of the plane, not human.
   
   a)  metaphor 
   b)  personification
   c)  simile 
    
2. Page 13 - The pilot did not move except that his head rolled on a neck impossibly loose as the plane hit a small bit of turbulence.
   
   a)  metaphor 
   b)  personification
   c)  simile 
    
3. Page 28 - The plane, committed now to landing, to crashing, fell into the wide place like a stone, and Brian eased back on the wheel and braced himself for the crash.
   
   a)  metaphor 
   b)  personification
   c)  simile 
    
4. Page 31 - The memory was like a knife cutting into him. Slicing deep into him with hate.
   
   a)  metaphor 
   b)  personification
   c)  simile 
    
5. Page 33 - He tried to move, but pain hammered into him and made his breath shorten into gasps and he stopped, his legs still in the water.
   
   a)  metaphor 
   b)  personification
   c)  simile 
    
6. Page 34 - Be asleep, his mind screamed at the pilot.
   
   a)  metaphor 
   b)  personification
   c)  simile 
    
7. Page 36 - With it came some warmth, small bits of it at first, and with the heat came clouds of insects-thick, swarming hordes of mosquitoes that flocked to his body, made a living coat on his exposed skin, clogged his nostrils when he inhaled, poured into his mouth when he opened it to take a breath.
   
   a)  metaphor 
   b)  personification
   c)  simile 
    
8. Page 37 - And when the sun was fully up and heating him directly, bringing steam off of his wet clothes and bathing him with warmth, the mosquitoes and flies disappeared. Almost that suddenly. One minute he was sitting in the middle of a swarm; the next, they were gone and the sun was on him.
   Vampires, he thought.
   
   a)  metaphor 
   b)  personification
   c)  simile 
    
9. Page 46 - But there was a log extending about twenty feet out into the water of the lake -  a beaver drop from some time before - with old limbs sticking up, almost like handles.
   
   a)  metaphor 
   b)  personification
   c)  simile 
    
10. Page 54 - Gradually, like sloshing oil his thoughts settled back and the panic was gone.
    
    a)  metaphor 
    b)  personification
    c)  simile 
     
11. Page 63 - The slender branches went up about twenty feet and were heavy, drooping with clusters of bright red berries. They were half as big as grapes but hung in bunches much like grapes and when Brian saw them, glistening red in the sunlight, he almost yelled.
    
    a)  metaphor 
    b)  personification
    c)  simile 
     
12. Page 70 - He was dirty and starving and bitten and hurt and lonely and ugly and afraid and so completely miserable that it was like being in a pit, a dark, deep pit with no way out.
    
    a)  metaphor 
    b)  personification
    c)  simile 
     
13. Page 84 - He wiped his mouth and tried to move his leg, which had stiffened like wood.
    
    a)  metaphor 
    b)  personification
    c)  simile 
     
14. Page 88 - Not twenty feet to his right, leaning out over the water were birches and he stood looking at them for a full half-minute before they registered on his mind. They were beautiful white and bark like clean, slightly speckled paper.
    
    a)  metaphor 
    b)  personification
    c)  simile 
     
15. Page 89 - Then back to work, the sun on his back, until at last he had a ball of fluff as big as a grapefruit - dry birchbark fluff.
    
    a)  metaphor 
    b)  personification
    c)  simile 
     
16. Page 92 - The red glow moved from the sparks themselves into the bark, moved and grew and became worms, glowing red worms that crawled up the bark hairs and caught other threads of bark and grew until there was a pocket of red as big as a quarter, a glowing red coal of heat.
    
     

    became worms, glowing red worms a)  metaphor  b)  personification c)  simile

    big as a quarter a)  metaphor  b)  personification c)  simile

17. Page 92 - But the flames were thick and oily and burning fast, consuming the ball of bark as fast as if it were gasoline.

    a)  metaphor 
    b)  personification
    c)  simile 
     

18. Page 93 - I have a friend, he thought - I have a friend now. A hungry friend, but a good one. I have a friend named fire.
    
    a)  metaphor 
    b)  personification
    c)  simile 
     
19. Page 100 - He reached into the nest and pulled the eggs out one at a time. There were seventeen of them, each as round as a ball, and white.
    
    a)  metaphor 
    b)  personification
    c)  simile 
     
20. Page 107 - From his height he could see not just the lake but across part of the forest, a green carpet, and it was full of life.
    
    a)  metaphor 
    b)  personification
    c)  simile 
     

Flash Cards http://www.mce.k12tn.net/survival/hatchet/descriptive/figurative_lang_terms.htm

Oral Practice http://www.mce.k12tn.net/survival/hatchet/oral.doc

-------------Key---------------

1. a
2. b
3. c
4. c
5. b
6. b
7. a
8. a
9. c
10. c
11. c
12. c
13. c
14. c
15. c
16. a, c
17. c
18. a
19. c
20. a