MIDDLE SCHOOL ENGLISH INSTRUCTION: Unit 3, Lesson 3 1

Focus of the lesson: figurative language and sonic devices

1. FIGURES OF SPEECH

The figures of speech taught at the middle school level are simile, metaphor,
personification, and hyperbole. You were introduced to these figures of
speech in Unit 1, Lesson 3. To review:

 Simile is a figure of speech which involves a direct comparison between two

unlike things, usually with the words like or as.

Example: The muscles on his brawny arms are strong as iron bands.

 Metaphor is a figure of speech which involves an implied comparison

between two relatively unlike things using a form of be. The comparison is
not announced by like or as.

Example: The road was a ribbon of moonlight.

 Personification is a figure of speech which gives the qualities of a person to

an animal, an object, or an idea. It is a comparison which the author uses to
show something in an entirely new light, to communicate a certain feeling or
attitude towards it, and to control the way a reader perceives it.

Example: “A brave handsome brute fell with a creaking, rending cry!” -- The
author is giving human qualities to a tree.

 Hyperbole is an exaggerated statement used to heighten effect. It is not

used to mislead the reader, but to emphasize a point.

Example: She’s said so on several million occasions

Source: http://www.orangeusd.k12.ca.us/yorba/figurative_language.htm

ACTIVITY 3-3-1

(1) Read “More Tips for Reading a Poem” on page 624 in the
Holt online literature text. (2) Read the poem “Valentine for
Ernest Mann” on page 625. (3) Answer Questions 2-6 on page
627.
MIDDLE SCHOOL ENGLISH INSTRUCTION: Unit 3, Lesson 3 2

2. SONIC DEVICES: ALLITERATION, ASSONANCE, CONSONANCE,

AND ONOMATOPOEIA

 Alliteration is repeated consonant sounds occurring at the beginning of

words or within words. Alliteration is used to create melody, establish mood,
call attention to important words, and point out similarities and contrasts.

Example: Wide-eyed and wondering, we waited for others to waken.

 Assonance happens when the vowel sound within a word matches the same
sound in a nearby word, but the surrounding consonant sounds are different.
"Tune" and "June" are rhymes; "tune" and "food" are assonant.

Example: "I sipped the rim with palatable lip." The "i" sound is repeated in
sipped, rim and lip.

Assonance is a difficult sound to achieve in a poem, as it is easier to slip into

a rhyming formula. The difficulty is to have the assonant words near each
other not necessarily rhyme, but rather be more subtle.

 Consonance is the repetition, at close intervals, of the final consonants of

accented syllables or important words, especially at the ends of words, as in
blank and think or strong.

Example: In “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” by Robert Frost, the

speaker is a man in a horse-drawn sleigh. In the poem, Frost uses
consonance to evoke the sound of the hiss of sleigh runners on the snow.
Notice the consonance in the first line of the poem:

“Whose woods these are I think I know”

 Onomatopoeia is the use of words that mimic sounds. They appeal to our
sense of hearing, and they help bring a description to life. Sometimes
onomatopoeia is produced by a string of syllables the author has made up to
represent the way a sound really sounds. Example: OOOMPHH! However,
there are many onomatopoeic words that are part of our language.

Example: "The fire crackled and the popcorn popped."

ACTIVITY 3-3-2

COMPLETE THE ACTIVITY ON SONIC DEVICES ON PP. 3-5 OF THIS

LESSON.
MIDDLE SCHOOL ENGLISH INSTRUCTION: Unit 3, Lesson 3 3

ACTIVITY ON SONIC DEVICES

Alliteration, Consonance, Assonance, Onomatopoeia

DIRECTIONS: Choose two poems from among the four on these

pages. For each of the poems you choose, find at least four
examples of one or more of the sonic devices listed above. Then
write a brief explanation of how the sonic devices contribute to
the meaning and/or effect of the poem.

(1)
The Gate
Elizabeth J. Coatsworth

THE DUST is thick along the road;

The fields are scorching in the sun;
My wife has ever a bitter word
To greet me when the day is done.

The neighbors rest beside the gate

But half their words are high and shrill.
My son is over-young to help;
The fields are very hard to till.

But in the dusk I raise my eyes—

The poet’s words come back to me:
“In the moon there is a white jade gate
Shadowed cool by a cassia tree.”
MIDDLE SCHOOL ENGLISH INSTRUCTION: Unit 3, Lesson 3 4

(2)

BELLS
--Edgar Allan Poe
O Hear the sledges with the bells-
Silver bells!
What a world of merriment their melody foretells!
How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle,
In the icy air of night!
While the stars that oversprinkle
All the heavens, seem to twinkle
With a crystalline1 delight;
Keeping time, time, time,
In a sort of Runic rhyme,
To the tintinnabulation2 that so musically wells
From the bells, bells, bells, bells,
Bells, bells, bells-
From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells.

1
crystalline = clear or transparent
2
tintinnabulation = the ringing or sounding of bells

(3)

Dewdrops Dancing Down Daisies

-- Paul Mc Cann

Don't delay dawn’s disarming display.

Dusk demands daylight.
Dewdrops dwell delicately,
drawing dazzling delight.
Dewdrops dilute daisies’ domain.
Diamonds defray delivered
Daylight’s distilled daisy dance.
MIDDLE SCHOOL ENGLISH INSTRUCTION: Unit 3, Lesson 3 5

(4)

God's World
--Edna St. Vincent Millay

World, I cannot hold thee close enough!

Thy winds, thy wide grey skies!
Thy mists, that roll and rise!
Thy woods, this autumn day, that ache and sag
And all but cry with color! That gaunt crag
To crush! To lift the lean of that black bluff!
World, World, I cannot get thee close enough!

Long have I known a glory in it all,

But never knew I this;
Here such a passion is
As stretcheth me apart, -- Lord, I do fear
Thou'st made the world too beautiful this year;
My soul is all but out of me, -- let fall
No burning leaf; prithee, let no bird call.