Use of Language
Interpreting Figurative Language|
HLevel H-1
Reading Plus
Interpreting
Word
Meaning: Figurative Language
Taylor
Associates
®
COMPREHENSION SKILLS PRAC
Sometimes
authors use what is called figurative language to help you
understand what is being said or described. They might describe something by comparing
it to or contrasting it with something else. Two of the most common ways authors do this
are with similes and metaphors.
A simile is a comparison using “like” or “as” in the description: “Her eyes were as blue as
a cloudless summer sky.” You can imagine the color of the girl’s eyes very clearly from
your own experiences seeing a summer sky.
A metaphor is a comparison that does not use “like” or “as” in the description: “His face
was a thundercloud.” You can imagine the man’s face and how angry he must be that he
is about to explode like a thunderstorm.
In The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote:
Day after day, day after day,
We stuck, nor breath nor motion;
As idle as a painted ship
Upon a painted ocean.
What is Coleridge saying? What is he comparing?
The narrator of the poem is onboard a ship. The first line of the stanza, “Day after day, day
after day” gives you a sense of time passing. The situation being described in the rest of
the stanza continued for many days.
The next three lines contain one simile. “We stuck” (or we stayed), “nor breath nor
motion;” (without moving at all) “As idle as a painted ship/Upon a painted ocean.” How
idle is a painted ship on a painted ocean? Can it ever move?
Putting all of this together tells you that the narrator is on a ship that has not moved at all
in days. The people on the ship might as well be in a picture of a ship. They have gone
nowhere.
In Romeo and Juliet Shakespeare starts the famous balcony scene with a metaphor.
Romeo says, “Juliet is the sun.” Is Shakespeare suggesting that Romeo thinks Juliet is a
big ball of burning gas up in the sky? Probably not, so what is he saying?
Think about the sun. What does it do? What purpose does it serve? The sun gives us
light and warmth, which allows life to exist on the planet. By saying that Juliet is the sun,
what is Romeo saying? She gives him light and allows him to live.
What conclusions can you draw from this? Romeo is very passionate in his declaration of
love for Juliet. You understand how very strongly Romeo feels based on these few words.
He needs her and believes he cannot live without her.
Figurative language can help you to better understand what the author is trying to say. It
also makes reading more interesting.
Copyright © 2013 Taylor Associates/Communications,
Inc.
Use of Language
Interpreting Figurative Language|
HLevel H-1
Reading Plus
Interpreting
Word
Meaning: Figurative Language
Taylor
Associates
®
COMPREHENSION SKILLS PRAC
Student Name_______________________________________________________________
In the following passages underline the simile or metaphor. Then on the lines underneath
state what two (or more) things are being compared.
1. In The Yellow Wallpaper, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, a woman is ill and has been taken
to a country house by her husband where he hopes she can rest and get well. The story
is told from the woman’s perspective using first person narration, so she is speaking
directly to the reader.
At one point, referring to her husband, she states, “he says he would as soon put
fireworks in my pillowcase as to let me have those stimulating people about now.”
2. Although water is a relatively simple compound (one water molecule contains two
atoms of hydrogen and one atom of oxygen), its effect upon Earth and all living things
is extremely complex. Not only is water the sustainer of life itself, but it is also a master
sculptor (constantly shaping and reforming our planet), and an unparalleled artist
(splashing beauty and color across the landscape).
3. Most people think that driving while drowsy is not particularly dangerous. However,
recent studies have compared the effects of sleep deprivation to those of alcohol
intoxication. These studies found that when subjects stayed awake for periods as brief
as 17 hours, their performances on a cognitive-motor skills test were equivalent to that
of a person with a blood alcohol level of 0.05. At 24 hours of sustained wakefulness,
a person’s performance was the same as if he or she had a blood alcohol level of 9.10
percent. A blood alcohol level of 0.08 percent is considered legally drunk in many states,
so these sleep deprivation statistics clearly indicate that a drowsy driver is potentially as
dangerous as an intoxicated one.
Copyright © 2013 Taylor Associates/Communications,
Inc.