Lesson 15
Part 1: Introduction
CCSS
Determining Word Meanings
RL.8.4: Determine the meaning of words and
phrases as they are used in a text, including
figurative and connotative meanings . . . .
Theme: The Language of Poets
Your friend sighs and says, “I’ve told you that a million times!” Does this mean that your friend
actually told you the same thing one million times? Of course not! This expression is a
hyperbole, or an exaggeration. Phrases like this are examples of figurative language, the
creative use of words to express more than the literal, or usual, meaning.
Authors often use figurative language to create unusual or interesting effects.
• They may employ a simile, a comparison of two unlike things that uses like or as.
• They may use a metaphor, which is the comparison of two unlike things without the
use of like or as.
• Personification, or giving human qualities to something nonhuman, is another
technique authors use to make their writing more interesting.
Study the cartoon below, which contains lines from a play by William Shakespeare.
All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players.
In the cartoon, circle the things being compared. Then decide how these things are alike.
Check your answers against the chart below. Fill out the empty cell.
Metaphor
the world’s a stage
What’s Being Compared
world and stage
the men and women merely
players
people and actors
Meaning
Life is like a play.
Figurative language is a powerful tool authors often use to add humor, make descriptions
more vivid, or to emphasize ideas. Shakespeare’s metaphors emphasize that in everyday life,
people are playing their parts on the stage of the world.
L15: Determining Word Meanings
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Part 2: Modeled Instruction
Lesson 15
Read the sonnet in which the speaker compares the person he loves to a summer’s day.
Genre: Sonnet
Sonnet XVIII   5
10
by William Shakespeare
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm’d;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature’s changing course untrimm’d;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st,
Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st;
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
Explore how to answer this question: “How does the speaker in this poem use figurative language to
describe the person he cares about?”
The speaker sets out to compare someone to a summer’s day. Use the chart below to analyze the
specific types of figurative language the speaker uses.
Figurative Language
Personification
Example
Meaning
“the eye of heaven shines”
The sun beats down warmly.
“thy eternal summer shall not fade”
“nor shall death brag”
With a partner, take turns rereading the poem aloud. Then discuss what the author’s purpose was in
making the comparisons in the poem.
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L15: Determining Word Meanings
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Part 3: Guided Instruction
Lesson 15
Read this poem excerpt. Use the Close Reading and the Hint to help you
answer the question.
Close Reading
In addition to figurative
language, writers may use
words with strong
connotations, or words
that express positive,
negative, or neutral
feelings. Underline
words with negative
connotations.
Hint
Look at the words you
underlined. Then think
about how those words
compare with the
metaphor in line 4.
Genre: Free Verse
from “The Seed-Shop” by Muriel Stuart
Here in a quiet and dusty room they lie,
Faded as crumbled stone or shifting sand,
Forlorn as ashes, shrivelled, scentless, dry—
Meadows and gardens running through my hand.
Circle the correct answer.
Which of the following best describes the connotation of the meadows
and gardens metaphor?
A The metaphor is neutral and simply completes the image developed
in the first three lines of the poem.
B The metaphor is positive and starkly contrasts with the description in
the first three lines of the poem.
C The metaphor is frightening and creates a jarring image that is
completely disconnected from the earlier description.
D The metaphor is negative and reveals that the speaker is confused or
in conflict with her feelings about the seeds.
Show Your Thinking
Look at the answer you chose above. Explain how the words in the poem led you to make that
choice.
With a partner, discuss how the author uses connotations to create an element of surprise. Cite
words or phrases from the poem to support your opinion.
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Part 4: Guided Practice
Lesson 15
Read this poem, in which the speaker describes the sights and sounds of a winter twilight. Use the
Study Buddy and Close Reading to guide your reading.
Genre: Free Verse
A Winter Twilight As I read, I will identify
examples of figurative
language. Then I will look
for surrounding words or
phrases to help me
understand it.
Close Reading
by Angelina W. Grimke
  5
A silence slipping around like death,
Yet chased by a whisper, a sigh,
a breath; One group of trees, lean,
naked and cold,
Inking their cress ‘gainst a
sky green-gold;
10
One path that knows where the
corn flowers were;
Lonely, apart, unyielding, one fir;
And over it softly leaning down,
One star that I loved ere the
fields went brown
In the first stanza, the
phrase “Inking their
cress” is an odd one.
Draw a box around it.
Then circle nearby
phrases that help you
understand it.
In the second stanza,
what words or
phrases have positive
connotations?
Circle them.
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L15: Determining Word Meanings
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Part 4: Guided Practice
Hints
Lesson 15
Use the Hints on this page to help you answer the questions.
1 What do the words “inking their cress” describe as they are used in the
If you draw with ink, what
do the lines look like?
poem?
A dark clouds at sunset
B long tree shadows
C soft wind sounds
D bare black branches
Think about what,
figuratively speaking,
is doing the “inking” in
the poem.
2 Which phrase from the poem best helps the reader understand the
meaning of “inking their cress,” which question 1 asked about?
A “Yet chased by a whisper, a sigh”
B “One group of trees, lean, naked and cold”
C “Lonely, apart, unyielding, one fir”
D “ere the fields went brown”
What human quality or
action does the poet give
the star?
3 In the second stanza, the speaker personifies a star. Describe who the
speaker compares the star to. Then describe how this personification
influences the mood of the poem. Use two details from the poem in
your response.
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Part 5: Common Core Practice
Lesson 15
Read the poem. Then answer the questions that follow.
The Lighthouse
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
  The rocky ledge runs far into the sea,
 
And on its outer point, some miles away,
  The Lighthouse lifts its massive masonry,
 
A pillar of fire by night, of cloud by day.
  5 Even at this distance I can see the tides,
 
Upheaving, break unheard along its base,
  A speechless wrath, that rises and subsides
 
In the white lip and tremor of the face.
  And as the evening darkens, lo! how bright,
10
Through the deep purple of the twilight air,
Beams forth the sudden radiance of its light
With strange, unearthly splendor in the glare!
Not one alone; from each projecting cape
And perilous reef along the ocean’s verge,
15 Starts into life a dim, gigantic shape,
Holding its lantern o’er the restless surge.
Like the great giant Christopher1 it stands
Upon the brink of the tempestuous wave,
Wading far out among the rocks and sands,
20
The night-o’ertaken mariner to save.
And the great ships sail outward and return,
Bending and bowing o’er the billowy swells,
And ever joyful, as they see it burn,
They wave their silent welcomes and farewells.
25 They come forth from the darkness, and their sails
Gleam for a moment only in the blaze,
And eager faces, as the light unveils,
Gaze at the tower, and vanish while they gaze.
The mariner remembers when a child,
On his first voyage, he saw it fade and sink;
30
And when, returning from adventures wild,
He saw it rise again o’er ocean’s brink.
1
Christopher: Saint Christopher is considered the protector of travelers.
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Part 5: Common Core Practice
Lesson 15
Steadfast, serene, immovable, the same
Year after year, through all the silent night
35 Burns on forevermore that quenchless flame,
Shines on that inextinguishable light!
It sees the ocean to its bosom clasp
The rocks and sea-sand with the kiss of peace;
It sees the wild winds lift it in their grasp,
40
And hold it up, and shake it like a fleece.
The startled waves leap over it; the storm
Smites it with all the scourges of the rain,
And steadily against its solid form
Press the great shoulders of the hurricane.
45 The sea-bird wheeling round it, with the din
Of wings and winds and solitary cries,
Blinded and maddened by the light within,
Dashes himself against the glare, and dies.
A new Prometheus,2 chained upon the rock,
50
Still grasping in his hand the fire of Jove,
It does not hear the cry, nor heed the shock,
But hails the mariner with words of love.
“Sail on!” it says, “sail on, ye stately ships!
And with your floating bridge the ocean span;
55 Be mine to guard this light from all eclipse,
Be yours to bring man nearer unto man!”
2
Prometheus: In Greek mythology, Prometheus was chained to rocks and attacked by birds as a punishment for stealing fire.
Answer Form
1
Which of the phrases from the poem best helps the
reader to understand the meaning of the phrase “restless
surge” in line 16?
1 A
2 A
3 A
4 A
B
B
B
B
C
C
C
C
D
D
D Number
D Correct
4
A “A pillar of fire by night”
B “that rises and subsides”
C “from each projecting cape”
D “a dim, gigantic shape”
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Part 5: Common Core Practice
2
Lesson 15
Reread lines 17–20 from the poem.
Like the great giant Christopher it stands
Upon the brink of the tempestuous wave,
Wading far out among the rocks and sands,
The night-o’ertaken mariner to save.
Which of the following statements about the stanza is accurate?
A The stanza contains a metaphor, which compares the giant Christopher to the
tempestuous waves in which he stands.
B The stanza personifies the lighthouse as a giant named Christopher who watches over
sailors in their ships on the high seas.
C The stanza contains a simile, which compares the lighthouse to a giant and provides a
comforting image of the giant wading out to save sailors.
D The stanza has no figurative language and depends only on the connotations of the
words to convey its message.
3
Reread lines 33–36 of the poem. Based on the connotations of the words in the stanza, what is
the speaker’s attitude toward the lighthouse?
A The speaker views the lighthouse as a thing of the past that has outlived its usefulness.
B The speaker admires the lighthouse for its reliability and as a source of comfort.
C The speaker dwells on the unrelenting nature of the lighthouse’s light, as if tired of it.
D The speaker is bored by the sameness of the lighthouse and its performance.
4
Which phrase from the passage best helps the reader to understand the meaning of
“inextinguishable” in line 36?
A “Gleam for a moment only”
B “through all the silent night”
C “Burns on forevermore”
D “with the kiss of peace”
Self Check Go back and see what you can check off on the Self Check on page 143.
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