English Language Arts and Reading.7.9.D

The student is expected to

describe how the author's use of figurative language such as metaphor and personification achieves specific purposes;

author's purpose strand teks talk image

Knowledge and Skills Statement

Author's purpose and craft: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts. The student uses critical inquiry to analyze the authors' choices and how they influence and communicate meaning within a variety of texts. The student analyzes and applies author's craft purposefully in order to develop his or her own products and performances.

Authors purposely compare dissimilar objects through similes, metaphors, and other types of figurative language. Students are expected to be able to explain how these comparisons are used to connect to a reader’s senses and prior experiences. For example, when an author uses a concrete metaphor to describe something abstract, the reader automatically associates the original concept with a sight, a sound, a smell, a taste or even a touch. Describing a concept by comparing it to something vivid or familiar creates instant pictures in the mind of readers and helps them in their understanding of the text.
a subtle comparison in which the author describes two seemingly dissimilar things using words that are not meant to be taken literally (e.g., Time is a dressmaker specializing in alterations.) An extended metaphor carries the comparison through several lines, parts, or the whole text.
figurative language in which nonhuman things or abstractions are represented as having human qualities or abilities (e.g., “The parched sun crawled across the sand.”)

Research

1. Del Nero, J. R. (2017). Fun while showing, not telling: Crafting vivid detail in writing. The Reading Teacher, 71(1), 83–87. doi:10.1002/trtr.1575 

Summary: In this article, the author provides teaching strategies to develop skills that craft vivid writing by using figurative language devices. The author demonstrates three specific teaching strategies and a strategy to examine a method using similes and metaphors. The article includes writing samples as exemplars. 

2. Gorman, R., & Eastman, G. S. (2019). I see what you mean: Using visuals to teach metaphoric thinking in reading and writing. The English Journal, 100(1), 92–99. Retrieved from: https://www.jstor.org/stable/20787700

Summary: The authors examine how visual images are as important as literary text. In this article, the authors demonstrate how images create a subjective impression on the viewer. The images are viewed as figurative devices and create a mood, an emotional response, and an impression. The authors also provide a chart to identify the concepts. Using this background knowledge, students are guided through readings that allow them to make the connections between the visual images and the plot, characterization, setting, theme, and style and technique.