Metaphor and Simile Saturday       Day 21

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Just a reminder, the deadline for submissions to

the Golden Quill Poetry Contest for RhyPiBoMo Registrants

ends one week from today, April 26th midnight, Central time.

You can find the details by clicking the tab above!

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Back in November, when I was dreaming of my Golden wish-list of guest bloggers for RhyPiBoMo, I quickly added Lee Bennett Hopkins to my list. At the time, I contacted a few writer friends, asking them for suggestions of authors, agents, editors and really anyone who might be interested in talking about rhyming picture books and poetry.

Thrilled beyond belief, a friend,Ruth McNally Barshaw, agreed to guest blog as she had just submitted a rhyming manuscript to her agent, who, by the way…loved it! Ruth and Tara Lazar were so kind to refer rhyming friends to me and even to email them on my behalf. Thanks so much for your help ladies!

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I sent out lots of invitations to participate as a guest blogger but had few responses until…

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I decided go big or go home! I went straight to the top of my list and found Mr. Hopkins on Facebook. I messaged him my schpeel about the event. He messaged me right back. “Sure,” he said. “What do I need to do?”

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From that moment on, Mr. Hopkins, who asked me to call him “Lee”, was my hero! Once I had Lee, the yes’s flowed in like sweet, sweet honey.

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I’m sure most of my gracious bloggers are still asking, “Who is this Angie Karcher chick? Do you know her? No! Do you know her?” LOL

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It is because of Lee, that RhyPiBoMo found its wings! I’m not at all saying that my other bloggers wouldn’t have joined in. I think they certainly would have, but his name gave my event the credibility that it needed. So thank you Lee and thank you to all my wonderful bloggers who knew that if Mr. Hopkins was involved, it must be a good thing!

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In our last email, he wrote:
“My best-est. And thank you for all you are doing for the world of poetry. Looking forward to April to read your work. In addition, April l3th is my birthday!”

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Oh, melt my heart! How very kind of him to say, but I’m still on the

teeny-weeny, baby steps

and his gigantic, poetic shoes

have left deep, deep footprints in the world of poetry.

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So, without further ado, I’m honored to present today’s

Golden Quill Guest Blogger

Lee Bennett Hopkins!

                     

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We decided to do a Question and Answer blog post as he is understandably blogged out!

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As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

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“I wanted to be a teacher due to my being influenced by my 8th-grade teacher, Ethel Kite MacLaughlin — and I did.”

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Please share a little about your early journey…

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“I was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and lived with my mother and siblings in a Newark, New Jersey, after my parents divorced. I attended Newark State Teacher’s College (now Kean University) and earned an MS from Bank Street College of Education. My interest in poetry as an educational tool in the classroom led to my work as a classroom resource coordinator; I also worked as an editor at Scholastic before becoming a full-time writer and editor of anthologies.”
Mr. Hopkins has almost 200 published collections and is the compiler of over 100 Anthologies.

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What is your magic ingredient for a successful anthology?

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“Balance is important in an anthology. I want many voices within a book, so I rarely use more than one or two works by the same poet. I want my collections to read like a short story or novel—not a hodgepodge of works thrown together aimlessly.”

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Why did you decide to be a writer?

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“I truly never decided to be a writer. A writing bug stung, the wound never healed. And I never ever want it to.”

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How do you feel about rhyming books in today’s market?

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“When they are good they are very good, and when they are bad … !”

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Why do you enjoy writing poetry?

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“Writing and my being are intertwined. I feel good when I’m writing … having written.
I don’t know what else I would do if it weren’t for the mighty pen.
There isn’t a day that goes by that I’m not reading poetry or working on a poem of my own.”

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What should authors always do when writing rhyme and poetry?

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“Rhyme is by far the hardest thing to create. Both poetry and rhyme must tell truths.”

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What should authors never do when writing rhyme and poetry?

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“Never be careless. Don’t think the first or second or tenth draft is fine. Read your work over and over and over again.”

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Describe the joy you feel when you read brilliant poetry.

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“When I get goose bumps, sigh, or utter aloud “OOO-hhh” I know I have read a beautiful piece of work. Poets like Langston Hughes, Carl Sandburg and Walt Whitman unleash emotions I never would have thought about before.”

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Can you recommend any rhyme/poetry resources or courses that would be helpful?

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“One of the best rhyming dictionaries I couldn’t be without is THE SCHOLASTIC RHYMING DICTIONARY with over l5,000 words by Sue Young. I guard this volume.
I won’t even take it out of the house.
As for resources? Read past poet’s work. You might begin with the NCTE Poetry Award Winners – incredibly diverse voices who have given us the best of the best for decades.”

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What do you predict the future is for rhyme and poetry?

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“One cannot predict the future for anything in publishing these days. I believe if you feel your work is good keep sending it out. Sadly, poetry is still the step child of the language arts. Fewer anthologies are appearing; in 2013 there were only two. I hope this trend doesn’t continue. We need voices — old and new voices side-by-side. We must also promote poetry every chance we get.  We spend too much time teaching children to read and not enough time teaching them to love to read.”

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http://www.amazon.com/Lee-Bennett-Hopkins-Childrens-Stories/dp/0531123154

 

Please visit his gorgeous website to learn more!
http://www.leebennetthopkins.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=103&Itemid=53

Bio:
Teacher, Writer, Public Speaker, Editor, Anthologist, Children’s Program Television Host, and Noted poet Lee Bennett Hopkins has edited or authored numerous books for children, including the I Can Read Books Hamsters, Shells, and Spelling Bees; A Pet for Me: Poems; and the ALA Notable Children’s Book Surprises. The recipient of a Christopher Award and the University of Southern Mississippi’s Medallion for “lasting contributions to children’s literature,” Mr. Hopkins lives in Florida.

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Thank you Lee Bennett Hopkins!

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RhyPiBoMo Daily Lesson: Saturday, April 19th
By Angie Karcher © 2014
Lesson 21

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I will start out today’s lesson with the definitions of the
20 Most Common Figures of Speech

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We have covered some of these but you may want to

become acquainted with the rest.

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Figures of speech – are literary devices that can be used in our writing to enhance the quality of written or oral language. Anyone can put words together to form a sentence but the expert writer knows how to use figures of speech to transform the story from good to great. We use these devices to spice up the words without having to say everything so literally. It gives the reader more interesting language and a visual to help them enjoy the language. (write this down) This list is here for you to refer to.

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Here is a wonderful list of the Figures of Speech for you to look over:

Richard Nordquist – http://grammar.about.com/od/rhetoricstyle/a/20figures.htm

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Here is another good resource on the figures of speech with examples:
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/figures-of-speech-examples.html

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Today we are going to look more into Simile and Metaphor…

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Simile – a comparison (usually introduced by like or as) between two things that are generally not alike. A good simile must exemplify and illustrate the subject. A simile is a direct comparison between two different things.(write this down)

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Writers use similes to explain things, to express emotion, and to make their writing more interesting, vivid and entertaining. Discovering fresh similes to use in your own writing also means discovering new ways to look at your subjects.

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A common mnemonic device for remembering a simile is that a simile is similar or alike.

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For Example:
Using Like…

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She is like a candy so sweet.
Her eyes twinkled like stars.
He fights like a lion.
He runs like a cheetah.
She is fragrant like a rose.

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Using As…

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She walks as gracefully as a cat.
He was as hungry as a lion.
He was as mean as a bull.
Cute as a kitten.
As busy as a bee.
As snug as a bug in a rug.
Function of Simile

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Using similes is appealing to reader’s senses, encouraging them to use their imagination to comprehend what is being communicated. In addition, it inspires life-like qualities in our characters. Simile allows a writer to share their personal experiences with his/her audience. Therefore, the use of similes makes it easier to understand the subject of a literary text, which may have been too difficult or demanding to be comprehended.

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Similes are often used in Songs:
For example

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Speak Now – Taylor Swift about a woman stopping a wedding in its tracks includes three similes:
And she is yelling at a bridesmaid
Somewhere back inside a room
Wearing a gown shaped like a pastry.

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And the organ starts to play
A song that sounds like a death march.

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She floats down the aisle
Like a pageant queen.

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Candle in the Wind – Elton John’s ode to Marilyn Monroe’s title
And it seems to me you lived your life
Like a candle in the wind
Never knowing who to cling to
When the rain set in

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Bridge Over Troubled Water – Simon and Garfunkel’s hit is not speaking about an actual bridge…
I’m on your side
When times get rough
And friends just can’t be found
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down

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Metaphor – is a figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between two unlike things that actually have something important in common. Metaphors also offer figurative comparisons, but these are implied rather than introduced by like or as. In other words, we think metaphorically–whether we’re aware of it or not.(write this down)

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The word metaphor itself is a metaphor, coming from a Greek word meaning to “transfer” or “carry across.” Metaphors “carry” meaning from one word, image, or idea to another.

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A simile is an expressed analogy; a metaphor is an implied one.

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For Example:
Night owl
Early bird
Life is a journey
There are plenty of fish in the sea
Hold your horses
Break the ice
No pain, no gain
Step on it
You’re no spring chicken
Golden years
Over the hill

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Now let’s look at another type of poetic metaphor

Visual Metaphors

For example:  A Leaf Falls on Loneliness by e.e.Cummings

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l(a

le

 

af

 

fa

 

ll

 

s)

 

one

 

l

iness

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“Form is at the heart of this poem. If you read everything between the parenthesis, you read “a leaf falls.” The rest spells “oneliness.” If you add the beginning “l” to the “oneliness–that is, everything not in parenthesis–you get “loneliness.”

VERY COOL!

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http://livingpoetry.blogspot.com/2004/12/eecummings.html

 

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This is actually a double metaphor. He associates loneliness with the falling of a leaf, and also visualizes the experience by isolating letters as they fall down the page.

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I love this quote by Kenneth Burke!
“Metaphor is a device for seeing something in terms of something else. It brings out the thisness of a that, or the thatness of a this.”

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Modern advertising relies heavily on visual metaphors. For example, in an ad for the banking firm Morgan Stanley (circa 1995), a man is pictured bungee jumping off a cliff. Two words serve to explain this visual metaphor: a dotted line from the jumper’s head points to the word “You”; another line from the end of the bungee cord points to “Us.” The metaphorical message–of safety and security provided in times of risk–is conveyed through a single dramatic image.

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Creative Metaphors
“Creative metaphors contrast with conventional metaphors. These are metaphorical usages which are found again and again to refer to a particular thing. Cases in point are the metaphors of cells fighting off infection and of micro-organisms invading; and the metaphorical meaning of divorced to mean ‘completely separated’ and field to refer to a specialized subject or activity. These kinds of metaphors are institutionalized as part of the language. Most of the time we hardly notice them at all, and do not think of them as metaphorical when we use or encounter them.”
(M. Knowles and R. Moon, Introducing Metaphor. Routledge, 2006)

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Conventional Metaphors
“Conventional metaphors are embedded in our culture to the point that we literally interpret their meaning. The example, “time is money,” is a conventional metaphor that has become embedded in American culture. We understand ‘time’ in terms of money and conceptualize ‘time’ as being ‘spent,’ ‘saved,’ or ‘wasted.’ Such basic conventional metaphors help structure our everyday thinking. We interpret these metaphors literally as a conventional part of speech, and this common language further influences how we conceptualize and behave. For example, ‘argument is war’ formulates how we think about arguing. We ‘defend,’ ‘strategize,’ ‘attack,’ and ‘defeat’ arguments.”
(Donna Cox, “Metaphoric Mappings: The Art of Visualization.” Aesthetic Computing, ed. by Paul A. Fishwick. The MIT Press, 2006)

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Dead metaphor – A figure of speech that has lost its force and imaginative effectiveness through frequent use.
For example:
the arm of the chair
the legs of the table
the foot of the bed
the hands of the clock
the neck of the river
the eye of the needle
the shoulder of the road

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“The ‘dead metaphor’ account misses an important point: namely, that what is deeply entrenched, hardly noticed, and thus effortlessly used is most active in our thought. The metaphors . . . may be highly conventional and effortlessly used, but this does not mean that they have lost their vigor in thought and that they are dead. On the contrary, they are ‘alive’ in the most important sense–they govern our thought–they are ‘metaphors we live by.'”
(Zoltán Kövecses, Metaphor: A Practical Introduction. Oxford Univ. Press, 2002)

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13 Different Types of Metaphors

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1) Absolute Metaphor
A metaphor in which one of the terms (the tenor) can’t be readily distinguished from the other (the vehicle).

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2) Complex Metaphor
A metaphor in which the literal meaning is expressed through more than one figurative term (a combination of primary metaphors).

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3) Conceptual Metaphor
A metaphor in which one idea (or conceptual domain) is understood in terms of another.

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4) Conventional Metaphor
A familiar comparison that doesn’t call attention to itself as a figure of speech.

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5) Creative Metaphor
An original comparison that does call attention to itself as a figure of speech.

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6) Dead Metaphor
A figure of speech that has lost its force and imaginative effectiveness through frequent use.

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7) Extended Metaphor
A comparison between two unlike things that continues throughout a series of sentences in a paragraph or lines in a poem.

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8) Mixed Metaphor
A succession of incongruous or ludicrous comparisons.

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9) Primary Metaphor
A basic, intuitively understood metaphor–such as KNOWING IS SEEING or TIME IS MOTION–that may be combined with other primary metaphors to produce complex metaphors.

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10) Root Metaphor
An image, narrative, or fact that shapes an individual’s perception of the world and interpretation of reality.

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11) Submerged Metaphor
A type of metaphor in which one of the terms (either the vehicle or tenor) is implied rather than stated explicitly.

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12) Therapeutic Metaphor
A metaphor used by a therapist to assist a client in the process of personal transformation.

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13) Visual Metaphor
The representation of a person, place, thing, or idea by way of a visual image that suggests a particular association or point of similarity.

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“Regardless of the types of metaphors you favor, keep in mind Aristotle’s observation 2,500 years ago in Rhetoric: “Those words are most pleasant which give us new knowledge. Strange words have no meaning for us; common terms we know already. It is metaphor which gives us most of this pleasure.”

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Richard Nordquist – http://grammar.about.com/od/rhetoricstyle/a/13metaphors.htm

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Writing Prompt: Write a poem with simile and metaphor included.

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Okay, now do everything else on the pledge for today and don’t forget to comment on today’s blog post!

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