Literary elements and terminology are the vocabulary of literary analysis, and fluency with them is crucial to a student's ability to enter the conversation about literature. This is an entire unit on literary elements that should be taught over an extended period of time. It is most effective broken down and connected to literature the students are reading.
All songs are available through legal download. Please obtain music legally. Alternately, you could have students view videos of the songs on a site such as Youtube.
Songs needed:
*obtain edited version
Other materials:
Introductory lesson:
Discuss the importance of vocabulary. Show the quote from Michener (see below). Ask if students would want a brain surgeon to operate on them who said, "Oh, I'm going to use this thingamajig to cut a hole in your whatchamacallit."
"But always he lacked the essential tool without which the workman can never attain true mastery: he did not know the names of any of the parts he was building, and without the name he was artistically incomplete. It was not by accident that doctors and lawyers and butchers invented specific but secret names for the things they did; to possess the name was to know the secret. With correct names one entered into a new world of proficiency, became the member of an arcane brotherhood, a sharer of mysteries, and in the end a performer of merit. Without the names on remained a bumbler or, in the case of boatbuilding, a mere carpenter."
James Michener, Chesapeake
100 Years by Five For Fighting
I'm 15 for a moment,
caught in between 10 and 20.
And I'm just dreaming,
counting the ways to where you are.
I'm 22 for a moment,
and she feels better than ever.
And we're on fire,
making our way back from Mars.
15, there's still time for you,
time to buy and time to lose.
15, there's never a wish better than this,
when you only got a hundred years to live.
I'm 33 for a moment,
still the man, but you see I'm a they,
a kid on the way,
a family on my mind.
I'm 45 for a moment.
The sea is high,
and I'm heading into a crisis
chasing the years of my life.
15, there's still time for you,
Time to buy and time to lose yourself
within a morning star.
15, I'm all right with you.
15, there's never a wish better than this,
when you only got a hundred years to live.
Half time goes by,
suddenly you're wise.
Another blink of an eye,
67 is gone.
The sun is getting high,
we're moving on.
I'm 99 for a moment.
I'm dying for just another moment,
and I'm just dreaming,
counting the ways to where you are.
15, there's still time for you.
22, I feel her, too.
33, you're on your way.
Every day's a new day.
15, there's still time for you,
time to buy and time to choose
Hey 15, there's never a wish better than this,
when you've only got a hundred years to live.
Knowing the theme, who do you think the audience for this message is? Notice that there is a plot. What is the inciting incident, do you think? Is this a coming-of-age story (a bildungsroman)? If so, what is the shift from boy to man?
Before introducing the songs that contain similes and metaphors, spend one lesson on the following figurative language introduction. Pre-assessment:
Mark each of the following as an example of metaphor (M), simile (S), or personification (P). When you finish, please turn your paper over.
____ 1. Like a thunderbolt he falls
____ 2. My love is like a red, red rose
____ 3. My mother is a witch
____ 4. Her love was stronger than rope
____ 5. Her presence was a roomful of flowers / Her absence is an empty bed
____ 6. He was as rich as Hades
____ 7. His words are honey to my ears
____ 8. His car is as ugly as sin
____ 9. This class is a bear
____ 10. My teacher is an angel
Mark each of the following as an example of metaphor (M), simile (S), or personification (P). When you finish, please turn your paper over.
____ 1. Like a thunderbolt he falls
____ 2. My love is like a red, red rose
____ 3. My mother is a witch
____ 4. Her love was stronger than rope
____ 5. Her presence was a roomful of flowers / Her absence is an empty bed
____ 6. He was as rich as Hades
____ 7. His words are honey to my ears
____ 8. His car is as ugly as sin
____ 9. This class is a bear
____ 10. My teacher is an angel
Simile
Life, like a dome of many-colored glass, / Stains the white radiance of Eternity.
(Shelley, Adonais)
Metaphor
Oh, my love is a red, red rose.
Personification
Death be not proud, though some have called thee /Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so —
(Donne, Death Be Not Proud)
You're the poet
I am as tired as a _________________.
My sister is a ____________________.
You're as cool as a ________________.
The computer ______________ at me.
This class is as ______________ as a ______________.
The rainbow _____________________.
I. Simile and Metaphor: Identify the two things the poet is comparing and then describe what it is the poet thinks they have in common. Be specific. Place a star next to the example you think is most effective. Place a checkmark next to the example that you think has the most dissimilar subjects.
1. Think of the storm roaming the sky uneasily
like a dog looking for a place to sleep in,
listen to it growling.
— Elizabeth Bishop, Little Exercise
2. The scarlet of the maples can shake me like a cry of bugles going by. — Bliss Carman, A Vagabond Song
3. "Hope" is the thing with feathers
That perches on the soul
And sings the tune without the words
And never stops at all.
— Emily Dickenson
II. You're the Poet! Now you try it. Create an example of a simile, a metaphor and personification using the prompts given below.
1. Simile: My love is as __________________ as a _____________________.
2. Metaphor: School is a _________________________________________.
3. Personification: The fog _______________________________. (hint: begin with a verb)
Original Examples: Create a simile, a metaphor and an example of personification. See if you can use one of each of the following in your examples: a color, a season and an animal.