Senses

A mouth was talking to a nose and an eye.

A passing listening ear

Said, “Pardon me, but you spoke so loud

I couldn’t help but overhear.”

But the mouth just closed and the nose turned up

And the eye just looked away,

And the ear with nothing more to hear

Went sadly on its way.

This simple poem by Shel Silverstein is a perfect introduction to our next section of activities that will deal with sensory

language. It hints at the importance of all five senses working together, of paying attention, of the power of words, and

it even uses personification. To get us started, I want to put into your vocabulary (or review as the case may be) the ff:

Imagery and

Figurative language’s Big 3:

Metaphor, Simile, Personification

Let’s check out the “big umbrella” term first. Imagery is related to image, which usually means something you see,

whether real or imagined. Imagery in a poem is anything in the poem you can experience through your senses. It can

be a description of something visual, but an image may also represent a smell, a taste, something you can touch, or even

an internal feeling such as drowsiness or hunger. Using specific and concrete details along with sensory descriptions

also helps you produce a strong image.

In the early 20th Century, there was a whole school of poets called imagists, and you might enjoy some of their work.

Ezra Pound, Amy Lowell, William Carlos Williams, and H.D. (Hilda Doolittle) are the ones you‘ll mainly see in all those

textbooks on the bookcase by the front door. To illustrate what can be done with 14 well-chosen words, listen to

Pound’s “Station in the Metro” as I read it to you. Then imagine it as if you saw it or could draw it. In fact, draw it now

if you wish!

Image, imagery, imagine…hmmmmmmm

Now to the Big 3.

Personification is attaching human qualities or characteristic to objects, animals, or ideas. In doing this, the writer gives

a sense of animation and immediacy to otherwise impersonal concepts. We will be working with personification in

some unusual ways in Harrellland, but for now, let me just share six example poems. I’ve chosen these because they are

short and I can fit a bunch on the handout. I like them as well.

The Poem

~Donald Hall

It discovers by night

what the day did from it.

Sometimes it turns itself

into an animal.

In summer it takes long walks

by itself, where meadows

fold back from ditches

Once it stood still In a quiet row of machines.

Who knows what it is thinking?

Wind and Silver ~Amy Lowell Greatly shining

The Autumn moon floats in the thin sky

And the fish-ponds shake their backs and flash their dragon scales

As she passes over them.

Death Stands Above Me ~Walter Savage Landor

Death stands above me, whispering low

I know not what into my ear

Of his strange language all I know

Is there is not a word of fear.

This poem, Whale at Twilight, by Elizabeth Coatsworth,

shows how personification can be just part of the poem, not the

whole poem. The sea is what is personified, but the poem is

really about the whale, don’t you think?

The sea is enormous, but calm with evening and sunset,

rearranging its islands for the night,

changing its own blues

smoothing itself against the rocks without playfulness,

without thought.

No stars are out,

only sea birds

flying to distant reefs.

No vessels intrude, no lobstermen haul their pots.

Only somewhere out toward the horizon

a thin column of water appears

and disappears again,

and then rises once more,

tranquil as a fountain in a garden where no wind blows.

November Day ~Eleanor Averett

Old haggard wind has plucked the trees

Like pheasants, held between her knees.

In rows she hangs them, bare and neat

Their brilliant plumage at her feet.

War ~Dan Roth

Dawn came slowly

Almost not at all.

The sun crept over the hill

Cautiously

Fearful of being hit

by mortar fire.

Figurative language appeals to the emotions by making use of the imagination of each reader. It also serves practical

functions. It enables you to say in a few words what might otherwise take many words. That’s why it is especially valuable

in poetry. Because a figure of speech is a comparison, it can often suggests several similarities -- like a diamond whose

facets reveal a variety of lights.

Figurative language also helps you, the writer, make concrete or real an idea or experience that otherwise might be abstract

or even bland. It makes the unfamiliar become familiar, the general become concrete. Figures of speech must never be

used simply for ornament, however, no matter how much fun they are to think of and write. They must be an integral part

of the writing by appealing to the reader more effectively than a direct statement could. Whether you use any figure of

speech in your writing depends on whether a need exists for using this type of language. If you use a figure of speech

merely to decorate your writing you will not really improve the composition, and you will do an injustice to the basic

functions of communication. (By the way, the same thing applies to throwing around your vocabulary words just to show

them off.) What you just read is mega-important. Read it again and again if you need to.

The other major figures of speech are probably familiar to you. A simile points out the likeness between two different

objects using like or as as connecting words. Sometimes we drop the connecting word, and then it becomes a metaphor;

the comparison is implied rather that stated. Metaphors can be extended into whole poems or pieces of writing by adding

more description and detail. You will work with metaphor in many ways while in Harrellland.

Here’s a little guide to using imagery and figurative language in writing.

1. Think about the person, object, or scene to be described

2. Choose one or two characteristics to describe

3. Choose something that shares the selected characteristics

4. Write a simile or metaphor that compares the objects and suggests the characteristics

Try these for practice:

1. Object to describe: leaves of a willow tree

Selected features: light, fluttering

Object with the same characteristics:

Your simile or metaphor:

Sensory Language Overview Practice continued (pp 3-4)

1. Object to describe: a foggy afternoon

Selected features: quietness, indistinctness

Object with same characteristic:

Your simile or metaphor:

2. Now just try writing one simile or metaphor on your own following the above procedure, but not filling in guide

chart. You may use any object you wish.

3. For some wrap-up practice, finish these comparisons with a striking figure of speech. The stem comparisons are

set up for similes. Do as many as you can. In addition, try to turn at least one into a metaphor, and if you are

really clever, make a comparison using personification too. Write the figure of speech you are using with each

example.

Here’s a sample of all three using the first comparison in the practice examples below:

His actions were as unplanned as__________________

John’s actions were as unplanned as a hiccup or Like a hiccup, John’s actions were unplanned. (simile)

John, the human hiccup, bounced around the room during workdays loudly surprising everyone he

encountered. (metaphor)

With loud interruptions and jerking head, my hiccups befriended me and everyone else in the room.

(personification)

Here are your practice examples to play around with:

His actions were as unplanned as_____________________________

Lightening flashed like__________________

The bubbly froth on the waves seemed like________________________

Mrs. Harrell’s hair looked like________________________

Butterflies, with wings like__________________________fluttered over the garden

During the storm the rowboat tied to the dock tossed about like___________________________

Jack opened his backpack which looked like____________________________________

If you don’t like any of these, make up one or two of your own and label what figure of speech you are using.

In case you had to stretch too much to make metaphors and personifications, here are some practices you might find

easier to tackle:

Metaphors:

When I’m tired I’m a____________________________

When I’m angry I’m a______________________________

When Mrs. Harrell talks she’s a ____________________________

When Tim Tebow quarterbacks he’s a _______________________________

When the 6th graders converge in the classroom it’s a________________________________

Music is____________________________

I want to share with you now a quick quiz from Proverbs to see if you can match the metaphor with its reference. I’ll

use the document camera, so enjoy the show while I get set up This will not be posted on the website.

We began with a number of poems using personification to enhance their imagery. Here are a few personification

practices I want you to try:

The dirty dishes _____________________________at me from the sink.

The wind__________________________________and _____________________________me down the street.

Personify a rumor or gossip

Personify hard test or project

Now I want you to choose one of the following metaphors and extend it by adding four additional lines.

You should discover that you have written a cool sounding 5 line poem which you will type and turn in.

Metaphors are a poem’s best friend.

Life is a crooked highway

Friendship is a seesaw

Amazement is a mirror

Jealousy is a razor

Morning is a bridge

Anger is a rope

War is an old car

Belief is a doorway

Dreams are hollow logs

Parents are blankets

Now we are wrapping up where we began with the essential question of what can be done to make all our writing

stand out and communicate what we want it to say. Mastering sensory details is one of the essential answers to that

question. It will go a long way in giving your writing that je ne sais quoi.

I will now share with you (via document camera and group share readings; not posted on the website) some random

writings from literally hundreds from which I could choose that show sensory details at work. (One of my projects this

year is to turn them into power points with illustrations so they will look as cool as they sound. You could, of course, do this any time

with any literature we study in Harrellland)

After this introduction to sensory writing, imagery, figurative language, we will break it down into the individual senses

and then look at synesthesia and really have some fun!

Here are the titles of what I’m about to share on the document camera in case you want to note and then make copies

of anything for your Antholio:

1. Imagination by a student

2. Summer Storm by a student

3. Pantoum, Acrostic, Haiku, Sneaky Poem, Two Voice Poem by a student

4. Barter by Sara Teasdale

5. from Our Town, Act 3, by Thornton Wilder

6. The Aliens Have Landed by Kenn Nesbitt

7. Three Point Shot from Andromeda by Paul Beatty

And finally, we began with Shel so let’s close with Shel Silverstein’s “Since Hanna Moved Away” and take it a step

farther…what might Hanna symbolize in light of these lessons?