Personification and Imagery

1. Personification and Imagery Part 2 of Figurative Language

2. What is Personification? • To give an inanimate object or idea person/human-like qualities or attributes. • Examples: • “But all they want to do / is tie the poem to a chair with rope / and torture a confession out of it.” (Collins, lines 12-14) • “The hammock shivering in the breeze / like the trembling voice of light at dusk” (Gonzales, lines 11-12) • The stars danced playfully in the sky. • “The snack that smiles back!” – Goldfish commercials

3. How about Imagery?

4. Example of Imagery It was Tuesday morning, and the rich, luxurious aroma of mouth-watering chocolate chunk cookies wafted in through the vents during English class. The scent took me by surprise – I could almost taste the velvety smoothness of the milk chocolate chunks melting on my tongue. I could almost taste the tender, chewy dough that almost burned my mouth. It smelled like love, like my grandmother’s kitchen. I remember the clattering of whisks and spatulas on her cold, hardwood floors. I hated the sting of my bare feet on the icy planks as the early morning chill captured the whole house. But I would roll out of the warmth and comfort of my tattered blankets any day for one of grandma’s signature cookies.

5. Figurative Language TRASHKETBALL Metaphor Simile Hyperbole Personification Imagery

6. Rules of Trashketball • Each team will get 1-2 minutes to discuss and choose the BEST answer to the questions AND • Write ONE response to the question on a piece of paper (1 piece of paper per group) – each team mate has to agree on the answer • Teams will read out their answers • Each correct answer earns the team ONE POINT and a chance to shoot the paper balls into the trash can from a 1, 2, or 3-point line • If the shot is made, the team gets extra points • Shots will be made after ALL questions have been answered • If you think that the answer I give is not the best answer, you can get ONE point for EVERY TEAM by defending your own argument • NO JUMPING (please) (people downstairs will get mad and I will get in trouble )

7. I ask them to take a poem / and hold it up to the light / like a color slide… “Introduction to Poetry”, Billy Collins, lines 1-3 SIMILE

8. As if we could / forget that if you spin a globe / & stop it with your finger / you’ll land it on top of someone / living, someone who was not / expecting to be crushed by thirst— “Maps”, Yesenia Montilla, lines 38-43 HYPERBOLE

9. If I could stand alone, strong and free / I’d rather be a tall, ugly weed. “Identity”, Julio Noboa Polanco, lines 21-22 METAPHOR

10. At home I loved to stare / into the extra freezer, reviewing mountains / of foil-wrapped meats, cakes, juice concentrate, / mysterious packets brought by house guests / from New York Chinatown… “Peaches”, Adrienne Su, lines 22-26 IMAGERY

11. Tonight I cannot believe / the skyline because the skyline believes in me… “In the City”, Chen Chen, lines 6-7 PERSONIFICATION

12. I angled / the camera to capture us in front of a Christmas tree. / All the sparkling tinsel and dangling silver balls aren’t there. / There is only the ceiling and the tip / of the pine needle. There isn’t a star or an angel / on top. “Gayatri”, SouvankhamThammavongsa, lines 4-9 IMAGERY

13. …anything to mask /the million insecurities that /pockmark our skin like acne… “Jabari Unmasked”, Nikki Grimes, lines 4-6 HYPERBOLE & SIMILE (2 points)

14. Their lives were labour… “Peaches”, Adrienne Su, line 32 METAPHOR

15. Faint as in a dream / is the voice that calls / from the belly / of the wall. “Where There’s a Wall”, Joy Kogawa, lines 21-24 PERSONIFICATION