Analyzing Poetry Figures of Speech

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Analyzing PoetryFigures of Speech Imagery in
A Dream Deferred by Langston Hughes

• Hilltop High School English 9 PLC

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Figures of Speech

• Figure of Speech- is always based on a
  comparison, and it is not literally true.
• Simile- two dissimilar things are compared using
  a word such as like, as, than, or resembles.
• For Example when describing March as in like a
  lion, out like a lamb.

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Figures of Speech

• Metaphor- is a comparison between two unlike
  things in which one thing becomes another thing
  without the use of a word such as like or as.
• For Example life is a roller coaster.

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Figures of Speech

• Direct Metaphor- directly compares the two
  things using a verb as is.
• For Example when a sportscaster calls an
  athlete a warrior.

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Figures of Speech

• Implied Metaphor- implies and suggests the
  comparison between the two things without stating
  it directly.
• For Example when a sportscaster says that an
  athletes ability is beginning to blossom. (the
  athlete is likened to a flower).

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Figures of Speech

• Personification- is a special kind of metaphor
  in which human qualities are given to something
  that is not human- an animal, an object, or even
  an idea.
• For Example when a weather person describes the
  sun as smiling down on us.

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Symbol

• A symbol is often an ordinary object, event,
  person, or animal to which we have attached
  extraordinary meaning and significance.
• For example We use a rectangle of dyed cloth to
  symbolize a country. We use a picture of a
  skull and crossbones to stand for poison or
  danger. We send red roses as a symbol of love.

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Symbols in literature

• Why Dont Writers Just Say What They Mean?
• Symbols allow writers to suggest layers and
  layers of meaning- possibilities that a simple,
  literal statement could never convey. A symbol
  is like a pebble cast into the pond it sends out
  ever-widening ripples of meaning.

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Imagery

• Imagery- Imagery is one of the elements that give
  poetry its forcefulness. Images are basically
  copies of things you can see but images in
  poetry can do even more than help us see things.
• Image- is a single word or phrase that appeals to
  one of our senses

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Imagery

• Our Senses
• Sight
• Touch
• Taste
• Smell
• Hear

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Imagery

• Poets emphasize, with words, certain aspects they
  want their reader to notice. In the following
  examples two poets describe a house. Each
  emphasizes a different aspect of the house.

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Imagery

• It is through the imagery in the poem that the
  reader sees the certain twist or aspect the poet
  intends the reader to notice. See if you can
  detect, through the imagery, what the poet wants
  you to see through each example

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Imagery

• Through broken walls and gray
• The winds blow bleak and shrill
• They are all gone away.
• What aspect of a house does the poet want the
  reader to notice? How is the house described?

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Imagery

• What aspect of a house does the writer want the
  reader to notice? How is the house described?

• There are bees in this wall. He struck the
• clapboards,
• Fierce heads looked out small bodies pivoted.
• We rose to go. Sunset blazed on the
  windows.

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Imagery

• A poets style-Imagery is part of a poets style.
  It is the product of the poets own way of
  seeing the world.
• Just as we learn to recognize certain painters at
  once by noticing the colors and shapes that mark
  their works, we learn to identify poets by paying
  attention to their imagery.

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Imagery

• Poets who live in cities will usually draw upon
  street scenes while poets who live far from
  cities usually draw their images from what they
  see of country life.

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Analyzing Poetry

• Langston Hughes was born in Joplin, Missouri, and
  graduated from high school in Ohio. His father
  wanted to discourage his sons impractical
  dream of being a writer, so he sent him to
  Columbia University to study engineering. The
  young writer was not happy, so he left Columbia
  to travel the world.

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Langston Hughes

• Eventually, he graduated from Lincoln University
  and worked odd jobs to support his writing.
• Hughes is known as one of the great original
  voices in American literature.

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A Dream Deferred by Langston Hughes

• What happens to a dream deferred?
•  
• Does it dry up
• like a raisin in the sun?
• Or fester like a sore
• And then run?
•  
• Does it stink like rotten meat?
• Or crust and sugar over
• like a syrupy sweet?
• Maybe it just sags
• like a heavy load.
•  
• Or does it explode? ?

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Diction in Dream Deferred
defer to delay temporarily, to give in to
someone else

• What happens to a dream deferred?
•  
• Does it dry up
• like a raisin in the sun?
• Or fester like a sore
• And then run?

dream hope for the future
fester to become infected, to irritate
sorea wound, causing misery
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Imagery in Dream Deferred

• What happens to a dream deferred?
•  
• Does it dry up
• like a raisin in the sun?
• Or fester like a sore
• And then run?
•  

sight, touch, taste, smell
sight, touch
sight, touch, smell
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• Does it stink like rotten meat?
• Or crust and sugar over
• like a syrupy sweet?
• Maybe it just sags
• like a heavy load.
•  
• Or does it explode?

smell,sight
touch, smell, sight, taste
touch, sight
touch, sight, hearing
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Figurative Language in Dream Deferred
Simile Deferred dream shrivels like a raisin

• What happens to a dream deferred?
•  
• Does it dry up
• like a raisin in the sun?
• Or fester like a sore
• And then run?

Simile Deferred dream becomes diseased, infected
like a sore
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Simile Deferred dream stinks of decay like
rotten meat

• Does it stink like rotten meat?
• Or crust and sugar over
• like a syrupy sweet?
• Maybe it just sags
• like a heavy load.
• Or does it explode?

Simile Deferred dream stinks of decay like
crusty syrup
Simile deferred dream is a burden it weighs the
dreamer down
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• Does it stink like rotten meat?
• Or crust and sugar over
• like a syrupy sweet?
• Maybe it just sags
• like a heavy load.
•  
• Or does it explode?

Metaphor deferred dream is a bomb that explodes
and destroys.
Possible Theme a deferred dream causes
destruction. This is the answer to the poems
question.