Figurative Language - Simile

Setting The Stage
Consider the power of figurative language – of simile, metaphor, and personification. Let's unpack poems filled with brilliant figurative language.

A simile is a comparison that claims the things being compared are similar, rather than the metaphor's claim that the two things are the same. A simile is a less forceful use of figurative language than a metaphor. A poet may want to create the subtler effect that a less forceful tool achieves, to use a comparison that draws less attention to itself, or to maintain that, although these two things are alike, they are not identical.

William Wordsworth's I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud, or as the poem is also called, Daffodils, uses similes under a deceivingly simple exterior to present a deep and moving work of poetry.

Response Stance
Romantic poets, such as Wordsworth, drew inspiration from nature's beauty to experience a deep and meaningful emotion. Share with your blogging partner:

• Examples of Wordsworth’s words which make the daffodils become much more than mere flowers
• Examples in which Wordworth embodies nature with human characteristics
• Wordsworth’s symbols of natural beauty which resonate with you

The best known Romantic Poets were Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley, and Keats. They triumphed the belief that nature and emotion were the places in which one found truth and beauty. They wrote poetry as a “spontaneous overflow of feelings,” a phrase coined by Wordsworth. Examine the works of the Romantic Poets and share the common features with your blogging partner.

- Elementary Level Students
- Middle Level Students