Making Metaphors

 

Week #3 Sharpened Visions Making Metaphor

AGENDA:

EQ--How do poets use metaphor?

1. View Week #3 Videos Sharpened Visions on coursera.org


2. Writing Prompts:

TO REVIEW, THIS WEEK'S POETRY PROMPTS ARE BELOW. WRITE TO ONE PROMPT, OR BOTH. YOU'LL HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY TO WORKSHOP ONE OF THESE POEMS, AS DESIRED, AT THE END OF THIS MODULE.

You Are So Conceited: When A Metaphor Isn’t Tough Enough

As mentioned before, metaphors are often more powerful when the things made to seem similar actually seem, at first, very different. Yet when there’s a big gap between the object of the metaphor and its figure, you need to convince your reader of the validity of your metaphor. You need a conceit. A conceit is like an extended metaphor, but it argues for the metaphor itself. John Donne’s “The Flea”—where he argues that a flea is a marriage bed—is a prime example. Try one of those!

One of Us! One of Us!: Developing the Focused Image System

Write a poem in which you limit all of your figures of speech to refer to a general thematic unity—perhaps they’re all insect-related, all engineering principles, or connected to desert ecologies. You don’t need to pile them on—in fact, show restraint if you like, but keep them consistent!

TECHNICAL TERMS POEM--Handout

POST your poem on Google Classroom!