Do you love Jane Austen?

For all lovers of Jane Austen there is a wonderful short story competition for you! Any theme from her novels can be the catalyst for a story. 

Check out the Festivals and Competitions Page for more details. Let us know if you are interested in entering the comp. 

Enjoy and best of luck!

Competitions and Festivals

Competitions are a wonderful impetus for the reluctant writer. I have created a page that will be dedicated to competitions and festivals in the hope that we can share ideas and support each other as writers and teachers of writing.  Please visit the page and share your experiences or any dates for festivals and competitions.

The more people who engage and share their ideas and information, the more useful a resource this site will become for teachers, writers and students!

In Poems: symbol versus metaphor

Here is a worksheet and activity that gets students to see the difference between the use of symbolism and metaphors.  It’s important to let students know that sometimes the use of metaphor is more desirable than symbolism and vice versa. (Obviously poems contain both devices at times too!)

 The author needs to ascertain what the purpose of the figurative language will be in making  meaning and then make an artistic choice from there.   

 

What is the difference between symbols and using metaphors in poems?

 

 

Metaphor “is”

Simile “is like”

 

Symbols are more subtle. They require the reader to make the connection and find the meaning.

 

The poet doesn’t make the direct textual connections for the reader using linking words “like” and “is.”

SIMILE/METAPHOR: 

My love is like a rose,

Its petals unfold;

Like my affection in your light.

In your shade,

The rose, my love, struggles.

Your attention to me is like the sun.

Shine, please shine.

by N. Kennedy 

SYMBOLISM:

 

The rose petals unfold

In the affection of your light.

In your shade,

It struggles.

Shine, please shine.

 by N. Kennedy

 

YOUR TURN!

 

 

My mind is /is like…

My fear is/ is like…

The trees are/ are like…

Other

 

Write a sentence to describe your topic using a metaphor or simile.
EXTEND the metaphor or simile.
Now change the piece by removing the direct simile or metaphor.   Write a subtler piece using symbolism.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Creative Writing Warm-up.

 

Creative Writing sometimes needs some warm-up exercises!

Get your creative juices flowing with these little prompts.

Similes

A tree swaying like…     Her face was as red as …

Metaphors

Their love was…   The sky was a…

Personification

The building…   Her car was…

Alliteration

Susan…   Love…   Fear…

Assonance

Boat…   Book…

Onomatopoeia

Describe the sound of people walking through mud…     Describe the sound of a car crash…     Describe the sound of a fight…

Figurative Language

 

I encourage my students not think in terms of “poetic devices” but rather use the term “figurative language.” When we use the term poetic devices, students tend to think the devices are only used within poems. By getting students to use the term figurative language they realise that they are techniques used in films, stories, jokes, formal speeches and everyday speech. Great writers of all texts use figurative language!

 

ENJOY

 

 

 

Figurative Language

 

Language may be used to make connections between two things which are, in the main figurative rather than literal. Making these connections can involve:

 

• ■ Comparison

-simile

-hyperbole (deliberate exaggeration to attract attention)

        e.g. choked on her own words.

• ■ Contrast

-paradox (an absurd, self-contradictory statement that may be true.)

e.g. Death thou shall die (John Donne.)

-oxymoron (a juxtaposition of two contradictory concepts)

        e.g. hurts so good; bitter sweet victory.

 

• ■ Abstraction

-metaphor

-metonymy (substitution of one word or phrase for something with which it is closely associated.

        e.g. the press for journalism.

-synecdoche (substitution of one part of a thing to represent the whole or the whole to represent a part.)

        e.g. hand for a worker.

-personification

 

• ■ Allusion

       

-classical (reference to art and literature from ancient Greece or Rome)

        e.g. Cerberus-like, she guarded her stash of lollies and chocolate.

 

-Biblical (reference to people or events from the Bible)

        e.g. Like Moses, he parted the crowd.

 

-historical (reference to people or events of history)

e.g. It was a Rosa Parks moment, she really stood up for her beliefs in the face of wide-spread criticism.

 

-literary (reference to other works of literature)

        e.g. She was mad Ophelia, dancing drunk and confessing all.

       

• ■ Humour

-irony (incongruity between what a writer or character says and what others might understand them to be saying)

e.g.

 

-satire (ridicule of the folly of an individual, an institution or a character.)

        e.g. film: The Castle

Found Poem

Found Poems

 

Cut out a number of words and short phrases that spark your interest from your magazine article, letter, newspaper etc.

 

Place the words into poetic lines, arranging words and phrases in the most meaningful and surprising ways!

 

 

 

 

1. Title your work Found Poem: Your Title.
2. Beneath your title write (in parentheses) “words from, title of the article; title of publication.”
3. At the end of your poem, and to the right, write ” arranged by your name.”

 

 

 

*Arrangement of words effects meaning, so to do the punctuation marks. There are short pauses [ , ] long pauses [ ; ] , stops [ . ], anticipation pauses [ : ] and links [ - ].

 

 

Example:

 

Found Poem: Life is chaotic.

Words from, “Nothing Beats a Retreat; Travel and Spa Guide – WellBeing Magazine”

 

Stop.

Retreat.

And leave behind;

The pressure, and the pace of life.

 

The pressure, the pace.

Kick-starting,

In a blaze of red and gold,

So begins our first day.

                   Arranged by N. Kennedy.

 

Although this poem came from an article about health spas and retreats, the way the words have been arranged take the meaning in a different direction. The first stanza’s imperative tone, suggests that life has become too busy and that change back to the simplistic less pressured days of their youth is desirable.

The second stanza suggest that the pressure and pace of life is unavoidable. This nostalgia for a slower time of childhood, is seen as not realistic in the light of the last two lines.  The last two lines refer to an infant being born into the fury of life. The tension between the red and gold is symbolic of the pain (red= blood, ego) and glory (gold= love, success) of life that the child and parents will experience.

 

 

 

nke         Page 1    2/23/2009

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