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VocabularyFigurative LanguageUnit 8D

Part 1: Word list

Here comes a list of words. Let’s play ball!

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Word list

pilgrims

entreat

descending

timeless

quarrels

envious

woe

amorous

sheath

Are you ready to explore some more?

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Part 2A: Introducing Figurative Language

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Literal language:means exactly what it says

Figurative language:expresses something other than the usual or literal meaning of the words

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Metaphors, similes, and personification are three types of figurative language.

Metaphor: a comparison between two things that expresses a common quality

Simile: a comparison between two things that uses “like” or “as” to express a common quality

Personification: giving human characteristics (like feelings or thoughts) to something that isn’t human

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Metaphor: “I had become a shining star, a burning nova / Exploded with love / Flying through an endlessly / Expanding universe.”

(Modern Day Romeo and Juliet Archive, Excerpt: Street Love, 58–61)

Simile: “But we had begun stopping at corners and looking around, and the wind had become like a good Swiss knife: it cut through everything with sharp precision.”

(Modern Day Romeo and Juliet Archive, Excerpt: Two Suns in the Sky, 20)

Personification: “Mama’s fingers rejoiced in the untangling of knots.”(Modern Day Romeo and Juliet Archive, Excerpt: Two Suns in the Sky, 3)

Examples from the text:

Unit 8D | Part 2A: Introducing Figurative Language | 8

Word: pilgrims

Definition: traveling worshippers

Literal language: The pilgrims traveled far to visit the shrine that housed ancient relics.

Figurative language: “My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand / To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss.”

(Romeo and Juliet, Act 1, Scene 5, 92–93)

● Type of figurative language: This is a metaphor. Romeo says that his lips are pilgrims.

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Before kissing my hand, he said his lips are pilgrims. He must mean that my hand is sacred!

“My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand / To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss.”

Use figurative language to convey emotions, create images, or make a strong point.

Figurative language wakes up your audience’s imagination and invites them to think about your words in order to infer your literal meaning.

Why use figurative language?

What? Is there something on my face?

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Part 2B: Using Figurative Language

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Does the example below use literal language or figurative language?

● If figurative, is it a metaphor, simile, or personification?

descendingDefinition: coming down

“...it was clear that with a wall of secrecy descending around the whole incident, the police were going to have their work cut out.”

(Modern Day Romeo and Juliet Archive, “India’s Romeo and Juliet Tragedy,” 34)

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Does the example below use literal language or figurative language?

● If figurative, is it a metaphor, simile, or personification?

entreatDefinition: beg

“Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven, / Having some business, do entreat her eyes / To twinkle in their spheres till they return.”

(Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 2, 15–17)

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Does the example below use literal language or figurative language?

● If figurative, is it a metaphor, simile, or personification?

timeless Definition: permanent

“What’s here? A cup clos’d in my true love’s hand? / Poison, I see, hath been his timeless end.”

(Romeo and Juliet, Act 5, Scene 3, 169–170)

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Does the example below use literal language or figurative language?

● If figurative, is it a metaphor, simile, or personification?

quarrels Definition: arguments

“Thy head is as full of quarrels as an egg is full of meat.”(Romeo and Juliet, Act 3, Scene 1, 9)

Part 3: Let’s practice

Practice makes perfect! Are you ready? Moo.

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Does the example below use literal language or figurative language?

● If figurative, is it a metaphor, simile, or personification? More than one?

envious Definition: jealous

“It is the east, and Juliet is the sun. / Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon, / Who is already sick and pale with grief.”

(Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 2, 3–5)

Unit 8D | Part 3: Let’s practice | 17

Does the example below use literal language or figurative language?

● If figurative, is it a metaphor, simile, or personification? More than one?

woeDefinition: sadness

“Go hence to have more talk of these sad things; / Some shall be pardon’d, and some punished: / For never was a story of more woe / Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.”

(Romeo and Juliet, Act 5, Scene 3, 317–320)

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Does the example below use literal language or figurative language?

● If figurative, is it a metaphor, simile, or personification? More than one?

amorous Definition: in love

“Shall I believe / That unsubstantial Death is amorous, / And that the lean abhorred monster keeps / Thee here in dark to be his paramour?”

(Romeo and Juliet, Act 5, Scene 3, 103–106)

Unit 8D | Part 3: Let’s practice | 19

Does the example below use literal language or figurative language?

● If figurative, is it a metaphor, simile, or personification? More than one?

sheathDefinition: a covering for a sword or knife

“O happy dagger, [Taking Romeo’s dagger.] / This is thy sheath; / [Stabs herself.] there rust, and let me die.”

(Romeo and Juliet, Act 5, Scene 3, 177–178)

Part 4: Try it on your own

Think you're a pro now? Show me what you've got!

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Shakespeare famously invented two metaphors for jealousy. He called it “green-eyed jealousy” in The Merchant of Venice and “the green-eyed monster” in Othello.

Come up with your own figurative language (metaphor, simile, or personification) that communicates what it feels like to be envious (jealous). Write a paragraph that incorporates at least one type of figurative language.

Example:When the green-eyed monster took over my body, all other thoughts and emotions vanished into thin air. Rage coursed through my veins and a haze covered my eyes. Where before I had viewed friends and acquaintances, now I only saw competitors who needed to be flung out of my way.

New word task:

All done. Nothing to see here.