09-27-2016, 04:25 PM
PWoF 2016 - Topic 06 - Sept. 27
Standard instructions:
You should attempt to write a poem inspired by this topic - not a derivative, literal
interpretation of the topic. Create a poem that reflects your own true self.
--> Since the officious rules of PWoF 2016 stipulate that you can submit more than
one poem; may I suggest, if the fit strikes you, that you include, after your major work,
a second poem consisting of a bit of transient doggerel, a limerick, or a trenchant
end-rhyming nonsense poem that somehow reflects the intention of this topic.
(And for anyone who's a bit uncertain about starting out here: Ignore my bullshite and
just string some words together (that's what everybody else is doing
).
interpretation of the topic. Create a poem that reflects your own true self.
--> Since the officious rules of PWoF 2016 stipulate that you can submit more than
one poem; may I suggest, if the fit strikes you, that you include, after your major work,
a second poem consisting of a bit of transient doggerel, a limerick, or a trenchant
end-rhyming nonsense poem that somehow reflects the intention of this topic.
(And for anyone who's a bit uncertain about starting out here: Ignore my bullshite and
just string some words together (that's what everybody else is doing
). Topic 6:
There are some things that you know you don't know -- there other things you don't know
you don't know. They are invisible to you; you can go through an entire life and never realize
they are there. But sometimes you find out: You make a mistake, get lost and take the wrong
path, or take drugs, or travel, or talk with a stranger, or try to write a villanelle about haggis.
You see the invisible!
Can you remember when something like that happened to you -- how you felt, what was the situation,
what did you learn, how did it change your life? (Can't remember? Be a writer, make something up.)
So:
1. Write a poem about the above.
2. Use at least one extended metaphor*.
*Extended Metaphor - Definition and Examples:
All this is taken from: http://literarydevices.net/extended-metaphor/
( literarydevices.net is a wonderful site!)
Extended Metaphor:
The term extended metaphor refers to a comparison between two unlike things that
continues throughout a series of sentences in a paragraph or lines in a poem. It is often
comprised of more than one sentence and sometimes consists of a full paragraph.
Extended Metaphor Examples in Prose
Example 1
“Bobby Holloway says my imagination is a three-hundred-ring circus. Currently I was
in ring two hundred and ninety-nine, with elephants dancing and clowns cart wheeling and
tigers leaping through rings of fire. The time had come to step back, leave the main tent,
go buy some popcorn and a Coke, bliss out, cool down.”
(Dean Koontz, Seize the Night. Bantam, 1999)
Here, it can be seen that the “circus” has been compared to the author’s “imagination”.
Example 2
“It never takes longer than a few minutes, when they get together, for everyone to
revert to the state of nature, like a party marooned by a shipwreck. That’s what a family is.
Also the storm at sea, the ship, and the unknown shore. And the hats and the whiskey stills
that you make out of bamboo and coconuts. And the fire that you light to keep away the beasts.”
(Michael Chabon, The Yiddish Policeman’s Union. Harper, 2007)
In the extract quoted above, the writer has compared “family” with a “shipwreck”.
Example 3
“One day [Mr. Bixby] turned on me suddenly with this settler–
‘What is the shape of Walnut Bend?'”
“He might as well have asked me my grandmother’s opinion of protoplasm. I reflected
respectfully, and then said I didn’t know it had any particular shape. My gun powdery chief
went off with a bang, of course, and then went on loading and firing until he was out of adjectives.”
“I had learned long ago that he only carried just so many rounds of ammunition, and was sure to
subside into a very placable and even remorseful old smooth-bore as soon as they were all gone.”
(Mark Twain, Life on the Mississippi, 1883)
Here, it can be seen that the writer makes use of metaphors like “gun powdery”, “firing”,
and “ammunition” to describe the “anger” of Mr. Bixby.
Example 4
“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts.”
(Shakespeare’s As You Like It)
Shakespeare has compared “earth” to a “stage” in the extract mentioned above.
Example in Poetry
“Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune–without the words,
And never stops at all,
“And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.
“I’ve heard it in the chilliest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.”
(Emily Dickinson)
In the poem given above, Emily Dickinson has made use of the tool of extended metaphor by
comparing “hope” with the “little bird”.
Functions of Extended Metaphor:
Extended metaphor provides the writer with an opportunity to make a larger comparison
between two things or notions. The device of extended metaphor is usually employed in
prose and poetry to project a specific impression regarding things or notions in the
reader’s mind. Further, the tool serves to project the comparison intensely in the
reader’s mind, than is the case when simple metaphors or similes are used.
( literarydevices.net is a wonderful site!)
Extended Metaphor:
The term extended metaphor refers to a comparison between two unlike things that
continues throughout a series of sentences in a paragraph or lines in a poem. It is often
comprised of more than one sentence and sometimes consists of a full paragraph.
Extended Metaphor Examples in Prose
Example 1
“Bobby Holloway says my imagination is a three-hundred-ring circus. Currently I was
in ring two hundred and ninety-nine, with elephants dancing and clowns cart wheeling and
tigers leaping through rings of fire. The time had come to step back, leave the main tent,
go buy some popcorn and a Coke, bliss out, cool down.”
(Dean Koontz, Seize the Night. Bantam, 1999)
Here, it can be seen that the “circus” has been compared to the author’s “imagination”.
Example 2
“It never takes longer than a few minutes, when they get together, for everyone to
revert to the state of nature, like a party marooned by a shipwreck. That’s what a family is.
Also the storm at sea, the ship, and the unknown shore. And the hats and the whiskey stills
that you make out of bamboo and coconuts. And the fire that you light to keep away the beasts.”
(Michael Chabon, The Yiddish Policeman’s Union. Harper, 2007)
In the extract quoted above, the writer has compared “family” with a “shipwreck”.
Example 3
“One day [Mr. Bixby] turned on me suddenly with this settler–
‘What is the shape of Walnut Bend?'”
“He might as well have asked me my grandmother’s opinion of protoplasm. I reflected
respectfully, and then said I didn’t know it had any particular shape. My gun powdery chief
went off with a bang, of course, and then went on loading and firing until he was out of adjectives.”
“I had learned long ago that he only carried just so many rounds of ammunition, and was sure to
subside into a very placable and even remorseful old smooth-bore as soon as they were all gone.”
(Mark Twain, Life on the Mississippi, 1883)
Here, it can be seen that the writer makes use of metaphors like “gun powdery”, “firing”,
and “ammunition” to describe the “anger” of Mr. Bixby.
Example 4
“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts.”
(Shakespeare’s As You Like It)
Shakespeare has compared “earth” to a “stage” in the extract mentioned above.
Example in Poetry
“Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune–without the words,
And never stops at all,
“And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.
“I’ve heard it in the chilliest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.”
(Emily Dickinson)
In the poem given above, Emily Dickinson has made use of the tool of extended metaphor by
comparing “hope” with the “little bird”.
Functions of Extended Metaphor:
Extended metaphor provides the writer with an opportunity to make a larger comparison
between two things or notions. The device of extended metaphor is usually employed in
prose and poetry to project a specific impression regarding things or notions in the
reader’s mind. Further, the tool serves to project the comparison intensely in the
reader’s mind, than is the case when simple metaphors or similes are used.
a brightly colored fungus that grows in bark inclusions
Thank you.
