Imagery+and+Comparison+Poem+1

When we read or hear a successful poiem, we can experience with all of our senses the place described in it close to the way the writer experienced it. In addition to sense images, poets will often compare what they are describing to something else through the use of simile, metaphor, or personification. The more unusual the simile, metaphor, or personification, the more interesting the poem is to the reader. Figurative language helps the reader to experience a place in a fresh and original way.

Directions: Write a poem about a place in nature, using sense images and similes, metaphors, and/or personification. Choose a place in nature that is vivid in your memory. It may be a place you visited long ago, but you need to remember some details about it. It might be a place in the mountains, by the sea, at a nearby park, by the river, or simply up a tree. Focus on this one place and describe it, using all of your senses and figurative language wherever possible. Try to avoid using cliches in your comparison, such as "the sky was as blue as the sea." If you can't remember all of the details, start with what is still clear in your mind and invent the part that is missing. This is common practice among writers. A variation on this exercise is to use the classical form of the ode. In this form, the writer addresses the subject of the poem, in this case an element of nature, for example, "Oh spring, you came so unexpectedly," or "Star, you are the guard of the sky>" In an ode, the writer often uses figurative language to elevate or glorify the subject. The use of personification is implicit in the ode form. Your poem must be a minimum of 16 lines in length. Use the following page headings: Creative Writing.............................................Your Name Imagery/Comparison Poem 1..........................Period 4 ....................................................................Date