Extended+Metaphor+writing

Metaphor poem assignment Name ________________________ Period _______

Look at the poems on the back of this sheet. The poets are using extended metaphors to write about something (or someone) they know very well. These poets take one metaphor (My life is a pencil case.) and then they extend it with other details about that thing they are comparing to.

Now it’s your turn. Write an extended metaphor poem about something or someone you know really well. It could be your family, or a team, or a friend, or your school. It could also be about vacation, or about going to school. Consider the possibilities, then turn in a poem on Wednesday, January 11 that Have fun; I can’t wait to read them!
 * **Has at least 10 lines**
 * **Is based on a metaphor**
 * **Extends that metaphor at least three ways.**

By [|Langston Hughes]
 * Mother to Son **

Well, son, I’ll tell you: Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair. It’s had tacks in it, And splinters, And boards torn up, And places with no carpet on the floor— Bare. But all the time I’se been a-climbin’ on, And reachin’ landin’s, And turnin’ corners, And sometimes goin’ in the dark Where there ain’t been no light. So boy, don’t you turn back. Don’t you set down on the steps ’Cause you finds it’s kinder hard. Don’t you fall now— For I’se still goin’, honey, I’se still climbin’, And life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.

Langston Hughes, “Mother to Son” from //Collected Poems.// Copyright © 1994 by The Estate of Langston Hughes. Reprinted with the permission of Harold Ober Associates Incorporated.