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English 9

Unit 4

Figurative Language and Poetry

6 topics · 24 practice questions · Free responseNot yet reviewed

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Notes

Figurative language

  • Simile (like/as), metaphor (direct comparison), personification (human traits for nonhuman things).
  • Hyperbole exaggerates; understatement downplays; idioms have non-literal meanings; allusions refer to famous people, events or texts.
  • Imagery appeals to the senses.

Sound

  • Alliteration (beginning consonants), assonance (vowel sounds), consonance (consonant sounds), onomatopoeia (sound words).
  • Rhyme, internal rhyme, slant rhyme and repetition create music and emphasis.

Structure and form

  • Rhyme scheme uses letters (ABAB). Iambic pentameter = five da-DUM feet, 10 syllables.
  • Shakespearean sonnet: 14 lines, ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. Haiku: 5-7-5. Free verse: no fixed pattern.
  • Stanzas: couplet (2), tercet (3), quatrain (4).

Analysis

  • Identify the speaker, tone, shifts and line breaks (enjambment vs. end-stopped). Explain how devices support meaning.

Topics in this unit

Each topic has its own short notes and practice.

Practice

"The old car coughed and wheezed up the hill." This sentence uses:
Dickinson's "Hope is the thing with feathers / That perches in the soul" is an example of:
What is the rhyme scheme of a Shakespearean sonnet?
"Bang! The door slammed, and the window panes rattled." Which device appears?
"It's raining a little," said Dad, as floodwater reached the porch. This is:
A long poem tells the story of a sailor's shipwreck in rhyming four-line stanzas. It is most likely a:

Free response

Write your answer first, then open the scoring guide.

Free-response question

Read this original poem: "The city never sleeps; it hums / a thousand engines, drums on drums. / Its windows blink like sleepless eyes, / and towers scrape the smoky skies."

(a) Identify two examples of figurative language and name each device.

Show the answer and scoring guide

"The city never sleeps" is personification (the city is given a human action). "Windows blink like sleepless eyes" is a simile (uses "like").

Check off the points you earned:

(b) Describe the rhyme scheme and one sound device.

Show the answer and scoring guide

The rhyme scheme is AABB (hums/drums, eyes/skies). One sound device is repetition in "drums on drums," or onomatopoeia in "hums."

Check off the points you earned:

(c) Explain the tone of the poem and how the devices support it.

Show the answer and scoring guide

The tone is restless and intense. Personifying the city as never sleeping and comparing windows to sleepless eyes makes the city feel alive and tireless, while the rhythmic "drums on drums" adds a pounding energy.

Check off the points you earned:

Previous unitUnit 3: Theme and Symbolism