4.2 Understanding figurative language in poetry

from CSEC Concise English A

by Collins

4.3 Understanding sound effects in poetry

Learn how to:

• recognise figurative techniques

• recognise the effect of figurative techniques.

Why is being able to recognise and analyse figurative language important?

You may be asked specific questions about a word or phrase which require you to tell how a particular word or phrase is used figuratively and the effect created. Poetry is often rich in figurative language. Read the following verses from the poem ‘Laventille’ by Derek Walcott.

Laventille

It huddled there steel tinkling its blue painted metal air, tempered in violence, like Rio’s favelas, with snaking, perilous streets whose edges fell as its Episcopal turkey-buzzards fall from its miraculous hilltop shrine, down the impossible drop to Belmont, Woodbrook, Maraval, St. Clair that shine like peddlers’ tin trinkets in the sun. From a harsh shower, its gutters growled and gargled wash past the Youth Centre, past the water catchment, a rigid children’s carousel of cement; we climbed where lank electric lines and tension cables linked its raw brick hovels like a complex feud, where the inheritors of the middle passage stewed, five to a room, still clamped below their hatch, breeding like felonies favelas: slums or shanty-towns Episcopal: relating to bishops

Derek Walcott

Belmont, Woodbrook, Maraval, St. Clair: other communities, near Laventille middle passage: the middle stage of the transatlantic slave trade; the sea journey undertaken by enslaved people from West Africa to the West Indies

Key term figurative language: words or phrases that prompt ideas or create rich images in the reader’s mind and that are not intended to be taken literally

Building skills

Identifying figurative techniques common in poetry

Walcott uses a number of common figurative techniques, which are described in the table below.

TechniqueDefinition imagery Language that powerfully evokes the senses, e.g. ‘steel tinkling’. contrast Ideas created by placing opposing images together, e.g. ‘miraculous hilltop’ and ‘raw brick hovels’ – emphasising the poverty below and the almost heavenly sight above. simile One thing compared to another using ‘like’ or ‘as’, e.g. the streets and roofs that ‘shine like peddlers’ tin trinkets in the sun’. metaphor extended metaphor personification symbolism An object or key setting is used consistently to represent a concept or theme. Here, the ‘tin trinkets’ could be seen to represent poverty – people or things that are thin and deemed worthless. a) ‘snaking, perilous streets’ b) ‘a rigid children’s carousel of cement’ c) ‘like a complex feud’

A more direct comparison, saying something is something else, e.g. the steel drums of Laventille ‘tempered in violence’ (‘tempered’ means changed or hardened).

A comparison that is repeated and developed in several ways. Here, Walcott refers to the inhabitants of Laventille being like enslaved people on a ship, trapped and chained. He extends the metaphor later in the poem.

An inanimate object is described with human qualities, e.g. the town ‘huddled’.

1 Look again at the poem. What sort of technique is being used in the following examples? (Be aware it may be more than one.)

2 What other powerful or striking images stand out? What effect does each have?

3 The mass of power lines which link the shacks (the ‘hovels’) in which the poor live are described as being ‘like a complex feud’.

A ‘feud’ is a violent, long-lasting quarrel between families or groups of people. Why do you think Walcott has chosen this simile?

Read the following extract from a narrative poem and identify as many figurative techniques as you can.

Kasinath the new young singer fills the hall with sound: The seven notes dance in his throat like seven tame birds. His voice is a sharp sword slicing and thrusting everywhere, It darts like lightning – no knowing where it will go when. He sets deadly traps for himself, then cuts them away: The courtiers listen in amazement, give frequent gasps of praise.

Remember

You can identify a simile easily because the comparison includes the words ‘as’ or ‘like’.

Considering the effect of figurative language

Writers select the words that they use for three main reasons: impact, emotion and sensory appeal.

5 Find the two similes in the poem above.

a) How is the description of a singer given impact by these similes? Are these the images normally associated with beautiful singing? What effect does the word choice have on the reader?

b) What does Tagore want to convey about the singer’s voice? Consider the connotations of the four images created. What kinds of ideas do they bring with them (for example, ‘tame birds’ carries with it the idea of beautiful song, but also captivity and vulnerability)?

c) What emotions does the figurative language create? How does this make you feel about the singer?

6 Using your answers to Item 4, write a short paragraph summarizing your ideas about the overall effect of Tagore’s figurative language.

Literal and figurative language combined

A lot of language is figurative as well as literal. In poetry, it is important to see descriptions as part of the overall picture. For example, a poem about a sick old man might refer to a ‘flickering candle’. This could mean a literal candle that the old man is holding, but it could also be a metaphor for life about to end.

7 You are about to read a poem about an unspoilt island. In it, the poet refers to the ‘waning sun’. Without reading the poem, what is: a) the literal meaning of this phrase b) its possible figurative meaning? a) extended metaphor b) simile c) metaphor d) personification a) to show progress b) to explain how change happens c) to shock the reader d) to create a contrast to reflect on a) to link to the ‘small eyed’ men earlier in the poem b) to suggest that the men don’t see the true beauty of the place c) to make the men seem unappealing d) to suggest that the men have no power