Lesson video

Hello, and welcome to this lesson on creative writing in poetry with me, Miss Krzebietka.

Today, we're going to focus on similes and metaphors and how we can use them in our own creative writing and eventually in our own poetry.

Before we get started, please can you make sure that you've gotten rid of any distractions? So if you have a mobile phone, please make sure it's turned off or put somewhere in another room and please make sure that you are somewhere quiet so that you can focus fully on the learning.

Please also make sure that you've got a pen and something to write on so that you can make a note of all the amazing things that we're going to do today.

And so that you can fully participate in all of the tasks.

Okay, off we go.

Before we get into the main learning of the lesson, I'm just going to talk you through exactly what we're going to be doing.

So we'll start off with a recap task covering personification.

Then we'll explore simile and metaphor a little bit more and remind ourselves of what they are.

Then we are going to think about how we use simile and metaphor in our own writing.

And then finally, we'll review your knowledge with a worksheet and a quiz.

So before we move on to simile and metaphor, we're going to do a recap task on personification.

So I'd like you to do, is to write two more sentences, in addition to the example that you've got, that personify a pair of shoes.

This can be any pair of shoes.

It could be a pair of old trainers.

It could be some really lovely boots that you've got.

You might really like, it could be some football boots.

It could be any type of shoe that you want to write about.

Okay, what I'd like you to do is to pause and to write down two more sentences that personify the pair of shoes that you've got in mind.

Remember when we personify, we give human features to non-human things.

Obviously shoes on humans, but we're going to give them some human features or human actions or human emotions, okay? So let me just read through the example, before we get started.

My old boots took a final breath before I shoved in my feet.

Obviously, boots can't take a breath, but I'm using personification there to make it seem like they're going before the foot gets shoved in and they've got no air anymore and they can't breathe anymore.

So I'm giving them that human characteristic, to make my sentence come alive a little bit more.

Okay, pause now and have a go.

I'm sure that you came up with some great sentences.

Let's have a look through some great examples.

And if you also, anything like these, then brilliant, if they're not, I'm sure they're still equally brilliant.

Okay, so let's have a look.

Even her shoes shone proudly as she made her way onto the stage.

Obviously shoes can't be proud cause they don't have feelings.

But what it's doing there, that use of the human quality of being proud, is helping us to understand that possibly everything about this person feels really proud about what they're achieving.

Even the shoes that she is wearing.

Number three, the old trainers tugged and squirmed as they were led towards the bin.

Tugged and squirmed are verbs that we use to describe human ways of moving in ways that humans might do things.

And trainers can't tug and squirm.

But what it's helping us to imagine is that they don't want to be put in the bin.

And those human verbs really help us to understand that.

So they're some great examples and I'm sure that you came up with some wonderful examples of your own.

So, today's main learning is based on similes and metaphors.

So let's remind ourselves of what similes and metaphors are.

So a simile is a figure of speech where one thing is compared to another using like or as.

Let's see what that looks like in a sentence.

So you've got one on the screen an example.

The graceful ballerina flew through the air, like a bird.

So we're comparing this ballerina to flying like a bird.

So that's the comparison that we've made there.

And in this example, we've used, like, to make that comparison.

So next, a metaphor.

Well, metaphors are figures of speech where something is described as being something else or something that it can't be.

So you've got another example on the screen of a metaphor.

The whole day had been a dream and I never wanted to wake up.

If that was a simile, we would have said the whole day had been like a dream.

But in this case, because it's a metaphor, we don't use the like there.

We're not making that comparison.

We're actually saying the day was something else.

The day was a dream, which obviously creates that picture, that the day was fantastic and the person didn't want it to end.

So that's what that metaphor is doing there.

It's not the comparison, but it's actually seeing something is something else to help us get a really powerful picture of it.

So let's see what you've learned, on the screen there are four options.

I want you to select the definition a simile and the definition of a metaphor.

So two of these are not simile or metaphor, and two of them are the definitions of a simile and a metaphor.

So read through very carefully and choose the two options that you think one of them is a simile, and one of them is the definition of a metaphor.

Okay, pause now, and off you go.

Great job, if you said that option one, when we compare one thing to another using like, or as, is a simile, brilliant.

And if you said option four, describing something else, something that it can't be, is a metaphor, then amazing.

You've taken on board really well the learning that we've just done about simile and metaphor.

You'll probably recognise the other two.

Giving human qualities to inanimate objects or animals in writing, because that's personification.

And that's something that we've worked on.

And then onomatopoeia, would have been what option two is defining there.

Now onomatopoeia, you probably will have heard about it before.

But if you haven't, then here's what onomatopoeia is.

It's been words sound like the noise that they describe.

Okay, so that's option two.

That's what that would have been.

But we weren't looking for those.

We were looking for the simile and metaphor, option one and option four.

Why do writers use similes in metaphors then? Well its a very similar reason, to the reason that they use personification and use any other figurative language.

It's because they help create more powerful pictures in our minds, okay? They really help us to picture exactly what it is that the writer is describing.

And writers think very carefully about the kinds of similes and metaphors that they use when they are trying to create those pictures for us.

So let's see now, you know what the definition of simile and metaphor is, but let's see if you can match the simile or metaphor with the image that you it think goes with on the screen.

So you've got three similes and metaphors.

well, actually you've got two similes and one metaphor.

I'd like you to match the simile or the metaphor with the picture that you think it fits with.

Okay, so pause now, read through them very carefully.

And then we'll see if you've made the right matches.

Okay, off you go.

Brilliant work, if you said that my stomach lurched and curled like waves in the ocean, matched with the third image, obviously we can see what looked like quite fierce waves there curling and turning in the ocean.

So well done if you said that that simile matched with image three.

Number two, she kept her heart chained up.

That's a metaphor.

She didn't literally keep her heart chained up, but we're saying that she did something that she can't physically do, in order to show that this person had probably been hurt in the past.

Or was probably quite cold and didn't want to open up her heart to anybody.

And that matches with image one, of the heart in the chains that it's in.

Number three, by process of elimination, we can see that that goes with number two, that funny looking cat, the guard prowled the corridors like a hungry cat.

So we've got another simile there, comparing the guard prowling to a hungry cat.

And that matches with image two.

So well done if you got all of those right, you have clearly understood what similes and metaphors are.

So soon, very exciting.

We're going to have a go at using simile and metaphor in our own poetry.

But first of all, let's see if you can spot these two techniques at being used in this poem that we've got before us.

So I'm going to read it for you, and as I read, I want you to think about what similes and metaphors this poet, Christina Rossetti is using.

Just before we read, just to remind you, in case you don't know, or in case you didn't know, but you just need a reminder.

A flint is a type of stone used historically to start fires.

Okay, listen carefully now.

An emerald is green as grass, written in 1872, by Christina Rossetti.

An emerald is as green as grass, a Ruby red as blood.

A sapphire shines as blue as heaven.

A flint lies in the mud.

A diamond is a brilliant stone to catch the world's desire.

An opal holds a fiery spark, but a flint holds fire.

Pause now, read through and see if you can identify where our similes and metaphors are in this poem.

Off you go.

Brilliant job, if you said that our similes, these are all in, sort of the first part of this poem.

An emerald is as green as grass, a ruby red as blood, a sapphire shines as blue as heaven.

We've got three examples of similes there.

Where one thing, the jewel, is being compared to another thing, grass, blood, and heaven.

Okay, and then the second part, is mostly metaphorical.

A diamond is a brilliant stone to catch the world's desire.

And opal holds fiery spark, but a flint holds fire.

All of those lines are metaphorical because a diamond can be a brilliant stone, but it can't catch the world's desire.

That's not something that a diamond can do.

So that is metaphorical.

An opal holds a fiery spark, again, an opal, a jewel, can't hold anything.

Okay, but that metaphor has been used to show sort of the qualities of an opal.

Perhaps the colours of an opal, and what it might look like when you stare into it.

And then the final one, but a flint holds fire, again, yes, if we use Flint, we can start a fire.

However it doesn't hold fire.

But what the poet is doing is showing us that actually, despite all of these other qualities that these beautiful stones have, and that these beautiful jewels have, actually flint is perhaps the most important because it holds fire.

It has fire within it.

It has the power to create fire, okay.

So it doesn't literally hold fire, but it has the power to create fire.

And that metaphor, helps us to understand that.

So well done if you spotted those similes and metaphors.

Okay, so speaking of creating our own poetry, before we do that, we're going to practise with similes and metaphors of our own.

So on the screen, you've got four sentences.

They've all got certain parts blanked out.

What I'd like you to do is to fill in the blank spaces in order to make some amazing similes and metaphors of your own.

So read through the sentences and think very carefully about what would fit and what would make sense in the blank spaces.

Okay, so stop now, pause, read through them very carefully and add your own words into the blank spaces to make some similes and metaphors.

Alright, off you go.

So let's have a look at some possible similes and metaphors that we might have come up with.

You might not have come up with these same ones, but that's absolutely fine.

I'm sure what you have come up with is equally brilliant.

But let's listen to these great examples.

I slithered into bed like a slug.

My heart thumped like a drum as I walked towards the stage.

She was a shining star twinkling in the sky.

When he sang, my heart burst out of my chest.

We've got full wonderful examples of similes and metaphors there.

Two similes and two metaphors that use this technique really well, to help us understand exactly what it is that the writer is describing.

And to create that clear picture.

And I'm sure that your similes and metaphors that you came up with were brilliant.

And maybe you came up with some similar ones to the ones that we chose.

All right, What I'd like you to do now then is to pause, and you're going to have to go to main task, which encourages you to use metaphor and simile in your sentences, a little bit more independently than you've just done.

So it's not just about filling in the blanks, but it's about actually thinking about your own similes and metaphors, using some pictures as prompts.

So pause for me now, have a go at those and then we'll resume and look at some possible ideas.

Okay, off you go.

I am sure that you've done a brilliant job at your sentences.

And I would love, love, love, love, love to see them.

So I'll tell you how you can possibly share them at the end of this lesson.

Let's just talk through some possibilities for the kinds of sentences you might have come up with.

So the first one, if someone looking very, very cosy in their bed, we might have said something like this.

She snuggled up tightly in the blankets, like a caterpillar in a cocoon.

The next one where we've got someone looking very brave, jumping over what looks like a sort of ditch, or a Canyon of some sorts.

I leapt over the ditch like a champion race horse.

Isn't that great simile? A great comparison, because obviously race horses jump over the huge hurdles, don't they? And there we've got somebody almost looking like a race horse jumping over this ditch.

So I love that comparison, I love that simile.

Okay, two metaphors then, her smile was a warm hug.

Isn't that beautiful? It obviously isn't a warm hug, but what that's helping us understand is, that it's very welcoming.

It probably feels very nice when this person smiles at you.

And finally, the eyes that stared out at me, were filled with fear.

Now, obviously eyes can't be filled with fear, but that's helping us to understand this person's feelings, this person's emotions and how they're coming across in the way that their eyes look, okay.

I'm sure that your sentences were absolutely fantastic and well done for working really hard on those, because sometimes it's quite hard to think of similes to metaphors.

I'm sure you've done an absolutely brilliant job.

Brilliant work in this lesson.

If you'd like to, please ask your parents or carer to share your work on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter, tagging @OakNational and using the hashtag LearnwithOak, we would love to see what you've been getting up to.

If you don't want to share it online, then ask your parents or carer maybe to share it with your teacher.

If you'd like them to see all of the amazing things that you've been doing, I'm sure they'd be super, super proud to see what you've been getting up to.

Finally, there is a quiz attached to this lesson, which I'd like to complete before you leave the lesson to do one final check of everything that you've learned about simile and metaphor.

Thank you so much for your hard work today, bye.